The Tigers started their post-Gage Workman era with a three-game series in Seattle against the Mariners after a day off on Monday. The pitching was magnificent and the hitters more than did their part, especially late, as the Tigers rolled to an easy 8-0 victory in the series opener.

The Tigers’ starting pitcher was Troy Melton. The young right-hander was coming off a sensational performance against the Orioles in which he pitched seven shutout innings and giving up a mere trio of hits, walking two and whiffing five. He had a fantastic July: five starts, 29 1/3 innings, three earned runs, and one single home run surrendered. Curiously, by WHIP (walks + hits per inning pitched), it was actually his worst month, as his per-month WHIP went 0.947, 0.800, 1.023 (after missing all of April). I know that’s a cherry-picked statistic, but it’s my recap and I’ll do what I like.

Emerson Hancock took the mound for the Mariners, and he’s been solid so far. He had a great seven-shutout-inning start himself in July, at home against the Blue Jays, and his WHIP for the season was a meagre 1.042 coming into tonight. He made his debut in 2022, and the biggest thing that jumps out about his statistics this year is a significant uptick in strikeouts per nine innings: last year it was a pedestrian 6.4, but this year it’s a more-robust 8.3.

After walking the leadoff hitter in the first, Melton really dialed-in his stuff, efficiently mowing down the Mariners. His four-seam fastball was hitting 97 mph, and he had both his cutter and changeup working against both lefties and righties.

In the top of the third Zach McKinstry led off with a double, and Kevin McGonigle’s grounder to second advanced McKinstry to third with one out. Gleyber Torres hit a chopper to shortstop and McKinstry immediately broke for home; a perfect throw barely got McKinstry at the plate for the second out, and the Tigers really should have challenged the call. Dillon Dingler singled to push Torres up to second; Riley Greene hit a grounder to the shortstop’s right, and Colt Emerson tried an off-balance throw to second base but it got away from him, allowing Torres to score.

Colt Keith then followed with a two-run single to make it 3-0. You gotta love it when errors are capitalized-upon.

In the top of the fourth, Max Clark made a lovely sliding, tumbling catch. He was playing deep but made up a ton of ground in a hurry, reaching a peak sprint speed of 30.1 ft/s (33.0 km/h, 9.17 m/s), per Jason Beck, per Statcast, per sophisticated cameras and computers.

With a single and a walk, the Mariners got runners on first and second with one out in the fourth. But Melton got Josh Naylor to strike out on a low splitter, and Cal Raleigh waved and missed at an outside changeup, and that was that for the threat.

Greene extended the lead in the top of the fifth with a one-out solo home run to centre for a 4-0 score. It was his sixteenth home run of the ear.

Melton looked great and capitalized on the Mariners trying to be aggressive early in counts: plenty of first- and second-pitch grounders kept his pitch count low and let him cruise through seven shutout innings, surrendering three hits, walking a pair, and striking out four. Fantastic.

Jacob Waugespack came in for the eighth and gave up a two-out walk, but otherwise did a mighty fine job at keeping Mariners hitters off-balance.

Seranthony Domínguez made his debut for the Mariners and let’s just say it didn’t go well for him, as the Tigers got to him pretty good. Javier Báez, whose swagger and confidence I really missed in his absence, challenged a full-count strike pitch to lead off the top of the ninth and was successful, getting on via a walk. McKinstry singled up the middle off the second baseman’s glove to push Báez up to third, and McGonigle’s grounder to second allowed Báez to score, putting the Tigers up 5-0. Torres followed with a two-run home run to left to make it 7-0, and Dingler followed that with a home run of his own for an 8-0 score.

Greene singled and Keith walked, and that was it for Domínguez. Cole Wilcox took over and got a pair of strikeouts to end the inning but plenty of damage had been done by that point.

Yilber Díaz, a waiver pickup from the Diamondbacks in June, made his new-team debut in the bottom of the ninth in a low-pressure situation. He struck out his first batter on a 98-mph fastball, but then he served-up a single and walked Naylor. However, Raleigh looked at a perfect bottom-rail strike three for the second out, and a challenged ball on a 2-2 count was overturned to a strike for the final out of the game.

