Worldwide Sports News

New York Daily News | Gary Phillips: Gerrit Cole grew up an Angels fan, so it’s only natural that he would have something to say about the franchise’s recent sale to Kroenke Sports & Entertainment. However, the veteran approached the issue from a business standpoint rather than an emotional one, noting that the club’s ultimate price tag of $4 billion was remarkably high, especially when compared to the Padres, who were sold for $3.9 billion earlier this year despite being much more competitive in recent years. Said Cole: “It shows that there’s ability to get top dollar on both ends of the spectrum…I think that would speak to how healthy economically the game is functioning.” Definitely something to keep in mind as the MLBPA and the owners continue their standoff. 

NJ.com | Randy Miller: With rosters having expanded on September 1st, the Yankees’ additions were 3B Ryan McMahon and reliever John Schreiber. Here, Miller liaises with an anonymous scout who shares his evaluations on several players who were passed over, including pitching prospect and 2026 debutant Brendan Beck, and former regulars Anthony Volpe and Jasson Dominguez. The scout doesn’t really tell us anything new about the latter two, but his comments on Beck are interesting; he pegs him as a fifth starter and a trade chip of some value despite his relatively advanced age. Not bad for a guy who was drafted 55th overall, then had Tommy John surgery just six months after. 

The Athletic | Asli Petit: In a first for MLB, the Yankees now have an official tampon! Sequel, an upstart company founded by two women ex-athletes, has partnered with the club to offer free tampons in Yankee Stadium’s women’s bathrooms. I wouldn’t have guessed that the Yankees of all teams would be the first team to embark on such a partnership, but it’s a welcome change and an important step towards ensuring the inclusion of female fans. Hopefully more clubs will follow suit!

ESPN.com: The Yankees have struggled to close the gap between them and the Rays in the division race (though it’s certainly closer now than it once was). It’s still a long shot, but the Yankees have one thing going for them; the remaining strength of schedule. The Yankees’ upcoming opponents have a collective winning percentage of .489, markedly lower than the Rays’ slate of .517. The two teams are set to face off in the penultimate series of the season. Here’s hoping the Yankees can handle their business against their lackluster opponents leading up to that all-too-important matchup.

A couple of tweets to round out today’s roundup: first, a quick overview of how Spencer Jones has produced since his second call-up. I have never been more happy to eat crow, and I hope Jones forces me to continue my raven-based diet. 

Second, Clarke Schmidt inches nearer to his return, as he’s been reassigned from Double-A to Triple-A for his rehab. With the Yankees piggybacking Max Fried and Will Warren on Friday, it’s fair to wonder if Schmidt could also be a piggyback candidate should he rejoin the big league club according to schedule.

ANAHEIM, Calif. — George Lombard Jr. is nearly out of the woods.

The rookie shortstop missed a fourth straight game Wednesday with right knee inflammation, but the Yankees expect he will return to the lineup Friday when they open a series against the Padres at Petco Park.

“I don’t want to put the cart before the horse … but it is trending and looking like that is going to be the case,” manager Aaron Boone said Wednesday before the Yankees won the series finale at Angel Stadium.

For the third straight day, Lombard was out running in the outfield before Wednesday’s game, going through agility drills and then taking ground balls. He was expected to be an active player off the bench, which had not been the case the first few days after he tweaked his knee at the plate in Saturday’s win over the Red Sox.

“It’s been progressing every day,” Lombard said. “There was just a little bit of inflammation in there, so it was just random moves [where I could feel it].”

José Caballero started a fourth straight game in Lombard’s place.

Aaron Judge ran the bases Wednesday for the first time in his ramp-up toward a potential return by next week, going from home to first, first to third and home to second.

That came after his regular pregame work of throwing and taking defensive reps in right field.

Aaron Boone and pitching coach Matt Blake were ejected in the bottom of the 10th inning by first base umpire Junior Valentine after arguing that Vaughn Grissom went around on a check swing that should have been strike three for the first out of the frame.

“Well, if you want to call that a check swing,” Boone quipped.

The surging Spencer Jones started in center field against lefty Reid Detmers on Wednesday, with Heliot Ramos in right field and Trent Grisham on the bench.

“I think Spencer’s earned the right to be in there too, so it made the most sense to me today to go this —way,” Boone said before the rookie had a rare off night, going 0-for-4 in the Yankees’ win over the Angels on Wednesday night.

Jones had been on a tear of late, with Grisham struggling, but the lefty slugger has also handled himself well against lefties.

Jones entered Wednesday batting .400 with a 1.161 OPS in 40 plate appearances against southpaws.

“I think with lefties, you got to keep a simple approach, and I’m not really trying to do too much against those guys,” Jones said. “It’s also one of those things where I just treat them like every other pitcher and just try to get a good pitch to hit.”

Asked if he expects Jones to be in center more often than not against lefties moving forward, Boone said “not necessarily.”

“I’m taking it day by day, series by series and who’s on the mound,” Boone said. “Could be, but not necessarily.”

Clarke Schmidt made his second rehab appearance Wednesday with Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre, four days after his first, as he tries to finish off his comeback from Tommy John surgery to help the Yankees bullpen down the stretch.

Schmidt threw 23 pitches across two innings, striking out three while giving up a run on three hits.

By the bottom of the 10th inning, Wednesday night’s game had already become a nightmare for the Dodgers.

Then, in one troublesome at-bat from Shohei Ohtani, it all got significantly more alarming.

At the end of an 0-for-4 performance that included his first four-strikeout game this year, Ohtani showed obvious discomfort with his right arm during his final trip to the plate –– the same arm in which he has been battling a biceps issue for much of the season.

It was concerning enough that, following the team’s 8-6 defeat to the St. Louis Cardinals, manager Dave Roberts sounded uncertain about Ohtani’s availability for Thursday, and perhaps even beyond that.

“I’m going to talk to him tomorrow and really try to figure it out,” Roberts said. “Get with Thomas [Albert, head athletic trainer] and figure out where he’s at physically.”

Later, when asked if that meant potentially giving Ohtani just one day off, or a potentially longer spell out of the lineup or on the injured list, Roberts couldn’t offer more than a foreboding lack of clarity.

