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Tarik Skubal's name continues to loom over the 2026 MLB trade deadline, even as questions remain about whether the Detroit Tigers have any real interest in moving their ace.

Skubal threw 6⅔ scoreless innings with six strikeouts during his start against the Baltimore Orioles on Wednesday, July 29. He left with the Tigers leading 7-0, but the Orioles rallied for a 10-9 extra-innings win. It was a gut-punch of a loss that caused some to believe it will be Skubal's last start in a Tigers uniform.

With contenders across baseball searching for front-line pitching, Skubal – who has won the past two American League Cy Young Awards – obviously stands out as one of the most impactful players who could potentially become available. Detroit heads into Thursday with a 51-58 record, six games out of first place in the American League Central, and 4½ games out of the final wild-card position.

Follow along here for the latest reports, rumors and news surrounding Skubal's trade market as the deadline approaches.

When is the MLB trade deadline?

Teams must have their trade details finalized and submitted to the league office by the deadline in order for any acquired players to be eligible for the playoffs. After that, players on 40-man rosters can't be traded.

• When: Monday, Aug. 3
• Time: 6 p.m. ET

Will Tigers trade Tarik Skubal?

Just in case the Tigers needed further clarity on what to do with Tarik Skubal, his teammates determined his fate Wednesday in an excruciating loss that was a microcosm of their season.

The Tigers led 7-0 entering the seventh inning and blew it.

It not only resulted in a 10-9, 12-inning loss to the Baltimore Orioles, but left the Tigers no choice but to trade the two-time Cy Young Award winner.

It leaves the Tigers five days to find the best trade partner for Skubal before the Aug. 3 deadline.

It will be a painful move, but a necessary one, writes USA TODAY Sports' Bob Nightengale.

Nightengale: Chances of Tarik Skubal getting traded at least 80%

Before Tarik Skubal's start against the Orioles on Wednesday, USA TODAY Sports' Bob Nightengale said he believes there was at least an 80% chance of the Tigers trading Tarik Skubal before Monday's deadline.

"I just think with the way they have played, being six games under .500, they have no choice," Nightengale said Wednesday while appearing on "Foul Territory." "I think they'll try to thread the needle here and say, you know what, tell teams we'll trade him but we need a starter back that can fit in the rotation right now and get some help for the future."

Nightengale also named his top contender for Skubal's services: "I still think the Dodgers are the No. 1 fit."

Tarik Skubal landing spots

Which teams are going to be in on adding Tarik Skubal to its rotation? According to USA TODAY Sports' Jon Hoefling, don't be surprised to see the usual suspects.

• Chicago Cubs
• Tampa Bay Rays
• Atlanta Braves
• Los Angeles Dodgers
• Milwaukee Brewers

Passan: Tarik Skubal is going to be traded

While appearing on SportsCenter on Wednesday night, ESPN's MLB insider Jeff Passan said he had no doubt about Tarik Skubal's future.

"Yeah, Tarik Skubal is going to be traded," Passan said. "The Tigers haven't gone to teams that are interested in him and said as much at this point, but the expectation is that's going to happen within the next day or two.

"And frankly everyone has been expecting it when you see how the Tigers have played recently, and certainly their game Wednesday was a perfect encapsulation of their season, they understood that they needed to go on a really big run in order to have Tarik Skubal stick around. And they didn't do it."

Passan went on to name the top contenders to land Skubal.

"Milwaukee Brewers, who have a tremendous farm system, and of course the Los Angeles Dodgers, who are the favorites at this point, and frankly have been since the possibility of Tarik Skubal getting traded first surfaced a couple months ago," Passan said.

Do Dodgers need Tarik Skubal?

Considering the injuries that have impacted the Dodgers' rotation this season, they could certainly benefit from bringing in the reigning two-time AL Cy Young Award winner.

Shohei Ohtani had a setback in his recovery from a left knee injury, delaying his scheduled bullpen session on July 25 in New York.

Tyler Glasnow (back injury) is expected to return some time in August from the 60-day IL. The 32-year-old pitcher was cleared to resume throwing off the mound in early July and was scheduled to face live hitters last week.

Blake Snell is also taking steps toward a return. The 33-year-old southpaw is expected to make his third minor league rehab start at Triple-A Oklahoma City on July 29. — James Williams

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Tarik Skubal trade rumors: Latest updates, landing spots for Tigers ace

On Thursday morning, Emily Waldon of Baseball America and Just Baseball Media reported that the Detroit Tigers plan to call up top prospect, center fielder Max Clark, in advance of their series with the Athletics in Sacramento starting Friday night. Cody Stavenhagen of The Athletic Detroit confirmed that report later.

With outfielder Matt Vierling seemingly headed to the injured list after suffering a lower body injury, and left-handed hitting center fielder James Outman struggling mightily at the plate, the Tigers have decided the time is right for Clark’s major league debut. It’s certainly a tricky time for the Tigers as they head out west with reports that Tarik Skubal will be traded soon swirling, and only the Tigers themselves fully knowing what course they’re plotting into Monday’s trade deadline. So, Clark will immediately be thrust into tumultuous time for the franchise.