Final score: Tigers 8, Mariners 0

How hot have the bats been?

Very!

Numbers and Notes

• I looked at the standings in the American League as a whole lately, and of course much has been said of the Tigers being 2.5 games out of the final Wild Card entering tonight. But something else jumped out at me, that I’d heard bandied-about: the Tigers had the second-biggest Run Differential in the league, only behind the Yankees.
• Tigers bench coach George Lombard’s son, George Jr., made his major-league debut tonight with the Yankees — and he hit a home run! George Sr. managed to make it to New York for the game.
• A certain ex-Tigers left-handed pitcher made his debut for the Dodgers tonight: 6 IP, 4 H, 2 R, 2 BB, 6 K. The Dodgers lost to the Cubs 5-1. Make of that what you will.
• On this day in 1914, both Belgium and the British Empire declared war on Germany after the Germans invaded Belgium. This happened a bit more than a month after Archduke Franz Ferdinand was assassinated; the complex set of treaties between nations in Europe ended up precipitating the Great War, and this was a big event in its evolution.

Tigers 8, Mariners 0

I’m a winner, see my prize: The Tigers
You’re a loser who sits and cries: The Mariners

Game Thread Comment of the Day

Every game after a trade deadline in which the Yankees did not add to their bullpen (and in fact subtracted) can feel like a referendum on Brian Cashman’s Aug. 3 decision-making.

After Monday’s loss, when Angel Chivilli imploded, Cashman could have been torched.

A night later, Cashman could have felt justified.

Fernando Cruz, Brent Headrick and David Bednar were excellent in combining for three scoreless innings in relief of Ryan Weathers to preserve a 2-0 victory over the Cardinals.

Headrick and Bednar did well to escape inherited danger. In the seventh, Headrick entered and induced a ground out from Nathan Church to strand a runner on third, before he passed a jam on to Bednar in the eighth, who struck out Nelson Velázquez on three pitches with the bases loaded before completing the club’s 12th shutout of the year.

“He’s been great,” manager Aaron Boone said of Bednar, who pitched a clean ninth and has not allowed a run in 24 of his past 25 appearances. “It’s been a couple months now where it’s been really lockdown by him.”

Their trade deadline inaction, when the only Yankees bullpen moves were shipping out Camilo Doval and Yovanny Cruz, will place additional pressure on the bullpen and its expected additions.

One of those possible additions, Clarke Schmidt, was expected to see a doctor Tuesday night after a shortened live batting practice earlier in the day, though the Yankees were not expressing much concern.

Schmidt, building up from 2025 Tommy John surgery and facing hitters again in what might have been a final step before a rehab assignment, felt some cramping in his forearm, which cut short his afternoon.

Expected to throw three “innings,” Schmidt settled for two.

“Hopefully it’s not much, but enough for him to say, ‘Let’s not do the third up,’” Boone said. “We’ll see what that looks like today and tomorrow.”

Boone said there were no immediate plans for Schmidt to receive imaging and, “Hopefully it’s just some cramping.”

Along with Schmidt, Will Warren and/or Weathers could become bullpen additions. One of the latter two would be transitioned if the Yankees’ rotation is at full health.

That dream is growing closer to becoming reality, Carlos Rodón coming through his own live BP on Monday well and expected to begin a rehab assignment with Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre on Saturday, Boone said.

Taking at-bats against Schmidt, for a second straight day of facing live pitching, was Giancarlo Stanton, Boone said.

Stanton, who had not faced live pitching before Monday since suffering the setback with his calf injury, continues to feel well as he slowly adds more to his regimen, Boone said.

Cody Bellinger (hamstring strain) is still weeks away from a return, but he is making encouraging progress, Boone said, after Bellinger ran in the outfield before the game.

“Belli’s trending in a really good direction, so I don’t think that’ll be too long,” Boone added.