“It won’t be an IL –– unless it is,” he said. “It’s very unlikely. But I do think that I’m going to have a conversation. We’ll decide after I talk to him what’s the extent of it.”

Ever since June, Ohtani has been playing through both a biceps issue and a lingering left knee injury. While it has sidelined him from pitching, both he and the Dodgers have been adamant that it hasn’t affected his form at the plate.

But then came Wednesday, when Ohtani extended a recent 6-for-46 slump (albeit while drawing a walk and getting hit by a pitch) and looked clearly compromised offensively.

The most obvious signs came during his at-bat in the 10th, when he shook his arm and grimaced after each of his swings.

“I saw the same thing that everyone saw,” Roberts said. “I saw the shaking of the arm. I saw the wincing. Clearly, the swings aren’t who he is. Obviously there’s some compensation. So I’m going to talk to him and then I’ll make a decision tomorrow about his availability.”

Ohtani’s health had already been front of mind lately, after his expected return to the mound last Sunday was scuttled following a bullpen session in which he still didn’t feel 100%.

On Tuesday, Dodgers president of baseball operations Andrew Friedman said the team still planned to continue Ohtani’s pitching progression –– even though his chances of getting built back up for full-length starts in time for the playoffs were all but dashed by his latest pitching setback.

Before Wednesday’s game, however, Roberts offered a more ominous perspective on the status of his two-way star (who has repeatedly declined speaking to the media since his last press availability during a series in Colorado two weeks ago).

“Everything that he’s told me and the training staff [is that] he feels good,” Roberts said.

“But if you’re not 100%, there’s possibly some bleed-in to the performance offensively,” Roberts also later added.

That much was evident by the end of Wednesday’s performance, in which Ohtani’s continued struggles contributed to the Dodgers’ latest maddening defeat.

As a team, they squandered a late three-run lead, went 1-for-18 with runners in scoring position while stranding 13 men on base, and fell out of a top-two National League playoff seed by dropping their sixth game out of the last eight.

“We just got to perform and execute and win baseball games,” Roberts said. “That’s just the bottom line.”

Having a fully effective Ohtani will be critical to those efforts.

But, Roberts acknowledged, the 32-year-old has looked increasingly off physically over the last couple of weeks.

“Tonight,” Roberts said, “was kind of the tip of the iceberg.” 

Roberts said he knows Ohtani “definitely doesn’t want” to take a day –– or more –– out of the lineup. At the same time, though, Roberts noted that “if he’s feeling the way that visibly looks, then [it’s] really not helping anyone,” especially with the start of the playoffs now just a month away.

“You can see the swing wasn’t the swing that we’re used to seeing, so he was not close to optimal tonight,” Roberts said. “So, again, what is going to get him close to being able to perform at the level that you know he expects? That’s kind of the question. And time off obviously seems logical, so I’m not blind to that.”

How much time off the Dodgers could consider giving Ohtani is where Roberts was careful to make no commitments.

“Is a day or two, or I mean, shoot, even 10 days [on the injured list], is that going to help get him to be 100%? Don’t know the answer,” Roberts said. “But I think where we’re at, he’s just going to have to find a way to make do and do the best he can.”

Roberts did voice some optimism about Ohtani’s ability to bounce back before the playoffs, feeling confident that there’s still “plenty of time to make whatever decision we make and to come out of it and have him come out of it in a better spot.”

For now, though, what that means for his short-term availability as a hitter –– let alone his chances of returning to the mound again this year –– has suddenly been cast under a renewed cloud of doubt.

“For me, it’s just more of really trying to get to the heart of it, the core of it, and be honest and see how he really feels,” Roberts said. “I’ve got my own thoughts, but I want to have that conversation.”

It’s rare in baseball for a single player to single-handedly win a game because of the structure of the sport. There are very few things a single player can do to have that much leverage in a game and instead requires much more active participation from the rest of the team on the field or in the dugout. This afternoon was one of those exceptions when James McCann took the first pitch he saw in the home half of the eighth straight into the left field bleachers for the game’s sole run. It was a needed cathartic release to end what was a tense, hard fought series against one of the team’s primary rivals in the Wild Card race. This series also included one of the hottest teams in the league right now who showed no sign of slowing down either and could easily be a first-round playoff preview if things break the way we hope they do.

Andrew Painter, the Phillies’ top-ranked prospect and the eighth-ranked prospect in the sport, struggled to start the year by posting an ERA of 7.06 before being demoted. Since returning to the big leagues however, he’s looked like a different pitcher. Today’s seven-inning, dominant scoreless outing lowered his ERA all the way down to 3.12 since his return. The rookie buzzed through the lineup, allowing just three baserunners to reach on the afternoon by leaning on a combination of his fastball, sweeper, and slider to devastating effect. Impressively, the D-Backs failed to get a single hit with runners in scoring position during the entire series, going a combined 0-for-17 on the series. Unsurprisingly given that context, the team managed to only score one run in each game, which puts that much more pressure onto the starting and relief pitching as a substitute.

If Painter was the lone Old West lone wolf, the D-Backs countered with an entire posse of nasty relief pitchers in a planned bullpen game. There is always an inherent risk to such a game plan as a single reliever having a bad day could easily occur and completely ruin the rest of the plan. Thankfully, the plan went off nearly flawlessly with just one reliever (Jose Cabrera) covering more than a single inning, and all but one reliever picking up at least one strikeout for their efforts.

There’s no way to sugarcoat it. This was a near-disaster of a series – even as they avoided the sweep this afternoon. It was a prime opportunity for the team to create some additional separation between them and the rest of the teams chasing them in the Wild Card race and maybe even gain some ground on the Phillies and the second Wild Card spot. Instead, the offense continued to scuffle, the bullpen looked shaky at times, and the team looked exhausted. I understand that we’re coming to the home stretch of the season but this team is all too aware of how thin the margins can be for reaching the playoffs after the past two unsuccessful seasons.

Shohei Ohtani didn’t look right when striking out in the 10th inning of the Dodgers’ 8-6 loss to the St. Louis Cardinals on Wednesday.

Ohtani, who hasn’t pitched since July 3 due to lingering knee and biceps issues, winced in pain throughout his eight-pitch at-bat against reliever Riley O’Brien, seeming to strain himself with every muscle flex, let alone big-league hacks.