The 21-year-old was already on his way after catching fire in July at the Triple-A level. Clark currently holds a 1.086 OPS for the month of July, with five home runs after hitting six total from April to June. As we’ve noted in our scouting reports on him all year, the sign we were looking for to declare him ready to go was starting to tap into his above average raw power, and Clark has followed through on that request. He’s hit three homers just in the past week, and importantly, has balanced his splits perfectly with an .802 OPS from either side of the plate, though he does strikeout more against left-handed pitching.

Clark rarely swings and misses. His swinging strike rate for the Triple-A Toledo Mud Hens is a miniscule 5.3 percent. He also holds an excellent chase rate of 22.2 percent and Clark has walked in 11.9 percent of his plate appearances this season. His strikeout rate is just 15.3 percent. His contact rate on swing in the zone is an extremely good 94.1 percent. Those numbers aren’t terribly dissimilar from his friend Kevin McGonigle’s work, although obviously Clark is at an easier level of pitching. The big step for Clark will be driving the ball more consistently in the air to the pull field at the major league level. That will probably take some time.

Clark will take some called strikes waiting for a pitch he likes, but he has a strong two-strike approach and can put together really pesky at-bats that wear on opposing pitchers. He’s also quite fast and generally gets out of the box well. Clark will beat out his share of infield hits and he can handle the bat and drop a bunt down as well. A true contact hitter, he’ll need time to acclimate and to find the power stroke at the major league level, as has been his pattern at each level of his development. Expect him to spray line drives and ground balls to all fields early on, with gap and then over the fence power following as he settles in.

What the Tigers will get offensively from Clark is a true leadoff hitter type who runs the bases well and has improved his reads on pitchers and ability to steal bases this year. He has 21 stolen bases for the Hens this season, having been thrown out just twice. He’ll eventually hit for average power in my opinion. It may just take until next year for him to start putting many balls in the seats once he’s learned the league.

In Clark, the Tigers will also get an upgrade defensively in center field over Outman, Vierling, or Javier Báez. Clark has the speed to cover a lot of ground, and while he hasn’t always had the most refined approach in his route running, that too has been a focus for him this season and he’s cleaned up some of the rough edges in his defensive game as well, rarely making any mistakes, and showing off an accurate throwing arm with six assists this season.

Clark would have retained rookie eligibility for 2027 had the Tigers waited until August 15, but the incentive picks for promoting a prospect for a full season and having them win Rookie of the Year might not even survive the new collective bargaining agreement. Of course, the 2027 season could potentially not survive the new collective bargaining agreement either, so it’s an interesting decision to go ahead and start his service time clock right now. Probably neither speculative factor really moved the needle on the decision either way.

It is a bit peculiar that the Tigers didn’t already call Clark up in place of Outman if they weren’t concerned with the rookie eligibility issue. Presumably, like all the prospect watchers out here, they were just waiting for him to heat up at the plate and look in full control of the Triple-A level before the next challenge.

Max Clark will be the 6th high-schooler (and 50th player overall) from the 2023 draft to reach the majors. He joins:

Bryce Eldridge
Kevin McGonigle
A.J. Ewing
Colt Emerson
Cooper Pratt

— Chris Brown (@ChrisBrown0914) July 30, 2026

Expect that whatever the Tigers do in the trade market over the next few days, they’re going to insist that they’ll continue to push for a wild card spot in the postseason. Max Clark in center field certainly helps them do that more than any of the Tigers other options. This isn’t going to be a fullscale teardown and tank job. Putting their prized rookies in that situation is no way to start them off in the league anyway. Instead, they’re more likely to simply accept the reality of the Skubal situation and their modest postseason odds and make a trade or two to acquire young, controllable talent, without really putting the rest of the team up for bids. If they could get the backend of their bullpen sorted out, they’d still have a decent shot anyway, but that’s been the story all season long without remedy.

Clark was the Tigers first round pick, and third overall, in the 2023 amateur draft. He’s moved very quickly through the system and found success at early level consistently ranking among the top few outfield prospects in baseball. A few months younger than Kevin McGonigle, Clark will actually reach the major leagues at the same age. Don’t expect him to immediately rake the way McGonigle has, but the duo will make for a talented 1-2 punch atop the Tigers order for a long time to come, and Clark will bring a lot of energy and speed to the Tigers lineup and outfield defense.

Welcome to the Show, Max Clark. This should be fun.

There are so many cracks on this Red Sox roster, it’s hard to pinpoint a top priority to address, but if we keep it broad I think we can focus on five general areas of need.

• Significantly more offense in left field, where the Red Sox have the second lowest OPS of any team in the American League at the position.
• A solution in the middle infield, where over the next six weeks they’ll have some combination of Andruw Monasterio, Nick Sogard, Trevor Story, Marcelo Mayer, Isiah Kiner-Falefa, and Romy Gonzalez available, but no obvious path forward.
• Another arm in the rotation to combat injuries, the trade of Connelly Early, and the fact both Payton Tolle and Jake Bennett are set to blow by career highs in innings pitched.
• Multiple seventh inning options in the bullpen to slot into the same general tier as Justin Slaten and Tyron Guerrero. (Once you get beyond those two guys, it’s a real game of pick your poison to get to Garrett Whitlock and Aroldis Chapman.)
• An upgrade at catcher, because there’s just no ceiling there with Connor Wong and Carlos Narvaez.

Here’s the problem: I don’t know what I want the Red Sox to do about these holes because I don’t know the September status of Garrett Crochet, Roman Anthony, and Curtis Mead.