Jazz Chisholm Jr.’s second-inning home run snapped an 0-for-13 stretch.

The White Sox (59-53) folded on offense and waved the white flag on the mound as the Red Sox (61-51) rolled to a 14-2 victory in Tuesday’s series opener, outhitting Chicago, 15-6. Davis Martin floundered through five innings while Patrick Sandoval worked smoothly through the South Siders despite struggling with his control, earning the W for the Red Sox.

Tonight was the second time this season that Martin has allowed nine runs; the other was June 16, while visiting the Yankees, when things really started to go downhill. There are definitely some red flags to consider as we head into crunch time in a tight division race, since this was the third outing in a row where he surrendered four or more runs. Davis owned a 3.62 ERA just a few hours ago, but Tuesday’s implosion has inflated it to 4.13 on the season. In his last seven starts (34 1/3 innings), he owns a rough 6.55 ERA with a 1.60 WHIP, and he’s been striking guys out at a much lower rate with just 20 Ks in this time span.

There may have been at least one explanation for Tuesday’s disaster. After the game, manager Will Venable said Davis Martin was tipping his pitches, an issue catcher Kyle Teel identified during the game and brought to the coaching staff’s attention. That doesn’t erase Martin’s recent struggles, but it does provide some context for why Boston’s hitters looked so comfortable from the opening inning.

Martin’s recent inconsistency is still worth monitoring. While tipping pitches may have contributed to Tuesday’s outing, his results over the past several starts have been uneven. His recent inconsistencies were one of the main reasons I was hoping Chris Getz would trade for another starting pitcher before Monday’s deadline, especially when everyone not named Sean Burke is a wild card when they start. Before the All-Star break — through June, really — Davis looked like he was approaching ace status, but he has been regressing lately, and it’s hard to imagine how he would perform in a playoff game at this moment in time. I’m still optimistic, and I’ve not given up on him by any means, but if we are being realistic, there’s quite a bit of uncertainty around his performance for the remainder of the season.

Right off the bat, Nick Sogard rattled Martin with a leadoff double off the Green Monster, then hit Ceddanne Rafaela square in the back on a curveball that got away to put two runners on. Davis navigated an out on a deep fly that advanced the runners, but back-to-back base hits from Willson Contreras and Masataka Yoshida scored the first run for the Red Sox, 1-0, and then loaded the bases with just one out. Naturally, Caleb Durbin demolished the second pitch he saw for a grand slam over the Green Monster in left, increasing the Boston lead to five, 5-0.

The way Boston has played over the last month needs to be studied for generations, because whatever chokehold they currently have on the baseball gods seems to be enough to overpower both the Pope AND a wizard. What I mean by that is Jarren Duran blasted a solo shot for the Red Sox to go back-to-back, tallying six earned for Davis in just the first inning, 6-0. Ouch.

It took 26 pitches for Martin to get out of the first, but he was fairly efficient through the next four frames, using just eight pitches in the third, ranging up to 15 in the other three. Davis did eventually work a 1-2-3 inning in the fourth, and the South Siders finally scored a run in the top of the fifth on a sacrifice fly from Miguel Vargas, 6-1. Miguel’s fly out seemed like it was sailing over the Monster before it was caught against it.

But of course, the Good Guys did not carry that momentum through their at-bats in the fifth inning: Randal Grichuk grounded into a double play to end the scoring threat, and Davis conceded his third home run of the game in the bottom of the fifth to hand the run right back and increase the Boston lead back to six, 7-1.

Still, the White Sox didn’t quit, making Patrick Sandoval work in some tough at-bats while drawing four free passes. Consecutive walks in the sixth put runners on for the Good Guys, but they managed only one run on Braden Montgomery’s RBI ground out. The Chicago bats went just 1-for-9 with runners in scoring position and left seven on base, so they could have walked several more times and probably still wouldn’t have been able to catch up without some clutch hits.

