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The 2026 Red Sox season will be made or broken over the next three weeks. So says team president Sam Kennedy, anyway, acknowledging that this floundering team doesn’t have much time to turn itself into buyers before the trade deadline. To that end, this afternoon’s game is exactly what the Red Sox needed.

Facing a tough pitcher but countering with a tough pitcher of their own, the pitching-and-defense Sox got just enough offense to pull out a win against Jacob deGrom and the Texas Rangers. The Sox scratched across two runs via four singles in the third while Ranger Suarez finessed his way through the Rangers lineup as usual. Then Ceddanne Rafaela said ‘Nuff Cedd in the seventh, knocking in two runners who, frankly, didn’t even deserve to be on base. This is probably the type of win that the Red Sox brass had in mind when they flew north from Fort Myers this Spring, the type of win there just hasn’t been enough of this year, particularly at Fenway, and the type of win they’ll need even more off for the rest of June if they’re going to salvage this season.

Three Studs

Ranger Suárez: Many people (hi, it’s me, one of the many) were critical of the Ranger Suárez signing this offseason. Not because he was a bad pitcher, but because he was a poor fit for a roster that had plenty of starting pitching depth but little offensive fire power. This season has mostly proven those skeptics right — the Sox have an exponentially greater need for a bat than an arm. But having said that, Ranger is a delight to watch on the mound, and I have a feeling he’s going to continue to be so for the length of his stay in Boston. I love having this dude on the team.

Ceddanne Rafaela: Speaking of a “delight to watch,” there is no better descriptor in the English language for the Red Sox centerfielder. Not only did he patrol center with his usual aplomb, but he also came through in the clutch in the seventh inning with the two-run knock that gave the Sox a lead they would not lose. Did Rangers pitcher Robby Ahlstrom help him out by inexplicably throwing a breaking ball in the zone after Ceddy chased two high fastballs? Yes, he did. But that’s not Ceddy’s fault.

The beautiful vagaries of baseball: The Red Sox are extremely fortunate that Rafaela even had two men on in the seventh to knock in, given that his plate appearance was preceded by two noncompetitive at-bats by Caleb Durbin and Marcelo Mayer in that inning. But baseball is weird, and those two at-bats were surrounded by two successful swinging bunts by IKF and Carlos Narvaez. Baseball — like life — is just weird sometimes.

Two Duds

Caleb Durbin: But, yeah, that competitive seventh inning at-bat, which ended with Durbin looking at a fastball right down the pike, was pretty ugly. He went 0-4 on the day and was the only Red Sox starter to fail to collect a hit.

Tyron Guerrero: I’m not mad at Tyron— absolutely no one expected that he’d be called on to hold a lead in a high-leverage situation this year. But after Ceddy’s seventh inning knock, he did his best to give the game back to the Rangers, allowing a homer and hitting a batter before being lifted in the eighth.

Play of the Game

Can I give it to Bill Lee for his performance-enhanced in-booth appearance?

The Actual Play of the Game

If not, then here’s ‘Nuff Cedd.

Dodgers superstar Shohei Ohtani stepped into the batter’s box at Rate Field for the first time this series on Saturday, greeted by a smattering of boos from Chicago White Sox fans.

He took his first swing at the second pitch of the game. And he sent it into the right-field stands. A no-doubt homer, proclaiming that his availability no longer was in doubt.

Ohtani returned to the lineup for the Dodgers’ 7-1 win against the White Sox, after exiting the game Thursday at Pittsburgh and missing Friday‘s game because of inflammation in his left knee.

“I felt good waking up in the morning,” Ohtani said through interpreter Will Ireton after going one for three with a home run and three walks. “I feel good now. So I’m pretty confident that I’ll be able to stay healthy, and should be good to go tomorrow as well.”

Ohtani also tested his knee playing catch before the game. And the Dodgers will continue to monitor him as he prepares to take the mound Wednesday against the Tampa Bay Rays at Dodger Stadium.

“It wasn’t 100% today,” Ohtani said. “But with the next three, four days, I feel pretty confident, with enough recovery, that I should be able to make the next start.”

Read more:Yoshinobu Yamamoto flirts with perfect game, MLB record in Dodgers' victory

Ohtani said he hasn’t been able to pinpoint the cause of the swelling. But he has a theory.

“All I can really know for sure is that I think my mechanics weren’t quite great in terms of my pitching side,” he said, “so I believe that had something to do with this.”

