Worldwide Sports News

The Jays made a roster move:

• Brendan Cellucci was called up.
• Matt Waldron was DFAed.

I’m thinking that Waldron clears waivers and stays with the team, but we won’t know that for a few days. He’s had a rough time in 4 outings with the Jays, putting up a 10.38 ERA in 4.1 innings, with 7 hits, 2 walks and 3 strikeouts. I think, at best, he’s an innings eater out of the pen.

Cellucci is a left-hander pitcher, who was drafted by the Red Sox, but the Jays signed him to a minor league contract before this season, pitching in New Hampshire and Buffalo. He has a 3.74 ERA in 40 games, 45.2 innings in the Jays system, with 22 walks and 48 strikeouts.

He has a ‘high 90s fastball and a good slider. Control is always the issue.

Tonight’s lineups:

Lenyn Sosa is off the IL and was DFAed, cleared waivers and has been assigned to Buffalo. And Joe Mantiply is starting a rehab assignment in Dunedin.

Max Scherzer is on a nice little run, I thought I’d ask:

The Mets continued their excellent play after trading away a bevy of players, beating the Padres 4-2. The Mets are now 11-4 since August 4th, and despite the season being more or less over, it is great to see the Mets’ young core and resurgent bullpen keep racking up the dubs.

Robert Stock started for the Mets today, and threw a ton of pitches in his first two innings, leading to three walks and a hit batsman. However, good defense and some luck saw Stock escape both innings, as well as have relatively quick third and fourth innings.

Michael King was equally as effective early on, not allowing a baserunner over the first three innings. Both teams looked fairly standard for days games after night games, a little more lethargic than you’d like. However, both teams woke up after slow starts.

A.J. Ewing collected the first hit of the day in the top of the fourth, lining single up the middle, just out of the reach of King. Francisco Lindor was up next, and he nubbed a ball that he thought might’ve been foul, but was picked up by Luis Campusano and turned into a 2-6-3 double play. Bo Bichette walked, putting one on with two outs for Carson Benge. Benge worked the count full before muscling an opposite-field home run just to the right of the left field foul pole to put the Mets up 2-0.

In the top of the fifth, Xander Bogaerts led off with a ball drilled off the wall in left field. Bogaerts slowed a bit while rounding first, but Brett Baty triple-clutched in the outfield, and so the throw to second base was just late enough to allow Bogaerts to slide in safely. With one out, last night’s culprit Fernando Tatis Jr. doubled over the head of Ewing with an RBI double.

That would do it for Stock, who was pulled for Jonathan Pintaro. After walking Jake Cronenworth, Pintaro induced a ground ball off the bat of Manny Machado, leading to a 5-4-3 double play and got through the inning While it would’ve been nice to see Stock be able to get through five, having thrown 40+ pitches in his first two innings, it’s impressive that he was able to make it into the fifth, capping out at 83 pitches total.

After his offense going down quietly in the bottom of the fifth, Pintaro was back out for the top of the sixth. But after allowing a leadoff double to Ty France, Pintaro was pulled in favor of southpaw Nate Lavender. Lavender looked great, striking out the first two batters to face him and inducing a slow ground ball for the third out.

King continued to look strong aside from that rough fourth inning. Over his first six innings, he allowed just three hits and one walk against four strikeouts.

The newly returned Austin Warren, on the Injured List since early July, was next up for the Mets. Like Lavender before him, Warren looked great, striking out two and showing no rust from six weeks on the shelf.

King came back out for the seventh and allowed a couple of baserunners on an infield hit and a fielder’s choice. Luis Robert Jr. then pinch hit for Cristian Pache, who came in for defense in the sixth for Baty. Robert drew a walk, which would lead to King’s departure from the game with two on and two out after 100 pitches. King was not pleased leaving the game, seen visibly saying “no way” as Craig Stammen reached for the ball.

Jeremiah Estrada was first out of the ‘pen for the Dads. Marcus Semien lined a single to right field, and Francisco Alvarez tried to score from second base. He slid in behind the throw, but the tag was initially missed, and Alvarez thought that he got his hand in, slapping the bottom of the plate. He was called out, and the replay was inconclusive enough to not overturn the call.

Daniel Duarte continued the new-look bullpen’s dominance, throwing a perfect top of the eighth inning, striking out two.

In the bottom of the inning, the Mets gave themselves some cushion. Ewing collected a one-hit walk, and promptly stole second. Lindor singled, putting men on the corners with one out. Bichette then hit what might’ve been an inning-ending double play, but saw the ball thrown away by Sung-Mun Song, who took over at shortstop after Bogaerts exited with a suspected hamstring injury, allowing Ewing to score and allowing the runners to advance to second and third. After a fielder’s choice got Lindor out at the plate, Jared Young singled home Bichette to extend the lead to 4-1.