Earning his first official win of the season, Sandoval had a much better day on the mound and only gave up the two runs on six hits while striking out five. The Boston bullpen didn’t seem to have a problem either, as the South Siders didn’t get another hit after five, and Brayan Bello was set up nicely for a three-inning save, his first of the season.

On the other hand, Chicago went to righthander Erick Fedde out of the bullpen, who was tasked with essentially eating innings and getting through this disastrous game. Still, he, too, gave up five runs (four earned) on five hits, and that was on top of two more runs attributed to Martin. Not that the bats were promising enough to complete the five-run comeback, but the Red Sox tallied a half-dozen between the two pitchers in the sixth to extend the lead to 13-2.

It almost felt like things were going to settle down so we could just end the suffering, and I could stop watching, but Fedde went out with a bang, and Abreu blasted his second bomb of the game on a solo shot to pour salt in Chicago’s gaping wound, 14-2. Bello was able to retire the Sox in order during their final at-bats, and the South Siders need to reset after that wimpy performance in the series opener.

The only good news of the night is that both the Cleveland Guardians and Minnesota Twins lost Tuesday, leaving the White Sox to reflect on that horrific game while still holding a three-game division lead. Righthander Sean Burke is on the mound tomorrow as the Good Guys attempt to revive themselves and even out the series, so we’ll do it again tomorrow and hope for the best.

MVP
Miguel Vargas: 0-for-2, RBI, BB, 2 K, SF
Braden Montgomery: 0-for-3, RBI, BB

Runners Up
Chase Meidroth: 1-for-3, R, BB, K
Colson Montgomery: 1-for-3, R, BB
Brenton Doyle: 1-for-2, outfield assist in first game as a White Sox

Cold Cat
Davis Martin: 5 IP, 10 H, 9 R, 2 BB, K, 3 HR, HB, LOSS (9-5)
Erick Fedde: 3 IP, 5 H, 5 R (4 ER), BB, K, HR
Randal Grichuk: 1-for-4, 2B, GIDP, E

With Brian Cashman not adding a reliever before the trade deadline Monday, and with a pair of Yankees starters inching closer to returns, each start has become an audition for Ryan Weathers.

Carlos Rodón and Clarke Schmidt are both tracking toward rehab assignments, though Schmidt’s live batting practice Tuesday ended after two ups instead of three with forearm cramps that, at the very least, created a temporary scare.

Cam Schlittler, Gerrit Cole and Max Fried are already positioned atop the rotation. That’d create a rotation logjam and force two — with Will Warren also factoring into the equation — to shift to the bullpen if everyone remains healthy, but Weathers continued to make his case for a spot in the rotation Tuesday, tossing six scoreless innings in the Yankees’ 2-0 win over the Cardinals to extend his scoreless streak to a career-best 17 ²/₃ consecutive innings.

“We’re all in the same ballpark of like, if that’s what my job is and that helps us win ballgames, I mean, we all have the same end goal,” Weathers said when asked if he’d welcome a move to the bullpen or if he’d want to make a case to stay in the rotation. “So if that happens, then it happens. If it doesn’t, it doesn’t.”

Weathers needed just 88 pitches to navigate the Cardinals while scattering four hits, walking one and striking out six. He received plenty of help behind him from 21-year-old shortstop George Lombard Jr., who turned a pair of nifty double plays in his MLB debut. Weathers didn’t allow a runner to reach second base until the sixth inning, when JJ Wetherholt walked with two outs, Iván Herrera singled and Weathers stared down his first true jam of the night.

José Fermín drilled a sinker that carried an expected batting average of .940, according to Baseball Savant, but Heliot Ramos, making his Yankees (64-50) debut, made the catch.

“Just ran off the barrel enough to fly out to left,” Weathers said.

Manager Aaron Boone considered sending Weathers back out for the seventh inning before the walk and hard contact in the sixth, but it still marked the first time in Weathers’ career where he compiled consecutive starts with at least five scoreless innings. His ERA dropped to 3.79, the lowest it has been since May. Weathers abandoned his reliance on throwing the four-seam fastball over the past month — dropping from 28.2 percent in June to 13.3 in July, according to Baseball Savant — and threw it just seven times Tuesday, mostly due to the fact that “the other pitches stay in the ballpark,” Weathers said.