Even before Ohtani’s knee swelled, the Dodgers planned to have him pitch the day before their day off Thursday. They switched Ohtani and left-hander Justin Wrobleski in the rotation order to have Wrobleski pitch Tuesday on regular rest.

That remains the plan, even after Wrobleski was hit in the leg by a comebacker during his start Thursday. He left the game after that play in the fifth inning with a bruised right hamstring.

The Dodgers considered bringing in a spot starter, manager Dave Roberts said, in order to keep the full rotation on extra rest.

“But considering how Wrobo’s start went short, feels good after it, we feel the four days’ rest will be fine for him,” Roberts said. “And then where Shohei is at, we feel good about just leaving it status quo.”

Ohtani returned Saturday without restrictions in his designated hitter role — except one request from his manager, after a couple of days of parsing whether a steal attempt that was snuffed out by a foul ball had contributed to Ohtani’s inflammation.

Though they didn’t find a clear cause for it, Roberts made it clear Saturday: “There will be no base stealing.”

Sign up for more Dodgers news with Dodgers Dugout. Delivered at the start of each series.

This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.

José Ramírez, the Cleveland Guardians' seven-time All-Star third baseman, fractured the hamate bone in his left hand Saturday, June 13, an injury that will likely sideline him well into the second half of the season. 

Ramírez was removed from the Guardians' 3-1 victory over Detroit and the club announced the fracture after the game. His absence will be considerably longer if surgery is required to remove the bone, but the likely minimum absence is six weeks. 

Tarik Skubal start highlights: Tigers ace pulled in fifth in 3-1 loss

That's a harsh blow for the Guardians (39-33), who on Saturday pulled into first place, a half-game ahead of the Chicago White Sox. Ramírez leads the American League with 24 stolen bases and his .754 OPS trails only Brayan Rocchio's .762 mark on the Guardians. 

Ramírez was the third Guardian to leave Saturday's game due to injury. Outfielder Chase De Lauter suffered a right ribcage contusion hitting the wall while making a first-inning catch, and Angel Martinez left the game with a left foot contusion shortly after fouling the first pitch of the game off his foot.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Jose Ramirez injury timeline after hamate bone fracture

The list of things the Cincinnati Reds got on Saturday evening in Great American Ball Park amounts to a what’s what of things that have proven to be pitfalls for them so often over their last ~40 or so games.

First, they put together some back to back hits with 2-outs, as Matt McLain socked an early double and was immediately driven in by an Edwin Arroyo single. Hits with 2-outs, hits of any variety with a runner in scoring position have been so few and far between from this offense that the stranded runners on the bases might as well have bought real estate out there.

Then, they got a lockdown performance from a starting pitcher after an early foible. Rhett Lowder turned in his best start since the first week of April (5.2 IP, ER, 5 H, 2 BB, 6 K) and did so even after serving up a homer to Corbin Carroll in the Top of the 1st that immediately put the Reds in a hole. He limited walks, finally, and showed once again how good he can be controlling all parts of the zone when his arm, body, experience, etc. are all in the right place.

That run Lowder allowed in the Top of the 1st? It proved to be the only run allowed by Reds pitchers all game, which is an endorsement of just how good the bullpen managed to be once Lowder yielded. Caleb Ferguson, Chase Petty (in relief!), and Tony Santillan combined to fire 3.1 IP of scoreless ball, and did so while only issuing a lone walk – that’s a marked improvement for a unit that’s been so maligned.

And while the offense on the day only managed to muster a pair of runs, the second one came on a big swing in a huge spot. Noelvi Marte swatted a homer for the second straight game, his coming with an out in the Bottom of the 8th to give the Reds a 2-1 lead that Santillan would hammer down with a save minutes later. It’s precisely the kind of momentum-changing swing that Cincinnati simply has not been able to muster of late, and the life it breathed into the dugout was palpable through the TV feed.

Cincinnati won, 2-1, and leveled the series with Arizona. On Sunday, they’ll send the red-hot Andrew Abbott to the mound to try to win a series and eschew the absolutely abysmal vibes they’ve been mired in during their four-series losing streak, a period of time that also saw them lose their face in Elly De La Cruz.

Maybe, just maybe, Marte’s homer ends up a demarcation point in this season where things began to finally, mercifully turn back towards the positive.