On the flip side, I know exactly what I really, really DON’T want the Red Sox to do, and that’s take a significant stab trying to upgrade about half of these needs before getting to the heart of September and realizing Crochet, Anthony and Mead are fully out of the picture.

To put it mildly, this is quite a pickle. I firmly believe a roster with Crochet, Anthony and Mead can make a very deep run in October, and if you look at those five areas of weakness highlighted above, those three guys fully solve two and a half of them. In other words, there are scenarios in the deck where Boston gets good news on the injury front and is only a couple of pieces away from going to the World Series as constructed right now.

Unfortunately, we have no idea if we’re living in that world. This is like being asked to bet on a poker hand without being able to look at your cards. How confident are you there’s an ace sitting under there?

Despite their absence the last three months, Garrett Crochet and Roman Anthony remain the two most important championship building blocks for this team over the next five years. They’re young, they’re locked up long-term under contract, and they each have extraordinarily high ceilings. You can build a playoff team without them, but I’m not sure you can build a championship team without them unless you’re willing to completely mortgage the future, and this is where the calculus gets really sticky.

If these guys are truly done for 2026, the Red Sox are sailing blind into a waterfall. They could royally screw themselves for the next five years by making the wrong moves in next five days. All they have to do is give up significant pieces that could help them in 2027 and beyond and not have Crochet, Anthony and Mead available down the stretch. In that scenario, you’re probably getting quickly bounced this fall, and then have much less firepower to work with in a year where Crochet and Anthony actually are vying for Cy Young and MVP awards.

Adding more fuel to this fire is the playoff format. Right now, the Red Sox find themselves seven games off the division lead, and would also need to leapfrog the Yankees to get there, who are 4.5 games ahead. This is all another way of saying that the Red Sox are probably going to end up in that Wild Card round no matter what they do.

Even if they do nothing else this deadline, I think they still get into the Wild Card round given the ridiculously bloated playoff format at this historically awful American League. They could probably even sell a piece or two and still get there — that’s how much the other middling teams in the AL suck! On the flip side, is there anything the Red Sox could realistically do at the deadline that will dramatically improve their chances of winning the division?

Even if you believe the Red Sox can become the best team in the AL by October with a healthy return of Crochet, Anthony and Mead — and I do — those guys wouldn’t enter the picture until late in the proceedings. In other words, start booking your vacation days for Tuesday, September 29th through Thursday October 1st.

Given this dynamic, I’m petrified of what the Red Sox might do over the next handful of days. The fan in me wants them to buy, but I also realize you’re pretty much building this whole thing for a three game Wild Card series where the two most important players to your franchise may or may not be available. Does that sound like a solid investment?

Perhaps the real play here is to go for the long-term options. Guys under control for multiple years so you get a shot a both the 2026 World Series and others beyond it. But then again, that’s only going to cost more, potentially further damaging your ability to build around the core going forward.

Can you see why I’m nervous yet? Why every step forward here could lead to a trap door? Let’s hope the Red Sox know a little more about the timelines of Garrett Crochet and Roman Anthony internally than they’re letting on, because if they don’t, they may cost themselves the 2027 or 2028 World Series trying to capture an unwinnable game in 2026.

Your move Craig.

Triple-A: Syracuse Mets (38-37/12-15)

NO GAME (SCHEDULE)

Double-A: Binghamton Rumble Ponies (27-42/9-19)

READING 7, BINGHAMTON 6 (BOX)

Coming into the ninth, the Rumble Ponies were barely hanging on, holding a slight 6-5 lead, looking to take the first game of the series. With two men on and one out, Garret Stratton bungled a chopper hit to him, throwing away the ball and turning what should’ve been a game ending double play into a game ending throwing error.

·  SS Mitch Voit: 3-5, 2 R, 2 2B, 3B, BB

·  LF Chris Suero: 0-3, R, 2 BB, SB (25)

·  CF John Bay: 1-3, BB, K, HBP, CS (1)

·  2B-3B Nick Lorusso: 2-5, 2 RBI, K

·  DH Jose Ramos: 1-2, R, RBI, 2 BB, K

·  RF D’Andre Smith: 1-5, R, 2B, RBI, K

·  1B Corey Collins: 2-4, R, HR (2), 2 RBI, BB

·  C Kevin Parada: 0-4, BB, 2 K

·  3B JT Schwartz: 0-4, K

·  2B Wyatt Young: 0-1, K

·  RHP Channing Austin: 2.0 IP, 4 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 1 BB, 3 K

·  LHP Felipe De La Cruz: 1.2 IP, 2 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 0 BB, 3 K

·  RHP Danis Correa: 1.1 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 0 BB, 1 K, BS (1)

·  RHP Brendan Girton: 1.0 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 2 BB, 2 K, H (2)

·  RHP Zach Peek: 1.0 IP, 2 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 0 BB, 1 K, H (3)

·  RHP Garrett Stratton: 1.1 IP, 1 H, 2 R, 0 ER, 0 BB, 2 K, HBP, L (1-3), BS (1), E (1)

High-A: Brooklyn Cyclones (25-40/15-16)

BROOKLYN 8, WINSTON-SALEM 6 (BOX)

Twin four-run innings evened up the series for the Cyclones. The first, in the sixth, saw Antonio Jimenez, Colin Houck, and Trace Wilhoite string together a few hits. The second, in the bottom of the ninth, saw Randy Guzman drive in a run and Daiverson Gutierrez walk things off with a two-run homer.