“I saw the same thing that everyone saw,” manager Dave Roberts said. “I’m going to talk to [Ohtani] tomorrow and really try to figure out … where he’s at physically. Because, yeah, I saw the shaking of the arm, I saw the wincing, and clearly, the swings aren’t who he is.

“Obviously, there’s some compensation. So, I’m going to talk to him, and then I’ll make a decision tomorrow about his availability.”

Roberts isn’t sure if Ohtani, who went 0-for-4 on Wednesday with four strikeouts and a walk, will need to go on the injured list.

“It won’t be an IL, unless it is,” Roberts said. “But it’s very unlikely.”

Ohtani is the type of player who will suit up as long as he has a leg to stand on. He’s on pace to appear in 158 games for the third consecutive season.

“I think that tonight was kind of the tip of the iceberg,” Roberts said. “But I’ve seen it over the last couple of weeks, where he hasn’t been who he is.”

Read more:Plaschke: No two ways about it — Shohei Ohtani should not pitch again this season

With a month to go before October, when the Dodgers’ pursuit of a third consecutive World Series title truly starts, Roberts understands that Ohtani’s situation must be addressed now.

“I know he feels that he needs to post and be in the lineup, and if he’s upright, he should play; I respect that,” Roberts said. “But if he’s feeling the way that it visibly looks, then [that’s] really not helping anyone. So, that’s the conversation that I’ll have with [the training staff].”

The Dodgers, who were 1-for-18 with runners in scoring position against the Cardinals Wednesday, could’ve used a big hit from their future Hall of Famer. They probably could’ve used his pitching, too.

Instead, the Dodgers are waiting to see if Ohtani will — or should — even be available for the foreseeable future.

“I do think that he is a very finely tuned athlete,” Roberts said. “So when he’s not kind of all synced up, and the parts aren’t working the way that he’s used to them working, things are compromised. And so clearly tonight, you can see the swing wasn’t the swing that we’re used to seeing. So he’s not close to optimal tonight.

“What is going to get him close to being able to perform at the level that you know he expects? That’s kind of the question. And time off obviously seems logical, so I’m not blind to that.”

Ohtani’s uncertain status comes at a tricky time for the Dodgers.

The two-time defending champions haven’t looked the part for much of the summer. Wednesday’s ugly loss, in which Yoshinobu Yamamoto and the Dodgers crumbled late despite taking a 3-0 first-inning lead, was the latest example.

“As a team, yes, there might be some stuff we need to do better [and] work on some stuff,” said Yamamoto, who had a no-hitter through five before surrendering a pair of two-run homers over his final two innings. “But because we have great players and experienced players, I think we will be able to get over this hump.”

Yamamoto isn’t alone in staying calm.

“We’ve been through everything,” Freddie Freeman, who ended his career-high 47-game home run drought with a three-run blast in the first, said. “We’ve seen everything. [We’ve] had our backs against the wall and had to win games when we really needed to … I think good things are ahead.”

Good things very well could be ahead for the Dodgers, who are 82-57 and in first place by nine games in the NL West. They’ve earned the right not to panic; that’s for sure.

But the equation could change drastically based on Ohtani’s status down the stretch.

CT3 comes home

The Dodgers welcomed back former longtime utility player Chris Taylor to Dodger Stadium and presented him with a video tribute and his third World Series ring.

“It’s pretty much what I identify my career as — over 90% of my entire career was in Dodger blue,” Taylor said. “This is the place I call home. Always proud to be a Dodger, and it means a lot to me that they would do this for me. So, I’m extremely humbled.”

Taylor, a 12-year veteran who retired this season, said Wednesday night was the first time he was able to watch a game with his family.

Injury updates

Catcher Will Smith was given a breather after going one for five with two RBIs in his first game back from a three-month stint on the injured list on Tuesday.

“It was good to see him get a knock,” Roberts said. “I thought he swung the bat pretty well. So, it’s a premeditated day off today. He’ll be back in there tomorrow, but I guess no news is good news.”

It wasn’t a full day off, as Smith pinch-hit for Hunter Feduccia in the ninth and scored the Dodgers’ run in the 10th.

Right-hander Roki Sasaki’s blister is healing while he’s on the IL, so he shouldn’t miss additional time.

“I saw him yesterday at the end of the bench; it’s healing well,” Roberts said. “He’s still moving his arm, playing catch. So I think it’s going to be a shorter term getting him back.”

Roberts doesn’t yet know whether Sasaki will take a spot in rotation upon his return.

Another right-hander, Gavin Stone, who hasn’t pitched since August 2024 potentially could pitch this month, Roberts said. Stone recently made his fourth rehab start.

“Gavin’s been good,” Roberts said. “I think right now — and again, this is not talking to the guys in the, you know, player development — but it’s more of just getting him to stay upright, stay healthy, is the win for 2026.”

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This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.

ANAHEIM, Calif. — The Yankees’ top priority in September is trying to chase down the Rays for the division.

Besides that, they need to get Aaron Judge back healthy and allow him to get his timing down before the postseason arrives. They wouldn’t mind giving their heavily used high-leverage relievers a rest, either.

In addition to all of that, though, the final month of the regular season offers another sideshow of sorts: the AL Cy Young race.

And while Cam Schlittler certainly added to his case with a dominant outing Wednesday night, his lineup let him down, spoiling a gem and forcing the Yankees’ ace to settle for a no decision after making just one mistake across eight innings.

But the Yankees bats woke up in time to make sure the night was not a total bust.

Austin Wells delivered a clutch two-out, two-strike, two-run single with the bases loaded in the top of the 10th to put the Yankees ahead for good on the way to a 6-3 win over the Angels to take the series at Angel Stadium.

After David Bednar tossed a scoreless bottom of the ninth, the Yankees loaded the bases with one out in the top of the 10th and then exploded with two outs against reliever Luke Murphy.

Wells’ go-ahead single — causing the Yankees-heavy crowd to erupt — was the first of four straight hits as Cody Bellinger, Trent Grisham and Ben Rice followed with RBI singles of their own to push the lead to 6-1.

That proved important as Michael Fulmer gave up a two-run shot in the bottom of the frame before recovering to close out the win.