Well, this was yet another game that the Diamondbacks should have won. Michael Soroka really seems to be back to the form that earned him second place in the 2019 Rookie of the Year vote. He pitched seven innings, only allowing two hits and one hit batsman while striking out 7. The Diamaondbacks, meanwhile, racked up seven hits, three walks, with three other baserunners reaching thanks to two hit-by-pitch incidents and one fielding error. Over the course of the game nine of those baserunners wound up in scoring position. Sadly however, if you saw those comparative numbers and expected that the team with so many more chances to score would win the game, you would be wrong.

There’s honestly not that much more to say about this one. Things started off well enough, with Corbin Carroll launching the first pitch he saw from Reds starter Rhett Lowder over the right field wall for a one-out solo dinger:

One out later, Nolan Arenado drew a five-pitch walk and, somewhat hilariously, stole second to make himself the first Diamondback of the game to get into scoring position. Pavin Smith, as one might expect, did Pavin Smith things, so Arenado remained where he was. 1-0 D-BACKS

Geraldo Perdomo was hit by a pitch to begin the second, and was left standing there after the bottom of the order did bottom-of-the-order things with a lineout to center and then consecutive strikeouts. Ketel Marte lined a single to right to lead off the third, and one out later Gabriel Moreno dropped a bloop single just inside the right field line to advance Marte to second (which is to say scoring position) with less than two outs. Arenado struck out, however, and Pavin Smith did another Pavin Smith thing, grounding out to first base.

Meanwhile, after cruising through his first two innings of work with only 27 pitches thrown after all, Soroka hit his first and only patch of trouble after striking out the first two batters he faced in the bottom of the third. Matt McLain lined a double to deep left field, and then Reds’ leadoff hitter Edwin Arroyo blooped a single to shallow right that allowed McLain to score from second. 1-1 TIE

After that, it was smooth sailing for Soroka, who didn’t allow another baserunner as he proceeded to cruise through the fourth, fifth, sixth, and seventh innings. The Diamondbacks offense, meanwhile, continued to threaten: Marte hit a comebacker with one out in the fifth that hit Lowder and rolled away for an infield single. One out later Moreno lined a double to center that Reds center fielder Noelvi Marte dove for and missed. It looked like he might catch it, though, right up until he didn’t, so Ketel had to stay put at second and was only able to advance to third. So that was two more runners in scoring position, though with two outs this time. Nolan Arenado, who really sucked today at the plate, grounded weakly back to the mound, bringing the number of runners in scoring position who were left there to four. Perdomo walked with one out in the sixth and stole second base, but was left standing there (RISP #5) as Tommy Troy and Adrian Del Castillo struck out.

The Diamondbacks even managed to load the bases in the top of the seventh against the Reds bullpen, thanks to a one-out Marte walk (#6), a Corbin Carroll infield single (#7), and Moreno getting drilled in the arm by a pitch. However, Nolan Arenado struck out and Pavin Smith flied out to left on the first pitch he saw. Tommy Troy reached with one out in the eighth on an error by Reds third baseman Sal Stewart, and was able to advance to third (#8) on a two-out Ryan Waldschmidt double (#9). That flipped the lineup over for Ketel Marte, who, despite having reached base on three of his four trips to the plate to that point, only managed a weak grounder to second.

So onto the bottom of the eighth with the game still all tied up and Juan Morillo taking the mound. The good? He struck out three of the four batters he faced. The bad? The one batter he didn’t strike out was Noelvi Marte, to whom he hung a slider that Marte promptly sent into the left field seats. And given that Carroll, Moreno, and Arenado all grounded out on the infield in the top of the ninth, that’s yer ballgame right there. 2-1 CincinnatiFINAL

Loss Probability Added, courtesy of FanGraphs

Overachiever: Michael Soroka (7 IP, 2 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 0 BB, 7 K, +36% WPA)
Achiever: Gabriel Moreno (4 AB, 2 H, 1 2B, +10% WPA)
Underachievers: Juan Morillo (1 IP, 1 R, 1 ER, 1 HR, 3 K, -21% WPA), Pavin Smith (4 AB, 0 H, -23% WPA), Nolan Arenado (4 AB, 0 H, 1 BB, 2 K, 1 SB, -26% WPA)

Kind of a slim Gameday Thread this afternoon, with only 162 comments at time of writing. The rec rationing, too, seems like it continues, as while several comments went “Sedona Red,” none of those got more than four recs. So I’m giving this one to gzimmerm, for saying something that, while it’s been said before, needs to be said again and again until it becomes a reality, or until reality changes:

Thanks to our win on Friday night, at least we still have a shot to take our first series in quite awhile. Unfortunately, Zac Gallen is taking the mound for the Diamondbacks, while the Reds send out lefty Adam Abbott, whose numbers aren’t that great (4.10 ERA) but who’s still performing far better than our guy. This will be an early one, as well, with first pitch scheduled for 10:40am AZ time. Hopefully you can join us for the rubber match.