·  CF Trey Snyder: 0-4, BB, K

·  C Ronald Hernandez: 0-4, BB, E (12)

·  LF Randy Guzman: 3-4, 2B, RBI, HBP

·  PR Yonatan Henriquez: 0-0, R

·  2B Jamari Baylor: 1-5, 2 R, K, SB (6)

·  DH Daiverson Gutierrez: 1-5, R, HR (6), 3 RBI

·  SS Antonio Jimenez: 1-3, R, 2B, RBI, BB, K

·  3B Colin Houck: 4-4, R, RBI, SB (6), CS (3), E (14)

·  RF Yohairo Cuevas: 0-3, R, BB, K

·  1B Trace Willhoite: 1-3, R, 2B, 2 RBI, BB

·  RHP Nicolas Carreno: 3.0 IP, 5 H, 4 R, 4 ER, 4 BB, 6 K, WP

·  LHP Luis R. Rodriguez: 2.0 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 0 BB, 5 K

·  RHP Juan Arnaud: 1.0 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 1 BB, 1 K, WP, HBP

·  RHP Bryce Jenkins: 2.0 IP, 1 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 0 BB, 1 K

·  RHP Ryan Dollar: 1.0 IP, 1 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 0 BB, 2 K, W (2-1)

Single-A: St. Lucie Mets (33-33/12-19)

DUNEDIN 14, ST. LUCIE 9 (BOX)

Another game where the St. Lucie offense was clicking on all cylinders; unfortunately, pitching was just as bad as the bats were good.

 ·  DH Elian Peña: 2-4, 2 RBI, K, HBP

·  REHAB ALERT 3B Cole Mathis: 1-4, R

·  PH Julio Zayas: 0-1

·  2B Marco Vargas: 1-3, 2 R, BB, K

·  2B Vladi Gomez: 0-1, K

·  RF Kuhio Aloy: 0-5, 3 K

·  C Yovanny Rodriguez: 1-4, R, HR (1), 3 RBI, BB, 2 K, E (1)

·  1B Branny De Oleo: 1-4, R, 2B, RBI, BB, K, E (12), CS (8)

·  LF Simon Juan: 1-4, R, HR (8), 2 RBI, K

·  CF Bohan Adderley: 2-4, 2 R, HR (1), RBI, K, SB (1), E (1)

·  SS Dylan Carey: 1-3, R, HBP

·  REHAB ALERT RHP Owen Woodward: 1.0 IP, 2 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 1 BB, 2 K

·  RHP Jose Lopez: 2.2 IP, 4 H, 6 R, 6 ER, 6 BB, 2 K, WP, BLK

·  RHP Elwis Mijares: 2.1 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 1 BB, 3 K, HBP

·  RHP Zack Mack: 0.2 IP, 4 H, 4 R, 4 ER, 1 BB, 0 K, WP, L (4-2), BS (2)

·  RHP Joe Scarborough: 1.0 IP, 2 H, 2 R, 1 ER, 1 BB, 3 K, 3 WP

·  RHP Caden Wooster: 0.1 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 1 BB, 1 K

Rookie: FCL Mets (24-33)

NO GAME (SEASON OVER)

STAR OF THE NIGHT

Daiverson Gutierrez

GOAT OF THE NIGHT

Garrett Stratton

The San Diego Padres scored three runs in the bottom of the fourth inning of Colorado Rockies starter Gabriel Hughes and that was all the offense they would need to get a 3-1 win at Petco Park on Wednesday. The win gave the Padres a two-game sweep of the Rockies and extended their current winning streak to five games.

San Diego got to Hughes in the bottom of the fourth after back-to-back singles by Jake Cronenworth and Manny Machado. Ty France was then hit by a pitch on his left elbow and that loaded the bases for Jackson Merrill. The center fielder stepped to the plate and put a ground ball through the infield to give the Padres a 1-0 lead. Luis Rengifo grounded out to the right side for the first out of the inning, but that allowed the second run to score to put San Diego ahead, 2-0. Gavin Sheets followed with a sacrifice fly to bring home France and the Padres went ahead 3-0 and Merrill advanced to third base. Xander Bogaerts flied out to end the inning.

San Diego had three of its six hits in the bottom of the fourth inning and made them count. Fernando Tatis Jr. led off the game for the Padres with a double to left field, but was stranded there after a ground out, strikeout and a fly out. San Diego went 1-for-9 with runners in scoring position on the day and left four runners on base.

The Padres pitching staff made the runs hold up. Kyle Hart started the game and went 2.2 innings allowing two hits and a walk with three strikeouts before giving way to Griffin Canning. The right-hander came into the game and had an impressive performance. Canning went three scoreless allowing just one hit and recorded four strikeouts. Wandy Peralta got touched up for a run in the top of the seventh inning. He allowed back-to-back singles and then got Mickey Moniak to pop out to third base for the first out of the frame. Peralta was replaced by Bradgley Rodriguez who got a strikeout but then allowed an RBI-single to former Padre Brett Sullivan, which made the score, 3-1. Rodriguez then got Jake McCarthy to flyout to end the inning.