Kodai Senga entered to look for his fourth save as the Mets’ interim closer. Senga did not look as sharp as he had in his prior three starts, allowing three-straight one-out baserunners, leading in a run scoring off the bat of pinch hitter Gavin Sheets. Austin Hays was next up for the Padres, and he grounded into a game-ending 4-4-3 double play, taking the series.

One final note: Luis Torrens is a tough dude. He fouled a ball off of his knee in the third that looked like it might take him out of the game. It didn’t. In the seventh, before his at-bat began, during his warm ups Bogaerts nailed Torrens in the face with his bat, knocking his mask off. He stayed in the game.

The Mets are off tomorrow before traveling to the Windy City for three with the White Sox.

SB Nation GameThreads

Amazin’ Avenue

Gaslamp Ball

Box scores

ESPN

MLB.com

Win Probability Added

What’s WPA?

Big winner: Carson Benge, +23.0%WPA

Big loser: Francisco Lindor, -9.0% WPA

Total pitcher WPA: +2.0% WPA

Total batter WPA: +48.0% WPA

Teh aw3s0mest play: Carson Benge’s two-run dinger, + 24.3% WPA

Teh sux0rest play: Fernando Tatis’s RBI double in the fifth, -12.2% WPA

Two days into one of the strangest absences of the season, someone in Ketel Marte's camp finally spoke up.

His agent, Charisse Espinosa-Dash, told MLB Network's Jon Morosi on Wednesday, Aug.19 that the Arizona Diamondbacks second baseman is dealing with a personal matter and will have an MRI on his knee on Thursday, Aug. 20. She said Marte appreciates the "unwavering support" he's gotten from fans, teammates, the organization and manager Torey Lovullo, and wants to get back on the field.

It was the first public word from Marte's side since he didn't show up at Fenway Park on Monday, Aug. 17 and was placed on the restricted list. It also didn't explain much. A knee injury and a personal matter comingled with no indication of what they have to do with each other. It also did not address Monday's absence.

It cleared up very little about Marte's status and potential return to the team.

Skenes v. Jobe? Holy mackerel, what a matchup!

Well, indeed, on paper it looked to be a game in which the starters would go deep and we’d all be treated to a classic pitching battle. Instead, neither starter stuck around particularly long, the bullpens took over, and in the bottom of the ninth the Tigers gave the game away in a most dramatic fashion, losing 4-3 and dropping the series.

As mentioned, Jackson Jobe got the start for the Tigers. His first outing this year was fantastic: five innings with one hit. His first outing, not so much: he didn’t make it out of the fourth and he coughed-up six runs. Now, remember, recovery from Tommy John surgery means that your control will be a little wonky for a while, so I feel like any great outings the Tigers get out of Jobe this year are a bonus.

Facing the Tigers today was some scrub kid, Paul Skenes. He’s having a lousy year, by his standards: an ERA of almost 4, a WHIP above 1.1, and he’s walking almost 7% of all the hitters he’s faced. What a hoser! All jokes aside, he’s one of the premier pitchers in the sport — but since the middle of May he has struggled to go deep into games, often topping-out at five or six innings, while he previous triple digit velocity is rarely in evidence.

Skenes walked the first two batters to start the game, and a ground ball to first didn’t result in a double play, leaving runners at the corners. Alas, Dillon Dingler struck out and Brett Callahan popped up to the shortstop and that was that.

Pittsburgh got on the board in the bottom of the first: with one out Brandon Lowe walked, and an infield single pushed him up to second. An Oneil Cruz single cashed-in Lowe and it was a 1-0 game at that point.

Hao-Yu Lee (see notes below) led off the third with a single poked down the right-field line, and he aggressively and smartly took third on a Colt Keith single to left. After Gleyber Torres struck out, Kevin McGonigle lofted a fly ball to left field which was deep enough to score Lee and even the score. Dingler followed with a sizzling line-drive to left at 106 mph… and Brian Reynolds made a nice catch on it. Guy can’t catch a break these days.

The Tigers retook the lead in the fifth: Max Clark led off with a double, and Lee followed with a walk. After Keith struck out, Torres lofted a little fly ball to centre that dropped in, scoring Clark and moving Lee up to third. That was the end of Skenes’ day — as has been his custom in the past couple of months — and Old Friend™ Gregory Soto was brought in for a lefty-lefty matchup. On the first pitch McGonigle split the right-centrefield gap for a double; Lee scored, but Torres was cut down at the plate on a great relay for the second out.