By the end of the night, the Yankees (80-60) had moved within 3 ¹/₂ games of the Rays for the division and five games clear of the Red Sox for the top AL wild card entering Thursday’s off-day.

Schlittler had retired 17 straight before leaving a cutter down the middle to Vaughn Grissom, who crushed it to dead center field for a solo shot that tied the game 1-1 in the seventh inning.

The problem for Schlittler, more than one bad pitch, was that Angels lefty Reid Detmers was stifling the Yankees lineup at the same time, allowing just one run across seven innings.

Schlittler went a step further, finishing eight innings while allowing just two hits — both to Grissom — walking none and striking out nine. It marked the 19th time in 29 starts he has allowed one run or fewer, lowering his ERA to 2.04 in the process.

Before Schlittler took the mound Wednesday, his biggest threat in the AL Cy Young race, Blue Jays ace Dylan Cease, had already thrown six shutout innings against the Guardians, lowering his ERA to 2.25.

Schlittler was coming off a strange outing in which he threw 5 ²/₃ shutout innings against the Red Sox and allowed just two hits, but tied a career high with five walks, which clearly irked him.

The free passes had become something of an issue even as he pitched well in August, uncharacteristically walking 16 batters in 27 innings across five starts last month. But Schlittler made the adjustment in a big way, not walking a single batter.

Detmers faced the minimum through three innings and needed just 30 pitches to do so, but Paul Goldschmidt led off the fourth with his second single of the night — both coming on the first pitch of the at-bat.

Bellinger followed with a single through the right side before Heliot Ramos smoked a 112.2 mph line drive to shortstop. But Zach Neto snared it and threw to second for the double play.

Rice extended the rally, though, with a swinging bunt before Amed Rosario came up and laced a ground-rule double into the right field corner to score Bellinger for the 1-0 lead.

Over the course of his career, Rosario has been a lefty killer, but he came into the night having hit just .200 with a .610 OPS against them this season, part of the reason why his roster spot might be at risk when Judge returns as early as next week.

But Rosario has shown some more signs of life lately, with three straight two-hit efforts before Wednesday’s hard-hit RBI double.

The Dodgers scored three runs but couldn’t cash in more in the first inning, then failed to capitalize on several scoring chances. They blew a late lead after Yoshinobu Yamamoto flirted with a no-hitter in his first start of September for the second season in a row. That helped get the game to extras, and the St. Louis Cardinals pounced with three runs in the 10th for an 8-6 win at Dodger Stadium.

Before Wednesday, the Dodgers were 5-0 in extras this season thanks in large part to stingy pitching. They allowed only one free runner to score in six total innings on just two hits. But the first three Cardinals in the 10th inning all got hits off Brock Stewart to plate three runs, capped off by a two-run double by Joshua Báez.

The rookie Báez didn’t even start the game, but his leadoff double off Tanner Scott in the eighth inning was cashed in on two outs to tie the game. St. Louis never led until the 10th inning.

From no-no to oh-no

Yamamoto allowed multiple home runs for just the third time in 25 starts this season. Weirdly all three games have been at home, with three home runs by the Giants on May 12 and two by the Red Sox on August 1. Twelve of Yamamoto’s 18 home runs allowed this year were hit at Dodger Stadium.

Yamamoto didn’t even allow a hit until the sixth inning, but after José Fermín singled to break up the no-no, infielder Thomas Saggese spoiled things with a two-run home run. Saggese entered the series with one home run this season and four home runs in 435 career plate appearances. He now has three long balls in two games thus far against the Dodgers in this series.

Catcher Leo Bernal, serving as the designate hitter for St. Louis on Wednesday, added a two-run shot in the seventh for his first major league home run.

Even with the disturbances, Yamamoto’s pitch count was still low, and he got through seven innings on 93 pitches. He completed seven innings for a 10th time this season, tied for third-most in the majors.

Yamamoto’s four-seam fastball and splitter were especially working on Wednesday, finishing off six of his eight strikeouts on those pitches and inducing 14 swinging strikes on those two pitches alone. Even with the four runs on Wednesday, Yamamoto allowed only 14 runs over his last eight starts, with a 2.32 ERA since the All-Star break.

First things first

A walk and hit by pitch gave the Dodgers an instant rally to open the game, then one out later Freddie Freeman tattooed a ball over the left center field wall for his first home run since July 4, the early fireworks making for a quick 3-0 lead.

Freeman went 196 plate appearances in between home runs and 47 full games, the longest power drought of his career. Even without a home run, those 47 games were still somewhat productive for Freeman, who hit .315/.359/.371 with 10 doubles and a 102 wRC+ during the stretch, though well below his established norms.

Freeman on the night also walked three times and singled, the second time this season he’s reached base five times, along with May 23 at Milwaukee.

This was a bullpen game for the Cardinals and Brycen Mautz had a tough go of things. He also allowed a popfly double to Miguel Rojas and walked two more batters to load the bases. Mautz escaped the jam without anything beyond the three runs Freeman plated, but then hit Ohtani to open the second inning. In all, Mautz retired only three of his 10 batters faced and was lucky to allow just the three runs.

Mookie Betts added a two-run shot in the bottom of the sixth, immediately answering the Saggese home run in the top of the frame. Betts has a nine-game hit streak.

The Dodgers, who hit two home runs all of last week on their road trip through Atlanta and Detroit, on Wednesday hit two home runs for the first time in 11 games, since August 19 at Coors Field.

Teoscar Hernández hit the ball hard all night, with four batted balls hit with triple-digit exit velocities. He got three hits out of it, including a one-out double in the ninth inning. But he was stranded when pinch hitter Will Smith smashed a ball to the wall in right center field for an out.

Freeman’s home run was the Dodgers’ only hit in 18 at-bats with runners in scoring position.

Getting defensive

Rojas made some fantastic defensive plays while Yamamoto still hadn’t yet allowed a hit, thanks partially to him. First, Rojas had nifty timing in trying to execute a tag (the runner was called out of the baseline) while fielding a bounding ball then turned a double play out of it in the third inning. Rojas in the fourth turned things up a notch, with an extension to his far left to rob Bryan Torres of a hit, then on the next play went up the middle with a long throw to nail catcher Iván Herrera.