And with each of his past three starts, Weathers has started to answer the durability question that followed him to The Bronx when the Yankees acquired him in January, too. Injuries derailed his 2025 season, and he hadn’t made more than 16 starts in a season since 2021. After Tuesday’s outing, he’s up to 22 and 121 innings pitched — both career highs.

Those numbers will only continue to climb over the final two months, though that rate would significantly decrease in a bullpen role that, at the very least, Weathers is open to.

“He was efficient, he was on the attack and I thought just used his stuff really well,” Boone said.

CLEVELAND — Jefry Yan’s celebration is just beginning.

The demonstrative lefty reliever was called up from Triple-A Syracuse on Monday, landing him with the Mets as a 29-year-old rookie ready for his major league debut.

Yan, who celebrated strikeouts in the minor leagues with dances and gyrations on the mound, said he intends to continue those displays with the Mets.

“I am going to continue to go out there the same way,” Yan said through an interpreter before the Mets beat the Guardians 6-2 at Progressive Field. “I am going to go out there with the same type of emotion, the same type of fun — have fun like I am playing a kids’ game, like I always have.”

Yan, who originally signed with the Angels, was out of baseball for five seasons beginning in 2016 before returning with the Marlins, for whom he advanced as far as Triple-A. A stint playing in Japan followed before pitching in the Rockies minor league system last season.

He recalled working as a roofer during his years removed from baseball.

“I used to have a lot of friends there, a lot of Mexicans that I worked with and they always told me, ‘Don’t give up, you can make it to where you want to be,’” Yan said. “We always had a lot of camaraderie working there working there, but they always pushed me to strive for more.”

In 35 appearances this season split between Double-A Binghamton and Triple-A Syracuse he pitched to a 3.24 ERA with 77 strikeouts in 41 ²/₃ innings.

He is looking forward to his first major league appearance and strikeout.

“I am going to enjoy that first one,” he said. “I have worked a long time for that moment.”

Kodai Senga, who has been utilized in long relief since his removal from the starting rotation, will receive a chance to pitch in one-inning, high-leverage spots, according to interim manager Andy Green.

Senga aced his first chance on Tuesday, pitching a scoreless ninth inning against the Guardians.

“I am grateful for the opportunity and to be able to pitch in situations like that,” Senga said through an interpreter. “At the same time, I made sure to tell the team that I signed as a starter and starting is something I would like to do. But I understand my results, my stats, don’t show that I necessarily deserve a starting pitching rotation spot.”

Green noted that such one-inning bursts for Senga weren’t possible with Luke Weaver, Huascar Brazobán, Brooks Raley and A.J. Minter assuming such high-leverage roles. All four veterans were traded in the last week.

“I don’t think you can expect [Senga] to pitch three out of four [days] at this point in time, but his right arm has 100 mph in it and a nasty forkball and that profile plays for a late-inning reliever,” Green said.

Robert Stock will remain in the rotation as the fifth starter, according to Green. The right-hander allowed one earned run over five innings in his start against the Marlins on Sunday.

Green said he anticipates Luis Robert Jr. will continue to play regularly, but he could see some action in the corner outfield positions. The Mets were unsuccessful in trading the veteran center fielder before Monday’s deadline.

Just when you think it can’t get any worse…A comically pathetic 8th inning turns a possible actual win into just another disheveled loss and the “free fall” stats keep mounting.

It’s hard to believe that on June 19th the A’s were 38-38, winning percentage that would earn them a spot 1.5 games out of 1st place had they maintained it through this evening. In hindsight, it was probably a relatively poor strategy to go 7-30 thereafter, 5-26 in their most recent 31.

Before continuing, we need to take a moment to appreciate just how “Bad News Bears” the bottom of the 8th inning was. Tasked with holding a 4-3 lead, Hogan Harris began the inning with the obligatory lead off walk. To his credit he was efficient and needed only 4 pitches, cleverly conserving himself so he could offer his greatness to many ensuing batters.