Adrian Morejon threw a ton of pitches in his inning of work on Tuesday, so he was unavailable to work the eighth inning on Wednesday. Jeremiah Estrada, who was activated from the IL prior to the game, made his return to the mound and allowed a leadoff walk to start the top of the eighth. Estrada then recorded three consecutive strikeouts to end the inning. Mason Miller came on for the top of the ninth and recorded two strikeouts and a lineout on 15 pitches to end the game and earn his 28th save of the season.

San Diego gets back on the field tonight when the San Francisco Giants come to Petco Park tonight for the first game of a four-game set at 6:40 p.m.

Padres News:

• Cheri Bell of Gaslamp Ball provides the latest updates on the San Diego farm system complete with performances and moves that were made throughout the organization.

• The biggest piece of news to come out of the Padres’ farm system was that catcher Ethan Salas was promoted from Double-A to Triple-A to join the El Paso Chihuahuas. He proceeded to record three hits in his Triple-A debut.

• San Diego had a busy week finishing a 10-game road trip and returning home to take on Colorado for a quick two-game series. In that time the Padres were also able to sign 29 players after the MLB Draft, which included their top draft pick Coleman Borthwick.

• Pitcher Matt Waldron was designated for assignment to make room for Estrada when he returned from the IL.

• Tom Krasovic of the San Diego Union-Tribune has seen enough after the Padres’ five-game win streak and believes the team will be buyers at the trade deadline. Has the team done enough to convince the Friar Faithful, some of which were ready to sell at the deadline, to agree?

• Several Padres players could be attractive to teams at the deadline, but they may not be available after the recent five-game win streak which has pulled San Diego within 1.5 games of the third Wild Card spot. For those players whose names have been linked to the rumors they understand it comes with the job.

Baseball News:

• The Texas Rangers linked up with the Los Angeles Angels for an AL West trade that sent catcher Logan O’Hoppe and Chase Silseth to the Rangers for minor-leaguer Angel Arredondo.

• Ivan Herrera came through with a walk-off hit to help the St. Louis Cardinals beat the Chicago Cubs.

• The Baltimore Orioles mounted a massive comeback to beat the Detroit Tigers. Tarik Skubal recorded his 1,000th strikeout of his career in what could have been his final start with Detroit.

• Edwin Diaz returned for the Los Angeles Dodgers and locked down their 4-2 win over the Seattle Mariners.

• The Toronto Blue Jays knocked off the Washington Nationals, 5-2.

• The San Francisco Giants dominated the Milwaukee Brewers in a 16-3 win.

• The Miami Marlins bounced back in a big way after their sweep at the hands of the Padres with a sweep of the Philadelphia Phillies.

• Eduardo Rodriguez led the Arizona Diamondbacks to a 3-0 win over the Pittsburgh Pirates.

The Yankees have gotten off to a decent start on their ten-game road trip, winning four of the first six contests. They have put themselves in position to win three out of four from the White Sox, which would send them to the North side of Chicago winners of their last three series. Mostly lights-out pitching has been at the forefront of this run of games, the performance of the bullpen in particular standing out before yesterday’s gut punch loss. That unit is where we select our Sequence of the Week from, David Bednar slamming the door on a late White Sox rally Tuesday night.

We join Bednar with two outs in the bottom of the ninth. In recording the first two outs of the frame, Bednar had extended his MLB-leading scoreless inning streak to 24 frames, but that came to an end when he surrendered the two-out, two-run homer to Chase Meidroth to allow the White Sox to pull within one and make the final out a lot more tense than it might have been, former Yankee Everson Pereira stepping to the plate to pinch-hit as the potential tying run.

Pereira like teammate Munetaka Murakami struggles the most against the fastball, particularly those above 95 mph. As such, I expected to see a steady diet of four-seamers from Bednar, and he obliges with a first pitch heater at 97 mph:

Fabulous execution from Bednar here to nail the corner up and away for a called strike. This extended run of dominance from Bednar has seen his four-seamer tick up in velocity and location, as evidenced by this pitch right here. Earning the called strike opens up a ton of options for Bednar later in the AB including a high fastball, curveball low and away, and splitter below the zone, all for chase.

Bednar opts for the first of those three choices, climbing the ladder a rung higher to see if he can get the chase on the four-seamer above the zone.

Once again, Bednar executes right to his spot, above the zone and in on the hands of Pereira, which is important as it prevents him from getting his bat extended and being able to hit a fly ball to the opposite field. Pereira swings right through the pitch as he’s unable to lift his swing path to match this four-seamer that holds its plane above the hitting zone.

After two straight high fastballs for strikes, the situation is ripe for Bednar’s killer pitch: the splitter below the zone looking for Pereira to get himself out.

Unfortunately, this one isn’t thrown remotely close enough to the zone to elicit a chase. Bednar spikes this pitch in front of home plate, making for an automatic take from Pereira.

It appears Bednar is not happy with the way that splitter felt coming out of the hand, because he goes back to the four-seamer for the next three pitches.

Bednar tries to go back to the same spot he hit with the first pitch of this AB, this pitch dipping downwards more toward the heart as it doesn’t quite have the same rising, riding life as the first two fastballs he threw. You can see the importance of that late life at the top of the zone for the four-seamer — without it this pitch falls off its plane and into the hitting zone, which allows Pereira to foul it off rather than whiff beneath.

Bednar sticks with the same pattern as the first two pitches he threw — four-seamer up and away followed by a four-seamer up and in.

This four-seamer is a few inches higher than the one he threw for a whiff to make it 0-2. That’s just far enough away from the zone that Pereira manages to take it this time rather than chase.