Wednesday particulars

Home runs: Freddie Freeman (16), Mookie Betts (17); Thomas Saggese (4), Leo Bernal (1)

WP — Justin Bruihl (1-1): 1 IP, 1 hit, 1 strikeout

LP — Brock Stewart (0-2): 1 IP, 3 hits, 3 runs (2 earned), 1 strikeout

Sv — Riley O’Brien (35): 1 IP, 1 unearned run, 1 strikeout

Up next

Tarik Skubal hooks up with with Will Smith for the first time since the World Baseball Classic in the series finale on Thursday night (7:10 p.m., SportsNet LA), with rookie left-hander Quinn Mathews pitching for St. Louis.

Since I am not a St. Louis Cardinals coach, I can’t say for sure that I know what the plan was for Wednesday night’s game against the Dodgers, but I’m fairly certain walking 4 batters in the first 2 innings wasn’t it. Brycen Mautz had a less-than-ideal start for the Cardinals while Yoshinobu Yamamoto was dealing for the Dodgers. That was not the recipe for a St. Louis Cardinals victory. Fortunately, baseball games have 9 innings and Wednesday night they’d play even more and it would end spectacularly for St. Louis.

The bottom of the 1st inning will take awhile to explain. It started with Shohei Ohtani walking on 4 straight pitches followed by 2 more balls thrown to Tommy Edman before Brycen Mautz registered a strike. Then he hit Edman with the next pitch to give the Dodgers runners at first and second with no outs. Brycen was able to get Betts to pop out to second for the first out, but more trouble was on the way. After throwing another ball out of the strike zone to Freddie Freeman, Mautz unfortunately threw the next one right down the middle of the plate which Freddie torched 416 feet into the left-centerfield stands for a 3-run homer and an immediate Dodgers 3-0 lead.

Remarkably, that’s all the runs the Dodgers would get in the bottom of the 1st because Rojas followed Freeman’s homer with a bloop double to right and then slumping Kyle Tucker was walked. It took a great catch by Bryan Torres in left on a screaming line drive from Hernandez and then another excellent play by Alec Burleson who made a diving grab on a ball headed toward right field from Fedducia. Alec threw him out from a seated position for the final out of the inning. It easily could have been worse than a 3-run inning by the Dodgers.

The Cardinals had planned a bullpen game, but pretty sure they wanted Mautz to pitch deeper into the game than the just one inning as he was pulled without recording an out in the bottom of the 2nd inning for Ryan Fernandez. He would handle that task without allowing the Dodgers any more runs before he handed the ball to Gordon Graceffo in the bottom of the 3rd inning. Gordon also held LA scoreless in the 3rd and 4th innings before the Dodgers mounted a threat in the bottom of the 5th. In that inning, Kyle Tucker led off with a single and stole second because, yes, Iván Herrera was catching so of course he did. Graceffo was able to nurse a hard groundout to short by Hernandez for the first out without allowing Tucker to advance. Gordon then struck out Muncy and Fedducia to keep LA from adding to their lead.

While the St. Louis Cardinals bullpen merry-go-round was spinning, Yoshinobu Yamamoto was mystifying the Cardinals lineup not allowing a hit through the first 5 innings. José Fermín ended the no-hitter in the top of the 6th with a no-doubt single into right field. Two batters later, Thomas Saggese ended the shutout as he connected with a 94 mph sinker and launched it 396 feet into the centerfield stands cutting the Dodgers lead to 3-2. When did Thomas Saggese suddenly start channeling his inner Mark McGwire?

George Soriano entered the game in the bottom of the 6th inning to face the top of the Dodgers lineup and keep the game close for the Cardinals offense which finally woke up. That unfortunately did not work out. After Tommy Edman lined a one-out single to left, Mookie Betts caught one of Soriano’s 85 mph sweepers hanging and crushed it 392 feet into the left-field seats for a 2-run blast and a 5-2 Dodgers lead.

The St. Louis Cardinals were not done fighting. In the top of the 7th inning, Jordan Walker smacked a double off of the left field wall followed by Leo Bernal crushing his first major league home run deep into the right field stands cutting the Dodgers lead back down to just 1 at 5-4. Hope you packed all of your belongings when you left Memphis, Leo, because you aren’t going back!

Ryne Stanek jumped into the fray in the bottom of the 7th inning with the prime directive of keeping this a 1-run affair so the Cardinals could claw and scratch out a couple of runs for another victory over the billionaires Dodgers. Ryne allowed a bit of drama by giving up a couple of two-strike hits, but no runs became of it, so no worries.

The Cardinals finally got into the Dodgers bullpen when Yamamoto exited the game after 7 innings. Tanner Scott was brought in to face Joshua Baez who turned on an 88 mph slider and ripped it into the left-field corner for a leadoff double. Herrera hit a sharp ball to first which resulted in an out, but it went to the right side of the infield which advanced Baez to third with just one out. Fundamental baseball at its finest. Alec Burleson proved that true when he battled through a bunch of Scott sliders before he got a ball he could lift into deep left for a game-tying sacrifice fly giving us a new ballgame at 5-5.

Luis Gastélum was the Cardinals answer for the bottom of the 8th inning. He kept the Dodgers from scoring and was aided by an inning-ending double play.

The Cardinals came close to taking the lead in the top of the 9th when Leo Bernal ALMOST hit his second home run of the night flying out to deep right field on a ball that was only 9 feet from giving St. Louis a 6-5 lead. It’s too bad that “almost” only counts in horseshoes and not baseball. After the Cardinals failed to score in the top of the 9th, it was up to Justin Bruihl to shut down the Dodgers in the bottom of the 9th. It started spectacularly when José Fermín made a great diving play on a ground ball from Kyle Tucker deep into the right-field hole throwing him out from the ground. Teoscar Hernandez was not so kind as the next Dodger up as he crushed a ground-rule double over the left field wall to give LA the potential winning run in scoring position. However, Bruihl struck out pinch-hitter Enrique Hernandez for the second out. Bruihl made life more difficult on himself when he threw a wild pitch advancing Hernandez to third. It was up to Will Smith to decide if the game would go to extras. We all held our breath as Smith hit a fly ball to deep right field that Nathan Church caught up against the wall. This game would not be decided in 9 innings.