As always, thanks for reading, and as always, go Diamondbacks!

Well, the good times were bound to run into a blip eventually, and this blip happened in overwhelming fashion.

Sean Burke fed Shohei Ohtani an upper-zone fastball on the second pitch of the game and it ended up 409 feet away. Then, after a Mookie Betts single, Burke went 3-0 on Max Muncy, at which point Steve Stone warned Muncy would have the green light. Burke didn’t hear him and fed another fastball in the zone, this one deposited 415 feet away to make it three-zip.

After that, the only thing of interest in the game for the sellout crowd was whether Yoshinobu Yamamoto would throw a perfect game. That drama lasted through 23 Sox hitters, until Mookie Betts booted a routine grounder by Chase Meidroth:

(For those keeping track of such things, getting on via error does not extend an on-base streak, so Meidroth’s ended at 22 and his hitting streak died at 12.)

Yamamoto ended up losing the no-hitter and shutout when Tristan Peters led off the ninth with a 388-foot shot just inside the foul pole, but who’s to say whether Peters would have gotten a nice fastball right down the middle from a pitcher who hadn’t thrown such a thing all game if the perfect game was still in play?

Whilst the Sox were flailing — Yamamoto ended up with seven strikeouts — the Dodgers mainly just watched pitches go by. Burke ended up walking five and first reliever Joe Rock, just up from Charlotte, added five more in three innings and hit a couple of Dodgers as well.

The mighty L.A. lineup did little more to help itself until Muncy hit a second two-run shot in the eighth — Ohtani being given little chance to do anything because he was walked three times and Betts being the only other Dodger to do much (three singles to raise his average to a mighty .196). The Dodgers left 11 on base in the first six innings alone, and that was after hitting into rally-killing double plays twice, and were 1-for-11 with runners in scoring position. Save that, things could have been truly ugly.

The loss runs the White Sox record to 37-32 and puts them a half-game behind the Guardians, who beat the Tiges and Tarik Skubal this afternoon. But José Ramírez suffered a broken hamate in the game, so Cleveland may be in trouble.

Rubber match against the Dodgers is tomorrow afternoon, Erick Fedde vs. Emmet Sheehan, who couldn’t even make it through the second inning against the Angels last time out.

SAN FRANCISCO — Saturday notes…

• ONE DAY AT A TIME: A win today would be the Cubs’ third straight for the first time since their second 10-game winning streak ended on May 8. They are 9-22 since then and have won back-to-back games three times. The first two were May 14-15, at Atlanta and at the White Sox, and May 27-28, at Pittsburgh. (Courtesy BCB’s JohnW53)
• I LEFT MY WINS IN SAN FRANCISCO: The last time the Cubs won the first two games of a series at San Francisco was in 2023. That was the first since 2013, when they completed a three-game sweep. They lost the third game in 2023. (Courtesy BCB’s JohnW53)
• SATURDAY IN THE PARK: The Cubs already have lost more games on Saturdays on the road than they did all of last season. They are 3-3 this year. They finished last year 11-2. (Courtesy BCB’s JohnW53)
• TODAY IN CUBS HISTORY: Terry Shumpert hit a three-run walk-off homer in the 14th inning — one of just two home runs he’d hit as a Cub — and the Cubs defeated the Padres 6-3. It happened 30 years ago today, Thursday, June 13, 1996.

Cubs lineup:

Giants lineup:

Ben Brown, RHP vs. Trevor McDonald, RHP

Ben Brown has been the Cubs’ best pitcher for a month now. That’s great for the team and great for him.

Since joining the rotation May 8: 1.44 ERA, 0.766 WHIP, 1.89 FIP, 34 strikeouts in 31.1 innings, and of course his great homerless streak, which is now 219 batters since the first hitter he faced this year (Jacob Young of the Nationals) homered off him.