Alas, Dingler then flew out to centre to end the inning.

Meanwhile, Jobe was having a decent start, if a little shaky with his control: through five innings he’d walked three batters and hit another. (Plunking, then later walking, the ninth-place hitter in a lineup isn’t exactly what you want to do, but sometimes it happens.) As mentioned above, control takes a while to reacquire after Tommy John surgery, but he made adjustments along the way, including going to his sinker more.

He ended his day after striking out Esmerlyn Valdez on a 99-mph four-seam fastball to end a nine-pitch battle leading off the bottom of the sixth, and his final line was 5 1/3 IP, 4 H, 1 R, 3 BB, 3 K, 53 strikes out of 86 pitches. Tyler Holton was brought in to face Cruz and struck him out on three pitches; he gave up an infield single, but then struck out pinch-hitter Nick “No Relation to Thom” Yorke to end the inning.

Jacob Waugespack, who’s been having a fairly good go of it lately, hung a cutter to pinch-hitter Rafael Flores Jr. with one out and he did not miss, clubbing a long home run to left field to narrow the gap to 3-2. After a lineout to centre, Drew Sommers came in to face Lowe and he struck out on a slider after a couple of pretty wild outside pitches.

Kyle Finnegan took over to start the eighth inning, and it’s been a rough ride for him lately: coming into today’s game his last eleven appearances, spanning 8 2/3 innings, he’d given up nine runs and allowed four home runs. Things started off decently well, with a lineout to left and a strikeout, but then Cruz and Nick Gonzales walked. I gulped in anticipation of what might come next, but then Yorke flew out harmlessly to left field. Had it all along, folks! Had it all along.

The Tigers looked to add some insurance in the top of the ninth off triple-digit lefty closer Mason Montgomery: Zach McKinstry led off with a single, and Clark pushed him up to second with a single of his own, taking 99 mph the opposite way in a nice piece of hitting. With two outs the Pirates’ catcher tried to back-pick to first to nab Clark but the throw went into right field, pushing the runners up a base. Alas, pinch-hitter Eduardo Valencia grounded out for the third out and it was on to the bottom of the ninth, and it did not go well.

Kenley Jansen, who had not given up a home run since the end of June, served one up to Flores, who hit it a long way with one out to tie the score at 3-3, Flores’ second home run of the game. Then, with two out, of course, Lowe hit his 27th of the year off the right-field foul pole for the 4-3 win.

Le sigh.

You know, I’m starting to think that this bullpen isn’t very good.

Observances and Notes

• On Monday night, Hao-Yu Lee broke Yu Chang’s record for hits in a season by a Taiwanese-born player. Congrats!
• Foolish Bailey did a great piece on the Tigers’ troubles this year when it comes to bullpen usage by AJ Hinch. All those Hinch-Haters out there, here’s some more fuel for your ever-burning fires — like you needed it!
• The orbit of a star close to the supermassive black hole in the centre of the Milky Way might show how that black hole is spinning. Neat!
• On this day in 1989, the Pan-European Picnic was held on the Austria-Hungary border, as a peace demonstration. During the proceedings, if people crossed from Hungary (then still Communist and under Soviet influence) into Austria, border guards were told to let them freely pass. It was partially a test to see what the Soviets’ response would be to a more open border, and since Moscow didn’t jump all over it, that emboldened leaders across all the Warsaw Pact nations to open things up even more — and the fall of the Berlin Wall a few months later was clearly the climax of those events.

Mets prospect Ryan Clifford has been added to the development list as he deals with a rough stretch at the plate at Triple-A Syracuse.

In his last 18 games, the first baseman/outfielder has just five hits in 67 at-bats (.075) with 35 strikeouts to nine walks and a .299 OPS. Since coming back from a few days on the IL at the start of the month, Clifford is 0-for-22 with 14 strikeouts and two walks, including striking out all five times in his last game on Sunday.

The development list was introduced in 2021 to help clubs monitor their prospects' usage and development, and allow the player the opportunity to stay with the minor league club while not being on the squad's roster. 

This year, he has 31 extra-base hits (16 home runs) with 51 RBI and a .175/.267/.344 slash line for a .611 OPS in 431 plate appearances over 104 games. The biggest issue for the 22-year-old is strikeouts. He's gone down on strikes 175 times, representing 40.6 percent of his times up.

He struck out 148 times in 139 games during the 2025 campaign across 105 games at Double-A Binghamton and 34 at Triple-A, where he only struck out 35 times with 22 walks. At Binghamton, he smacked 24 home runs with 75 RBI while batting .243 with a .848 OPS, which earned him that promotion last August.