Jose Fermin was the Cardinals “free runner” starting the inning at second base and he immediately was moved up to third as Nathan Church hit the first pitch he saw for a single up the middle giving St. Louis runners at first and third with no out in the 10th. Thomas Saggese, who’s having a career road trip so far, tapped a ball into the hole between second and first and beat the throw knocking in Fermin and giving the Cardinals a 6-5 lead and they were just getting started. Joshua Baez would sink the Dodgers hopes as he ripped his second double of the night into the left field corner scoring both Church and Saggese upping the Cardinals lead to 8-5.

It would be up to Riley O’Brien to lock down the game and the series for the Cardinals. He would have to face the top of the Dodgers lineup starting with Ohtani. With two strikes, Herrera would let a ball get away which would allow Dodgers free runner Will Smith to advance to third. Riley would shake that off and strike out Ohtani after 8 pitches for the first out. Tommy Edman would score Smith from third, but his groundout registered the second out. Mookie Betts lineout to center ended an epic come-from-behind Cardinals victory and a series and season series victory over LA.

The St. Louis Cardinals will enter the gauntlet again Thursday night as it’ll be game 3 against the Dodgers in Los Angeles. Quinn Mathews will start for the Cardinals going up against the formidable Tarik Skubal for the Dodgers. First pitch scheduled for 9:10pm central time at Dodger Stadium and the game broadcast will be available via Cardinals.tv.

How good has Austin Wells been of late? Initially starting this game on the bench, Wells joined the action in the eighth with a pinch-hit single to prime his bat for the true decisive blow — the go-ahead two-out, two-run single in the tenth to salvage a win from a day when it looked like the offense would squander another brilliant Cam Schlittler start.

Schlittler’s velocity was down about a tick-and-a-half from his amped up last start against the Red Sox, but that didn’t sap any of his effectiveness. After walking a career-high five batters his last time out (albeit across 5.2 scoreless against Boston), there seemed to be a concerted effort to really attack the zone. This led to quick outs on a lot of early contact in the opening innings before he honed his command to the edges, leading to an uptick in strikeouts toward the end of his outing.

He got three straight groundouts in the third and then navigated around a Vaughn Grissom single to leadoff the second by striking out Moisés Ballesteros on a pair of overpowering fastballs. The third and fourth brought another strikeout each, Schlittler remaining economical with his pitch count in both frames. The fifth saw him shift into high gear as he was able to gas a pair of four-seamers by Ballesteros and Christian Moore for his fifth and sixth strikeouts.

Schlittler needed to be shutdown given the way the offense struggled against Reid Detmers. Widely expected to get traded at the deadline, the Angels hung on to their starter and he rewarded them with a 1.55 ERA in eight starts since the break. The bats had no answer the first time through the order, Detmers needing just 30 pitches to make it through three perfect innings.

The script flipped upon facing him for the second time, Paul Goldschmidt and Cody Bellinger opening the fourth with a pair of singles. Heliot Ramos couldn’t follow suit, grounding into what is already his fifth double play in 76 plate appearances for the Yankees. However, Ben Rice kept the inning alive with a two-out infield single, allowing Amed Rosario to open the scoring with an RBI ground-rule double that one-hopped the fence in right. However, you couldn’t help but feel they left meat on the bone between the Ramos GIDP and Spencer Jones striking out to strand Rice at third.

There was a scary moment in the sixth when a Rice foul line drive struck a camera man in the head near the Yankees’ dugout, and it was relieving to see him get up under his own power and get carted off after an over ten minute delay. To Detmers’ credit, he settled down after the fourth, retiring ten of the final 11 batters he faced to end his outing with seven innings of one-run ball.

Schlittler kept cruising through the sixth, punching out Oswald Peraza on a gross curveball and Travis D’Arnaus looking on a painted heater. He got two outs into the seventh to make it 17 retired in a row before making his lone mistake of the outing, and unfortunately for him it left the yard, Grissom crushing a center-cut cutter to dead center just over the outstretched glove of Jones at the wall.

His pitch count was only at 83, so it was a no-brainer to send Schlittler back out for the eighth. He retired the side in order to complete eight innings for the third time this season. It was also his fifth straight start giving up one or fewer runs, and 19th such start overall on the year to set a new franchise record. He had all his pitches working, it’s just a shame the one mistake he made got punished on a night when his offense couldn’t hold up their end of the bargain. He ended his outing having given up a run on two hits and no walks with nine strikeouts in eight innings.

David Bednar was tasked with pitching a scoreless ninth to give his offense a chance in extra innings, and he did so with aplomb, striking out three to nullify a Mike Trout single. Off to extras this game went, the Yankees loading the bases with one out on a José Caballero single and Jazz Chisholm Jr. walk. A Luis García Jr. infield fly put them on the brink of wasting the opportunity, but it also brought one of their most clutch hitters of late to the plate in Wells.

Wells fouled off three straight elevated heaters before getting one he could handle, grounding a single just past the dive attempts of the first and second basemen to plate a pair and take the lead. That opened the floodgates against reliever Luke Murphy, who gave up three straight singles to Bellinger, Trent Grisham, and Rice, each one plating an additional run to make it 6-1 in favor of the Yankees by the time Rosario flew out to end the frame.

Recent bullpen signing Michael Fulmer was entrusted to record the final three outs, and he certainly made us sweat a little. He gave up a two-run blast to Ballesteros, but bounced back to retire the next two batters and nail down the victory, 6-3.

That is what you are supposed to do against the worst team in baseball. Stay in the game long enough until you expose their fatal flaw — in this case, LA’s bullpen — and then capitalize on the opportunities you create for yourself. It’s the Yankees’ fourth series win out of their last five as they become the second team in the AL to reach 80 wins and draw within 3.5 games of the Rays after they lost to the Mets earlier in the day.

The Yankees get tomorrow off before making the short journey to San Diego for three games. Max Fried is scheduled to make his second start back from his latest IL stint facing Walker Buehler in the opener Friday night. First pitch is scheduled for 9:40 p.m. ET with the broadcast remaining on YES.