Then he walked the second hitter because walking the first 2 you face has become a reliever’s mantra. No fewer than 3 different relievers did that in the same game not too long ago — I would tell you the exact date but the games all blend together now.

In the only normal at bat, JJ Bleday struck out. What followed was somewhat remarkable in that it took blunders from 3 different players to occur. Tyler Stephenson flied to RF deep enough for Elly De La Cruz to tag and go to 3B. Butler’s throw was one hop to the cut off man, Jacob Wilson, but Wilson let the ball go through. It went through to 3Bman Tommy White, who fielded the throw by not catching it and the ball rolled to Hogan Harris backing up. Harris looked at the ball, counted the stitches, and thought about his grocery list, but did not call time. So Sal Stewart, who had been anchored to the bag at 1B the entire time, jogged to 2B.

Undaunted, Harris got back on top of the mound where he proceeded to do his best Nick LaLoosh impression. He threw one pitch so far high and outside Jonah Heim checked his back pocket for a 1st row ticket to see if he was allowed to catch it. Another wild pitch appeared to hit Eugenio Suarez in the foot — until you realized what it hit was Heim’s glove clanking it. And so the A’s lost 5-4.

Every time you think, “Well, nowhere to go but up” the A’s manage to make a further mockery of the game. Without a doubt injuries have greatly impacted the team of late, but it’s also notable that Butler, Wilson, and Harris were all with the team out of camp and Heim has been healthy throughout his time with the A’s. It’s not all scrubs and fill-ins who are in the middle of each embarrassment. It’s everyone.

Which makes one wonder: so what’s next? Are we destined to witness Tyler Soderstrom range back for a fly ball only to trip over his shoelace and send the ball caroming over the wall for a HR? Might Jacob Lopez somehow commit a pitch timer violation, balk, and adultery all on the same pitch? Can we expect Alika Williams, with the bases loaded, to catch a pop up and toss the ball into the stands not remembering that it was the first out? Could Elvis Alvarado try the “hidden ball trick” and then cause a 30 minute delay because he can’t remember where he hid it? Will Donovan Walton push a suicide squeeze so hard to 3B it smacks Henry Bolte in his “good testicle” ending his season and any chance at fatherhood?

Probably.

Freddy Peralta’s stat line isn’t getting any better even after he was traded by the Mets before Monday’s deadline. 

The right-hander was supposed to help the retooled Mets roster this season, but things never panned out quite the way either side hoped, and he was dealt to the Rays, who got a taste firsthand of the struggles Peralta has been dealing with.

He lasted all of 3 ⅔ innings in his first outing for Tampa Bay that saw him surrender seven runs on nine hits – all earned – while also giving up a pair of home runs. 

Peralta did register three strikeouts and a walk during his brief appearance before he was pulled from the game in the bottom of the fourth inning for Cam Booser, after facing just one batter that inning. 

Peralta’s ERA on the season ballooned to 5.37 after the ugly appearance. 

Among the runs Peralta surrendered was a three-run blast by Mickey Moniak in the bottom of the third inning that tied the game at 5-5.

Mets fans are surely familiar with the struggles Peralta had while in Flushing, and he posted a 4.99 ERA and 1.478 WHIP during his stint. 

In a goodbye post on social media, he was candid about the disappointment he had with his time with the Mets. 

“Although things didn’t work out as we all hoped, I want to thank the fans, my teammates, and the Mets organization for the love that they showed me,” the pitcher wrote on Instagram. “I want to wish everyone the best on their journey.”

Metss interim manager Andy Green also said after the trade he could sense Peralta’s unhappiness. 

“I know he’s disappointed by it,” Green said. “He came here to anchor a rotation and felt the weight of that. From talking to him, he certainly doesn’t feel like it went the way he hoped it would. I think we all feel that way. I think where we are today screams that we’re all wishing we were in a different spot.”