Rather than allow the count to run full, Bednar goes on the attack and tries to gas a 97 fastball by Pereira.

Whoo boy did Bednar get away with a mistake here. He throws this heater right down the middle and Pereira hits it deep into the seats in right foul. This is by far Pereira’s best swing against a heater so far in this encounter, as if he realizes that with the velocity on the pitch, he has more than enough power to send it out the other way.

I think Bednar got the message that that was one fastball too many. Pereira’s timing and swing path are syncing up to the pitch, so Bednar has to throw something off-speed to at the very least get him out of that rhythm if not end the AB.

This splitter catches a little too much of the zone to get Pereira to whiff. He swings early, likely because of the previous three fastballs, but still manages to get a piece foul to stay alive.

Judging by that off-balance swing from Pereira, there’s a good chance that if Bednar can execute one a few inches lower, he should get the swinging strikeout to end the game.

You can check both those boxes, Bednar saving his nastiest splitter of the outing for the strikeout. Just look at the way that pitch looks like a strike for most of its path toward home before falling off the table and nosediving toward the plate. Pereira has no chance as he hacks wildly over the top of the pitch to end the game, Bednar clearly pumped up that he got the job done.

Here’s the full sequence:

Bednar’s scoreless inning streak may have ended with the home run to Meidroth, but there is so much to love about this AB and his performance since mid-May. He read the scouting report on Pereira but also adapted mid-AB, reading the swings from the hitter to inform the rest of his attack plan. I’ve loved the shapes of the four-seamer and splitter for the last month-plus, the four-seamer exhibiting better late life at the top of the zone and the splitter featuring sharper downward break.

There was a time back in May where you really worried about the closer role for the Yankees. However, Bednar has rebounded to reclaim his spot as one of the most dependable ninth inning guys in the game, bringing a ton of stability to the back end of the bullpen. That’s not to say the Yankees won’t still pursue relief help with the trade deadline less than a week away, but Bednar’s resurgence might just let them keep a little extra powder dry for an impact addition to the offense.

Three different teams went over double digits in a day of great offensive performances in the Dodgers minor league system.

Player of the day

If there was a case to be made for a couple of other names to be the Player of the Day on Tuesday, Jake Gelof this time made it a no-contest. The Drillers’ third baseman hit three home runs as the protagonist of a 6-2 win.

Have yourself a night, Jake Gelof!

Gelof homers for the THIRD time tonight! 🔥 pic.twitter.com/s7qyZtMmpA

— Tulsa Drillers (@TulsaDrillers) July 30, 2026

One of the more dominant hitters in Double-A presently, Gelof recorded his fourth straight multihit performance, now with 21 long balls this campaign. The more power-oriented approach seems to be paying off, as Gelof carries a .880 OPS, having already set a career high in strikeouts.

Triple-A Oklahoma City

Scoring a run in seven of the eight innings in which they hit, the Comets took down the Aviators in an 11-2 game. Jack Suwinski, Ryan Fitzgerald, and Ryan Ward all left the yard, with the latter of the trio knocking a couple of solo shots to make it an even 10 for him this season.

Two AB's, two dingers by Ryan Fitzgerald ☄️☄️ pic.twitter.com/e3FdtwGN37

— Oklahoma City Comets (@OKC_comets) July 30, 2026

Not that the Comets needed such a high level of performance on the mound, but Landon Knack was at his finest, allowing just one hit in five innings, punching out one batter per frame.

Surprisingly, perhaps the Comets’ best hitter this season, at least one of them, James Tibbs III, was the only batter in the starting lineup to go hitless. Hyeseong Kim didn’t record an RBI but made up for it by reaching base in four of five plate appearances, scoring three runs.

Double-A Tulsa

It was a game of rare individual accomplishments with the Drillers beating the Naturals at home. Starter Payton Martin allowed a solo shot in his first inning of work and another one in his last frame—that was all the scoring the Naturals did, as Martin was a machine across eight innings to earn his fifth win of the season.

The Drillers’ offense delivered as much of a one-man show as you could see, with Jake Gelof carrying the offense from start to finish with his three home runs.

Jake Gelof has homered in back-to-back games 🔥 pic.twitter.com/XoRx7CDUcF

— Tulsa Drillers (@TulsaDrillers) July 30, 2026

The other two RBI came from Frank Rodriguez, the only other Driller to hit a long ball. One aspect of the Drillers’ performance left a lot to be desired, though, and probably stood in the way of a larger win: the running game. Three different base runners were caught stealing, including Josue De Paula twice, as the Drillers didn’t steal a single base.

High-A Great Lakes

With the two teams combining for 29 strikeouts and no home runs, scoring could’ve been even scarcer than the final 5-4 result in favor of the visiting TinCaps. With the teams tied at two all after nine innings, the 10th frame saw Fort Wayne score three runs and still nearly let the Loons back into the game, stopping one run short.

Nico Perez hit a two-run single in the 10th and even stole second with just one out—only Chase Harlan and Jaron Elkins couldn’t do anything with it, stranding the tying run in scoring position. Elkins ended the game with his fourth strikeout for that Golden Sombrero.

Single-A Ontario

Maybe it was the confidence boost of playing behind a big-league ace, but the whole team showed up performing at a high level as the Tower Buzzers thrashed the Grizzlies in a 12-3 win. Blake Snell was sharp in his command with 45 strikes on 60 pitches to complete four scoreless innings, punching out nine with zero walks.