Box Score

The Yankees' offense came alive in extra innings, scoring five in the 10th to defeat the Angels, 6-3, on Wednesday night in Anaheim. 

In the 10th, the Yankees had the bases loaded with two outs for Austin Wells. The backstop, who pinch-hit earlier in the game, hit a single past the diving first baseman to drive in two runs. Cody Bellinger, Trent Grisham and Ben Rice followed up with RBI singles.

New York outhit the Angels, 12-4, but the four straight hits in extras were the most impactful as the Yankees (80-60) pulled to 3.5 games of the Rays, who lost earlier in the day, for the top spot in the AL East.

Here are the takeaways...

-The Yankees could not get to Reid Detmers in this one, hitting into some bad luck on multiple occasions, but finally broke through in the fourth. With runners on first and second and two outs, Amed Rosario lined a ground-rule double into the stands in right field to score the team's first run.

Against Detmers, that was all they could do. The veteran left-hander allowed six hits, but just the one run across seven innings while striking out eight batters. 

-On the other side, Cam Schlittler was dealing. The Cy Young frontrunner allowed just one hit through six innings and retired 17 straight Angels before Vaughn Grissom took the right-hander deep with two outs in the seventh, smashing a 95 mph cutter over the center field wall just out of the reach of Spencer Jones (408 feet). 

Despite the solo shot, Schlittler strengthened his Cy Young credentials, pitching eight innings of one-run ball. He allowed one run on two hits, no walks, while striking out nine batters, all on 99 pitches. 

-Jones got the start in center field instead ofGrisham, but the rookie went 0-for-4 with four strikeouts.

-Aaron Boone used three pinch-hitters in this one, with Wells and Grisham coming through, combining to go 3-for-4 with three RBI. Luis Garcia Jr. was the third pinch-hitter and went 0-for-2 as he was benched for Paul Goldschmidt, who went 2-for-3 against the left-handed starter.

-David Bednar bounced back from his rough outing on Monday by striking out three in the ninth and allowing just one hit. With the five-run lead, Michael Fulmer came on in the 10th to wrap up the game, but the veteran right-hander didn't make it easy. He allowed a two-run home run to Moises Ballesteros but got the final two outs to end the game.

Game MVP: Austin Wells

Wells' single put the Yankees ahead for good.

Highlights

Amed Rosario opens the scoring! pic.twitter.com/OCxXsRBtTI

— SNY Yankees (@snyyankees) September 3, 2026

AUSTIN WELLS DELIVERS!

YANKEES LEAD IN THE 10TH! pic.twitter.com/Inb6SYaJog

— SNY Yankees (@snyyankees) September 3, 2026

CODY BELLINGER TACKS ON AN INSURANCE RUN pic.twitter.com/dweSVAv0S0

— SNY Yankees (@snyyankees) September 3, 2026

TRENT GRISHAM MAKES IT 5-1! pic.twitter.com/OXPd8CalEL

— SNY Yankees (@snyyankees) September 3, 2026

ANOTHER ONE!

Ben Rice's turn! pic.twitter.com/gKWBupm0et

— SNY Yankees (@snyyankees) September 3, 2026

What's next

After an off day, the Yankees head to San Diego for a three-game series with the Padres starting Friday. First pitch is set for 9:40 p.m.

The Yankees will send Max Fried (4-4, 2.80 ERA) to the mound while the Padres will send Walker Buehler (8-6, 4.66 ERA).

Welcome to SB Nation Reacts, a survey of fans across the MLB. Throughout the year we ask questions of the most plugged-in Padres fans and fans across the country.

The San Diego Padres made it through much of the 2026 season with bubble gum and duct tape holding their starting pitching staff together. Michael King and Walker Buehler have been the only two constants in the rotation while other starters like Randy Vasquez, Griffin Canning and German Marquez, who is no longer with the team, have been used as starters and have worked out of the bullpen as a result of their struggles on the mound. The one constant for the San Diego rotation has been inconsistency.

Padres general manager and president of baseball operations A.J. Preller tried to address the rotation at the trade deadline. He went out and got arguably two of the top starters on the market in Casey Mize from the Detroit Tigers and Robbie Ray from the San Francisco Giants. San Diego had to use some of what little capital it has left in the minor league system to make the additions, but the moves by Preller at the deadline were widely praised by MLB pundits and fans alike.

The additions of Mize and Ray could have been foreshadowing what was to come over the remaining months of the season. Starters Joe Musgrove and Nick Pivetta have each been working back from injury throughout the first half of the season. Musgrove has had a much slower rehab process recovering from Tommy John surgery following the 2024 season than was expected by much of the Friar Faithful. Pivetta went down early in the season and has slowly worked back to health and is pitching in various stages of the San Diego minor league system on rehab assignments.

Musgrove and Pivetta have each had setbacks in their processes and it was revealed on Wednesday that Musgrove had another setback with arm soreness following his last rehab start at Triple-A when the El Paso Chihuahuas were in Oklahoma City. Pivetta pitched for El Paso as well and looked good considering the last time he was on the mound in Lake Elsinore he walked off the mound suddenly and did not return to the game. It was revealed later he felt some discomfort, but it turned out to be inconsequential and he threw additional pitches in a bullpen session that same day.

King and Buehler were joined by Mize and Ray and the thought was Musgrove and Pivetta would be added to a potential six-man rotation or perhaps Buehler would be transitioned to a bullpen role. Based on the latest developments with Musgrove that may not happen and the Padres will have a rotation of King, Buehler, Mize, Ray and Pivetta. Vasquez, who had pitched better as of late before his latest outing against the Cincinnati Reds, could also make the claim he deserves to be in the rotation.

It may be a mute point depending on the health of Musgrove, but should he bounce back and have a minor setback before continuing his rehab, Gaslamp Ball wants to know who you think would have a greater impact on the team during the final 20-plus days of the season, Musgrove or Pivetta? Results of the Gaslamp Ball Reacts Survey poll will be published later in the week.

Brought to you by FanDuel Sportsbook, the official sportsbook partner of SB Nation.

Let’s play a game of Mad Libs. Here, you give me an adjective. Any adjective.

Got one? Okay, great. Here was the sentence we can plug it into:

The San Francisco Giants have been [adjective] this season.