A Mets double play saved Gary Cohen and Keith Hernandez from an “awkward conversation” during the SNY broadcast on Tuesday night. 

The two broadcasters were having a discussion in the bottom of the fourth when Hernandez referenced the old Milwaukee Braves, and Cohen began to mention the team’s mascot and logo — a depiction of a Native American. 

“The screaming Indian… That was a great logo,” Hernandez said on air, finishing the description that Cohen started of the mascot. 

“Well some people might not think so,” Cohen replied to Hernandez before Guardians outfielder Steven Kwan grounded into a 4-6-3 double play to end the inning. 

But the conversation didn’t seem to stop there as Cohen made a joke that the good defensive play by the Mets had helped change the topic. 

“Which saves us from that awkward conversation,” Cohen said. 

“Oh, it’s not awkward at all,” Hernandez retorted. 

Cohen continued with his recap of the inning as he prepared to toss the broadcast to a commercial break. 

“It’s good conversation,” Hernandez could be heard chiming in as the screen faded to black and the first commercial began to play. 

The use of Native American imagery has been a controversial topic over the years and several professional sports teams have changed their names and logos to move away from the imagery. 

The Commanders moved away from the Redskins nickname in 2020 and the Guardians rebranded from the Indians in 2022. 

The Milwaukee Braves moved to Atlanta and became the Atlanta Braves in 1966. 

The Texas Rangers scored five runs while the San Francisco Giants scored four runs.

About an hour ago, with Texas up 2-0 and with MacKenzie Gore fresh off a six shutout innings start, I started tackling this as though the Rangers were going to win. Then big deadline acquisition Chase Silseth allowed a two-run home run to former Rangers farmhand Osleivis Basabe and I just assumed the Rangers would go ahead pick up another irony-laden loss.

But then the Rangers mustered up their second rally of the night in the bottom of the eighth and scored a couple of runs to turn the game over to Jacob Latz and I assumed the Rangers were going to win and break this hellish losing streak.

However, Latz hadn’t pitched since July 28 and was rusty enough to blow a rare save opportunity as he allowed a couple of Giants runs in the nine. At that point, I had deleted like three post game threads.

Jake Burger led off the Rangers’ half of the ninth with a double and hey, maybe the Rangers would actually pull it out, but then it seemed like they would not.

But then series thorn in Texas’ side Jung Hoo Lee misplayed a decently struck ball from Ezequiel Duran with two outs allowing Burger to moonwalk home and the Rangers won the game. Streak over. How about a winning streak instead?

Player of the Game: I will say Duran because he’s the first Ranger to ever have a hit with the bases loaded. And also this:

lol

Up Next: The Rangers and Giants close out this series with a pitcher to be named for Texas against LHP Carson Whisenhunt for San Francisco.

The Wednesday afternoon finale first pitch from The Shed is set for 1:35 pm CDT and you can catch it on the Rangers Sports Network.

More game thread!

CHICAGO –– Outside the ballpark, there was signage calling him overrated. Above the Friendly Confines, a prop plane towed a banner saying his new team is ruining baseball.

When he took the mound for the first time, the better part of 40,000 fans booed him intensely.

At various points during his debut start with the Dodgers, the stadium then mockingly chanted his name.

If Tarik Skubal was curious about what kind of spotlight would be upon him now, in the wake of the Dodgers’ blockbuster trade for him last Saturday, all he had to do was scan his surroundings at Wrigley Field on Tuesday night to find out.

With his new team, comes a whole new level of polarizing expectation.

“I do think that Tarik will get that kind of reception every time he toes the rubber,” manager Dave Roberts said.

In his first game with the Dodgers, Skubal largely pitched well in a 5-1 defeat.

He began the night by freezing Pete Crow-Armstrong with a 99 mph sinker. He retired five more in a row from there before Dansby Swanson ambushed a first-pitch fastball for a leadoff home run in the third. After escaping a jam later that inning, he mowed down the next eight he faced, collecting his sixth and final strikeout of the night on another 99 mph that blew away Crow-Armstrong for the first out in the sixth.