Mairoshendrick Martinus recorded a team-high three hits, including the game’s only home run, a solo shot in the fifth. Ching-Hsien Ko had a rare triple, retired just once in five plate appearances, with two hits and a couple of free passes. Easton Shelton was a rare Ontario batter to go hitless, but he still found a way to drive in his 95th run, closing in on the 100 mark.

Transactions

Blake Snell started a rehab assignment with the Ontario Tower Buzzers.

Wednesday’s scores

• Oklahoma City 11, Las Vegas 2
• Tulsa 6, NW Arkansas 2
• Great Lakes 4, Fort Wayne 5
• Ontario 12. Fresno 3

Thursday’s schedule

• 4:05 p.m. PT: Great Lakes (TBD) vs. Fort Wayne (Carson Montgomery)
• 5:00 p.m. PT: Tulsa (Adam Serwinowski) vs. NW Arkansas (Drew Beam)
• 5:05 p.m. PT: Oklahoma City (TBD) vs. Las Vegas (TBD)
• 6:35 p.m. PT: Ontario (TBD) vs. Fresno (Brady Parker)

The trade deadline is rapidly approaching and with it are the expectations of moves. We’ve already seen the opening salvo of deadline season last weekend with the Nationals and Red Sox swinging a swap of former Phillies prospect and noted “guy traded for Cristopher Sánchez” Curtis Mead heading to Boston in exchange for Connolly Early. The moves should start to come fast and furious as continue through this week and into the weekend leading up to Monday’s deadline. 

Despite what their recent performance may have you thinking, the Phillies will likely be active. They currently occupy a postseason spot and should be expected to at least make it into the tournament. There is no scenario in which they sell, but the degree to which they buy will be the major question. They’ve been connected to a handful of targets at least tangentially, so they are set up to be at least medium tier players in the market. However, we also know that they likely have more holes than resources in which to fill them, and that’s before even taking into account the extremely light market for hitters at this year’s deadline. 

There’s been some discussion of where the Phillies should focus their efforts. Should they go out and just get a fifth starter, or should they take advantage of a deeper starter market and get someone who could start a playoff game? Should they get a legit bullpen set-up man or a couple of options that allow Don Mattingly to play the matchup game? Should they get one of the “better” hitters on the market or should they search for bargains? That’s just a few of the opportunity costs the team will have to keep in mind as they search for upgrades.

So, how aggressive should the Phillies be at the trade deadline? Should they pursue one big upgrade while sacrificing others? Or should they go for a more spread-out approach and try for multiple patches? Or should they simply try to acquire the best players in their price range regardless of if they play a major position of need?

I choose to look at the Cubs’ 3-2, 10-inning loss to the Cardinals this way.

As you know, the Cubs have had an inordinately large number of injuries to the pitching staff, to the point where there have now been five pitchers who have appeared in exactly one game for the team and several others who have been riding on the DFA train. I give Craig Counsell a tremendous amount of credit for managing this staff and bullpen to the point where the Cubs are in command of the top NL wild card spot and still in the running for the NL Central title.

They are missing a lockdown closer since Daniel Palencia went down. Wednesday night, Counsell tried Trent Thornton in this role. Thornton has generally pitched pretty well this year and going into this game was second on the team in saves… with three. He had not blown a save opportunity as a Cub.

Welp. It didn’t work this time. What are you gonna do?

Before the disaster mentioned in the headline, this was a spectacularly good pitchers’ duel. Matthew Boyd, who has been lights-out since returning from his knee injury, threw seven shutout innings, allowing four hits and two walks, striking out five. He was in real trouble only in the sixth, when two singles followed by a two-out walk loaded the bases.

Boyd got Blaze Jordan to pop up in foul territory to end the inning [VIDEO].

More on Boyd’s evening from BCB’s JohnW53:

Boyd is the second Cubs pitcher to throw seven shutout innings this season, and the first on the road. Shota Imanaga did it at home vs. the Diamondbacks on May 2 and vs. the Twins on July 19.

Boyd gave up four hits, matching Imanaga vs. the Diamondbacks. He gave up six vs. the Twins.

Boyd’s start was the Cubs’ 153rd of its kind vs. the Cardinals since 1901 and the 22nd since 2000. Each of the last five has been at St. Louis: Kyle Hendricks in 2019 and 2022, Marcus Stroman later in 2022 and Hendricks again on July 12, 2024. Hendricks pitched 7.1 once; the others all were 4.0. Hendricks gave up seven hits in 2019. The others all were five-hitters.

And still more on Boyd’s outing [VIDEO].

Since returning from the knee injury, in seven starts Boyd has a 1.93 ERA and 1.143 WHIP.

But the Cubs couldn’t do anything with Dustin May, either. May allowed just one Cubs hit in five innings, this automatic double by Alex Bregman in the fourth [VIDEO].

Then May was lifted after the fifth having thrown only 70 pitches and was spotted with his teammates in the dugout — a literal hug-watch!

Dustin May received several hugs in the dugout after completing his outing today. pic.twitter.com/qvvDRP3gC3

— Foul Territory (@FoulTerritoryTV) July 30, 2026

This prompted waves of speculation on social media that May had been traded in the middle of the game. This hasn’t happened — yet. May seems very likely to be dealt somewhere by Monday’s deadline, so this was almost certainly his last start for St. Louis.