If you said “bad,” or “pathetic,” or “dysfunctional,” or “worms for brains-esque,” then I regret to inform you that you’ve failed. The entire point of Mad Libs is to say things that are silly and funny because they’re so nonsensical.

If you said “good,” or “entertaining,” or “a paragon of virtue and functionality,” then wow. You’re funny. You’re like, really funny. Do you do stand up? You should. Have you mentioned in your Hinge profile how funny you are? People will love that.

But a broken clock is right twice a day (assuming it’s not a 24-hour clock), and the sun shines on a dog’s behind as many times as the dog lays out in the sun legs splayed in a way that only dogs can do. And yes, in a 162-game season, the Giants are occasionally good and entertaining and virtuous and functional.

Wednesday was one such day. The Giants beat the Pittsburgh Pirates 5-4 in 10 innings, and they looked the part of a good baseball team. It was far from a flawless game — the bullpen once again blew a lead — but baseball is not a sport for the flawless (which is why I’m so bad at it). Baseball is a sport for doing more things well than you do poorly, and cashing out when that marginally influences the odds in your favor.

And so the Giants won because the starting pitching was good, and the offense did some dandy things, and the defense played well, and when the bullpen coughed up the lead the offense picked it up and then the bullpen succeeded on their second chance.

Really, it was Buster Posey’s Platonic ideal of a baseball game. The pitching was strong. The defense saved them from a second straight walk-off loss. And, for just the second time since 2009, the offense came through with multiple sacrifice bunts and sacrifice flies.

It began with a very encouraging start from Landen Roupp, who is entering the cruise control portion of his season. He’s already surpassed his career high in innings (including in the Minors) by a full 35 frames, so the Giants only let him throw 75 pitches in this one.

But he positively dealt through those 75 pitches, which covered five innings. Roupp didn’t allow a single baserunner in his first pass through the lineup, while striking out four Pirates hitters.

He finally bent in the fourth inning, and, as he’s done so often recently, flirted with disaster. But, as he hasn’t done so often recently, he avoided said disaster. A leadoff single by Spencer Horwitz (which ricocheted off of Roupp) gave way to a one-out single by old friend Bryan Reynolds, which led to a walk issued to Nick Gonzales. Roupp impressively worked an unproductive out from Oneil Cruz for a second out, but immediately turned around and handed an unproductive walk to Esmerlyn Valdez, allowing a run to score.

With that out of his system, Roupp settled in. He got out of that jam, and promptly set down the side in the fifth, ending his night with just four baserunners and one run allowed.

It was enough to put Roupp in line for a win, thanks to the way the Giants have been balancing the star power of Rafael Devers with the scrappy and spirited approach of a bunch of contact-oriented youngsters with jobs to earn and reputations to create.

In the first inning it was said Devers star power, as the Giants slugger once again left the yard with a glorious and glamorous solo home run off of Bubba Chandler, which was his third home run in as many games, and his seventh in the last 13.

And in the fifth inning it was the scrappy youngsters (with an assist from Devers). Shay Whitcomb led off the inning with a double, and swapped places with Christian Koss when Koss hit a ground ball to the left side that Whitcomb broke on, resulting in a rundown that he kept alive long enough for Koss to run 180 feet. After Drew Gilbert walked, Devers slashed a single to load the bases, and Bryce Eldridge brought in the go-ahead run with a sacrifice fly.

But, unlike the Pirates in the inning prior, the Giants weren’t scared off by the presence of two outs. Tony Vitello’s contact-focused cleanup hitter approach paid off, with Turner Hill ripping a ball into right field for an RBI single, and a 3-1 Giants lead.

They gave those runs back, though, as the bullpen did what it does best: not play well.

They flirted with trouble in the sixth, with Reiver Sanmartin allowing runners to reach the corners before giving way to Ryan Walker with two outs, but Walker got the job done.

Walker did not, however, get the job done in the seventh, when he issued a highly uncompetitive walk to open the inning, then a single and a bunt. With runners at second and third and just one out, Walker handed the ball to Vitello who handed the ball to Carson Seymour, who threw the ball to Horwitz, who hit the ball to Koss who threw the ball to Devers, which is a very silly way of saying that the Pirates hit an RBI fielder’s choice to cut the lead in half.

It happened again in the eighth, when Reynolds led off with a double against Seymour, before Cruz brought him home on a single, tying the game.

With the bullpen having once again let down both the offense and the starting pitcher, you could feel an inevitable result incoming. We’ve seen it plenty of times this year, after all.

But no. By the skin of their teeth they took the game to the 10th inning. It began with some good fortune, when Jacob Gonzalez smacked a 1-out, 3-1 hanging sinker from Jason Foley to deep right field, just deep enough to be a walk-off home run in 10 parks … but not the one they were playing in. Instead, it was mercifully a double, and the inning would end three batters later, when a potential Reynolds walk-off single was plucked out of the air by a running and sliding Hill, who smoothly caught a liner that had an expected batting average of .900.

To extras the Giants went, where they booked a date with old friend Camilo Doval, who hasn’t had a great season, and didn’t add to it in this one. The Giants quickly moved the Manfred Man over, courtesy of a bunt by Osleivis Basabe, who had entered the game late (it seems Gilbert may have hurt his foot on a foul ball).

With the go-ahead run 90 feet from home, the Pirates made the choice to intentionally walk Devers. It was a defensible move, given how hot Devers has been, and seeing as how it put an inning-ending force play on the table.

But it sure is nice having multiple sluggers at long last, isn’t it? The lovely thing about avoiding Devers is that teams now have to face Eldridge who, to the delight of his grandmother in the stands, inside-outed a double the other way to give the Giants the lead.

Critically, they would get the insurance run in as well, when the do-everything Hill lifted a ball into the outfield for a sacrifice fly.

From there, all that was left to do was not blow the lead in the 10th inning. And while Dylan Smith gave you a brief scare by promptly allowing a leadoff single — which put the tying run on base — he then settled in and struck out two straight batters, before forcing a game-ending line-out.

It’s only one game, and the season is already lost. So don’t get any funny ideas about that humorous Mad Libs answer actually being serious.

But one game can be fun and one game can be entertaining and one game can feature functional baseball. This was one such game.

It was nice.