And if not for Kyle Tucker whiffing on a fly ball at the wall two batters later, or Nico Hoerner trampolining an infield RBI single straight off the plate and some 20 feet in the air with two outs in the frame, his final line likely would’ve looked even better than his (still quality) six-inning, two-run mark.  

“It felt like my major league debut,” Skubal said afterward. “Kind of same type of vibe in terms of the nerves running through. But I think that’s all good stuff.” 

The real story was just how much the Wrigley Field crowd reviled his presence.

For as much excitement bustled through the Dodgers’ home clubhouse pregame –– “It’s just not another game,” Roberts said beforehand –– there was an equal level of disdain from the opposing fans.

So it will go for Skubal and the Dodgers the rest of this year, after the club already labeled as baseball’s biggest villain added the reigning two-time Cy Young Award winner to its star-studded roster.

“I don’t know what to expect,” Skubal said, striking a complementary tone while comparing the atmosphere to a playoff environment. “I’m going to go play baseball, but I’m not going to try and predict the future.”

Skubal stays in rhythm

Skubal’s day started with routine.

Three hours before first pitch, his 6-foot-3 frame was sprawled out on the floor of Wrigley Field’s visiting clubhouse, with a towel rolled up underneath his legs as he went through a series of stretches.

After that, he walked into a closed-doors game-planning meeting with his new battery mate, and fellow deadline arrival, Ben Rortvedt –– who had only arrived in Chicago on Tuesday morning after being reacquired by the Dodgers on Monday afternoon.

Then, as fans began piling into the ballpark, he emerged on the field to his first chorus of boos, which only grew as he got loose in the outfield before his pregame bullpen session.

“It’s a ton of fun to play in front of crowds like that,” Skubal said. “Even if they’re booing me or whatever it is, I think that’s what makes the game of baseball really fun.”

Indeed, neither Skubal nor the Dodgers will mind such reactions.

It’s all a reminder of the dominance both have displayed even before they united for another World Series push last week.

To Roberts, it’s the way Skubal embraces such moments –– his “intensity” and “compete” –– that has always struck him most about the 29-year-old left-hander anyway.

“I don’t want to say [he is] old school, but it’s a guy who’s just physical and he’s coming after you with electric stuff, high-octane,” Roberts said, later adding: “In between the lines, he’s a dog. Outside the lines, he’s humble, respectful, does and says the right things. That’s what you want. Just fortunate that he’s pitching for us.”

Instead, the most unfortunate part of Tuesday night was the way the rest of team played around its new ace.

In what was a season-high fifth-consecutive loss, the Dodgers managed just four hits, rolled into two double-plays (including one right before Tucker hit a solo blast for their lone run), and watched their slumping bullpen struggle again after Skubal was pulled after only 85 pitches.

“I’m not going to push him every time out,” Roberts said of that decision. “We have a lot of baseball left to play. He’s a guy that we’re all counting on. so I think that I’m going to manage, pick my spots with him.”

Alex Vesia gave up two hits in the seventh that became two runs –– the latter scoring when Evan Phillips replaced him but failed to escape a jam. Recently returned closer Edwin Díaz only got two outs in the eighth, getting the hook from Roberts after allowing a home run, a walk and a single.

That left Skubal saddled with the losing decision in his debut performance. 

It also offered a reminder that, for as good as their roster now looks, and as much grief as they will take from the rest of the sport, the Dodgers also aren’t invincible.

“I don’t know the answer of what’s got to give,” Roberts said, with the Dodgers (69-45) now trailing the Milwaukee Brewers for the National League’s top record and holding only a half-game lead on the Atlanta Braves for a top-two seed and first-round playoff bye. “But we got to find a way to win a ball game.”

Really, this is why the team went out and traded for Skubal in the first place; content to rankle opposing fan bases and frustrate rival teams to do everything it can to maximize their three-peat chances.

For Skubal, it creates a new reality.

And he didn’t have to wait long to feel the pressure he’ll now face.