Do good again, Ben.

Trevor McDonald threw five innings against the Cubs last Sunday at Wrigley Field and allowed one run in five innings, striking out six.

The Cubs will need to do better than that today to win.

Here is the weather forecast for the area around Oracle Park.

Today’s game is on Marquee Sports Network.

Here is the complete MLB.com live streaming page for today.

MLB.com Gameday

Baseball-reference.com game preview

Please visit our SB Nation Giants site McCovey Chronicles. If you do go there to interact with Giants fans, please be respectful, abide by their individual site rules and serve as a good representation of Cub fans in general and BCB in particular.

The 2026 game discussion procedure has been changed, so please take note.

You’ll find the game preview, like this one, posted separately on the front page two hours before game time (90 minutes for some early day games following night games).

At the same time, a StoryStream containing the preview will also post on the front page, titled “Cubs vs. (Team) (Day of week/date) game threads.” It will contain every post related to that particular game.

The Live! (formerly “First Pitch”) thread will still post at five minutes to game time. It will also post to the front page. That will be the only live game discussion thread. After the game, the recap and Heroes and Goats will also live on the front page as separate posts.

You will also be able to find the preview, Live! thread, recap and Heroes and Goats in this section link. The StoryStream for each game can also be found in that section.

Discuss amongst yourselves.

Why did the umpires overturn Juan Soto's home run in the ninth inning?

When asked about the umpires' explanation for the controversial overturning of a solo homer hit by Juan Soto, Mendoza responded that "they didn't see the ball leave the ballpark.

Soto's homer would've been a much-needed shot in the arm for a Mets lineup that struggled all day against the Braves, and it came in a pivotal spot, as the slugger was leading off in the bottom of the ninth with the Mets down 3-1.

Given the lengthy review, and the presence of a fan reaching over the railing in right field to attempt catching the long fly ball (much to the frustration of Braves left fielder Mike Yastrzemski), many were wondering if the call of a ground-rule double was made due to fan interference. However, Mendoza clarified, "there was no fan interference" on the play.

"It was tough to tell from the big screen," the skipper lamented.

Lack of clutch hitting continues to cost the Mets

Today's loss was yet another instance of the Mets offense not being able to get going when it matters most.

The Mets have the fourth-worst OPS in all of MLB with runners in scoring position (.679), and today they were 0-for-3 with RISP.

Two of those opportunities came in the ninth inning, after the aforementioned double by Soto to lead off the inning. Mark Vientos struck out swinging, Marcus Semien walked, and Francisco Alvarez grounded into a double play to end the game.

"We created traffic," Mendoza said when asked about the team's inability to come up clutch. "We couldn't come up with the big hit, that's how good modern-day bullpens are, especially [Atlanta's], gotta give them credit."

Mendoza also called for a more disciplined approach from his hitters.

"We have to do our thing. Get better at-bats against good pitching... you have to be able to work some really good at-bats."

Yoshinobu Yamamoto was nearing major league history on Saturday afternoon.

Mookie Betts doomed any chances of that, however.

The Dodgers shortstop booted a routine grounder in the bottom of the eighth inning against the White Sox in Chicago, ending any chance the star right-handed pitcher could achieve baseball immortality in the Los Angeles’ 7-1 win.

Already with two outs in the frame, Yamamoto induced a ground ball from Chase Meidroth. Betts shuffled to his left and got in perfect position to field it, but the grounder bounced off him and caromed toward second baseman Santiago Espinal, who bobbled the ball and dropped it without being able to make a throw.

“Just a routine ground ball that I missed,” Betts told reporters after the game. “Not making any excuses.”

Yamamoto got out of the rest of the inning unscathed, so a no-hitter was still intact in the ninth. But Tristan Peters ended that chance at history with a lead-off solo homer.

The Dodgers hurler, had he thrown the perfect game, would have become the 25th pitcher to do so in MLB history and the first since ex-Yankees right-hander Domingo German did so in 2023.

Instead, Yamamoto’s effort will likely become just a small footnote in baseball history in the Dodgers win at Rate Field.

For Betts, who shifted to shortstop full-time last year, it marked just his second error of the season after having seven last year.

Betts has been mired in a slump at the plate this season, but he went 3-for-5 with three runs scored on Saturday.

The 2018 American League MVP’s average (.196) and OPS (.611) still remain far below career norms.