Anyway, the Cubs couldn’t do anything with Cardinals relievers Justin Bruihl, Ryne Stanek, George Soriano or Riley O’Brien, who combined for four hitless innings, though the Cubs did pile up four walks between the sixth and ninth.

Cubs relief pitching did well to send the game to extras. Jacob Webb and Caleb Thielbar combined for two scoreless innings in the eighth and ninth, striking out five. Here’s the popup that sent the game to extras [VIDEO].

For a time, it looked like the Cubs would pull this one out. Dansby Swanson was the placed runner in the 10th. Nico Hoerner, who had been given the night off, pinch hit for Miguel Amaya and laced a line drive that was hit, unfortunately, right at JJ Wetherholt for an out.

Pete Crow-Armstrong then launched his 24th home run [VIDEO].

That was PCA’s 65th career home run. It was his first ever in extra innings. Now, that would have been a great way to lead this article, wouldn’t it?

It was not to be. Seiya Suzuki singled after the home run, just the Cubs’ third hit of the night, but Michael Busch hit into an inning-ending double play.

And then, the disastrous bottom of the 10th. A single and walk loaded the bases after the placed runner, and Thornton did get one out on a force at third that scored one run. This game is still winnable at this point, but Thornton gave up a two-run double to Ivan Herrera and that, as they say, was that.

Not the end of the world. But the Cubs need Palencia back, or who knows, maybe Ben Brown (who’s reported as symptom-free and beginning to throw in Arizona) can throw some lock-down relief for the big league team in a few weeks.

The Cubs didn’t lose any ground to either the Brewers or Phillies, as both those teams also lost Wednesday.

Here are Craig Counsell’s postgame remarks [VIDEO].

The Cubs still have a chance at a series win in the finale Thursday afternoon in St. Louis. Javier Assad will start for the Cubs and Andre Pallante goes for the Cardinals. Game time is 1:15 p.m. CT and TV coverage will be via Marquee Sports Network. The BCB game preview will post at 11 a.m. CT.

Maybe not today. Maybe not tomorrow. But, will they, before the season is done?

On the one hand — no. They don’t really have other options (at least not right now), they haven’t done it yet, and Riley has at least shown temporary signs of righting the ship, even if they’ve evaporated as quickly as they appeared.

On the other hand — whatever hope there was that Riley was getting back on the horse has been arrested, and perhaps deferred indefinitely again. To the extent that the Braves are legitimately concerned about their offense, doing something about Riley’s playing time is a perhaps-sour, but nonetheless lower-hanging fruit than a bunch of other things they could try.

Riley went 0-for-4 with three strikeouts in the day game yesterday, and 0-for-3 with three strikeouts and a hit-by-pitch in the nightcap. He had a sub-.300 wOBA and sub-.200 xwOBA in the Orioles series. Basically, he hit well in the three series wrapping around the All-Star Break, and has gone back to struggling in the two series since. Whereas his good stretch involved less chasing and relatively more swinging at strikes, an excellent collective sign, he’s spent his time at the plate since more or less swinging at everything. In some ways, that’s better than taking strikes and swinging at balls, but the swings haven’t exactly been on target.

Combine Riley’s continuing-and-apparently-not-interrupted-by-three-good-series offensive issues without any real defensive improvement (he’s been marginally below average or worse at third base in every year of his career per Statcast’s OAA-based measure, aside from his tiny handful of innings at third in his debut year), and the only real upside is the hope that he suddenly figures it out on a go-forward basis. Again, it looked like maybe that was going to be the case a couple of weeks ago, but any optimism from that time has been seriously dented over the last week.

So, will the Braves take some sort of action to shore up their lineup given all of this? Or is ride-or-die with Riley, figuring that if they survived 430-plus PAs with him not producing, what’s 200 more?

Rays 3, Rangers 0

• Well, that was a weird one.
• MacKenzie Gore gave up a double and a pair of homers in the first inning. The Rangers were down 3-0 with one out in the first, and it seemed like we’d be seeing Marco Gonzales, and maybe Ezequiel Duran, pitching in this game.
• Then Gore didn’t allow another hit, ultimately going seven full innings. The only batter he allowed to reach after the second homer, reached on an HBP.
• Ben Peoples also didn’t allow a hit in an inning of work. So the Rangers have seven straight no hit innings going by their pitchers.
• The Rangers, meanwhile, had four hits. All four hits were doubles.
• Per B-R, its the 21st time that a team has had four hits in a game, with all four hits being doubles.
• However, the last time it happened was just five days previous. On July 24, the Royals had four hits, all doubles, in a 2-1 loss to Detroit.
• Remember how, after the last game, I marveled that the Rangers won with a .129 xBA?
• The Rays won this game with a .128 xBA. They did the Rangers 1 better. Or .001 worse, I guess.
• Per Statcast, Gore allowed just three hard hit balls in the game. Those were the three hits that the Rays had in the first inning.
• It does illustrate that Gore was really, really good after that bad beginning.
• Baseball is strange, sometimes.
• MacKenzie Gore touched 96.3 mph with his fastball. Ben Peoples reached 97.7 mph with his fastball.
• Jake Burger had a 110.2 mph double and a 100.7 mph fly out. Brandon Nimmo had a 100.3 mph double.
• Two down, four to go.