Clifford is just a few weeks removed from playing in the MLB Futures Game around the MLB All-Star break. At the time, he said he was looking to work on his consistency at the plate as he had plenty of pop – 16 long balls and 47 batted in 86 games – but was batting .196 with a .678 OPS and 129 strikeouts.

“I think the first half was kind of up and down, so I’m looking to, after the break, just maintain some consistency and stay out on the field and be healthy,” Clifford said at the Futures Game. “Look to cut down on strikeouts and keep the power up.”

Clifford was ranked No. 14 in SNY's midseason ranking of the Mets' Top 30 prospects. 

You can watch Syracuse, who will have No. 2 prospect left-hander Jonathan Santucci on the hill, take on the Worcester Red Sox Wednesday at 6:35 p.m. on SNY. 

Not been a good couple of days for the D-backs. While I’m sure MarteGate (2026 edition) hasn’t helped, the pitching staff allowing twenty runs in two games probably is the main issue. Still, a win today would mean a 3-3 road trip. And, I remind you, the majority of you (57%, to be exact) said that would be an acceptable result for these games in Atlanta and Boston. With Brandon Pfaadt on the mound for the Diamondbacks, got to feel hopeful about us allowing fewer runs than on Monday and Tuesday. Be nice to get the W, fly back to Arizona, and enjoy the off-day tomorrow.

Also want to tidy up something from a few days ago. You may remember, in the opener against the Braves, the D-backs went 0-for-14 with runners in scoring position – but still won the game, 2-0. There was some wondering as to where about that performance stood in the pantheon of Diamondbacks victories, but there was no easy way to look it up. However, we have samath, the master of “no easy ways”, who duly scraped franchise history to find out. Over to you, samath:

The 0-for-14 in a regulation win is indeed a Diamondbacks record. Only one game comes close: On May 9th, 2013 against the Phillies, they went 0-for-12 with RISP in a 2-1 win. They’ve gone 0-for-9 six times, most recently in a 3-1 win over the Padres on July 17, 2022. MLB-wide, it’s also the highest for 2026. Second place is the Guardians going 0-for-12 in a 4-2 win over the Brewers on June 18. The last game to beat that opener in Atlanta was the Mariners’ 2-0 victory over the Astros on August 18, 2023, within which they went 0-for-17 with RISP.

Here are the top five MLB failures with RISP in team victories which samath found, since the D-backs entered the league in 1998.

1. 2023-08-18 – Seattle Mariners over Houston Astros: 2-0, 0-for-17
2. 2006-09-15 – Oakland Athletics over Chicago White Sox, 4-2, 0-for-16
3. 1999-05-29 – Los Angeles Dodgers over Atlanta Braves, 2-1, 0-for-15
4. 2026-08-14 – Arizona Diamondbacks over Atlanta Braves, 2-0, 0-for-14
5. 2017-04-22 – St. Louis Cardinals over Milwaukee Brewers, 4-1, 0-for-14

TV: NESN

First Pitch: 4:10 p.m. ET

Payton Tolle is the perfect man for Boston to send to the mound as the Red Sox play for a sweep of the Diamondbacks. Coming off of three consecutive series losses, the lefty takes the mound as the hot hand of the rotation, most recently tossing a gem with eight scoreless innings in Toronto.  

Here’s who the Red Sox will send to the plate behind him Wednesday afternoon at Fenway Park. 

The Diamondbacks counter with Brandon Pfaadt, who’s fared well this season with a 3.12 ERA in 22 total appearances. 

It has been a brutal month of August for the Washington Nationals on multiple fronts. They lost key players to trades, James Wood got hurt and the losses have been piling up. However, Dylan Crews’ miserable play of late is another factor in the Nats struggles. When the team needed him most, Crews has been woefully ineffective.

After losing James Wood, Luis Garcia Jr. and Curtis Mead, the Nats needed guys to step up in order to pick up the slack. Abimelec Ortiz has done his part, bursting onto the scene. Brady House has not been perfect, but his .258 average and .704 OPS is acceptable. 

However, Crews has not held up his end of the bargain. The Nats were clearly relying on him to do that and you can see that in where they put him in the lineup. Against lefties, Crews has been leading off and even against righties, he often hits third. Despite that faith, Crews is just 8 for 57 in August.

It is yet another disappointing chapter in a wildly frustrating Nationals career for the former second overall pick. One thing that makes it even worse is the fact that Crews was coming off one of the best months of his career. In July he posted an .801 OPS and walked 14 times. It sure seems like that plate discipline was a mirage because outside of August he has just 7 walks all season.

The biggest problem for Dylan Crews this season is the combination of chasing and whiffing. In 2026, Crews has a 32.8% chase rate and 30.6% whiff rate. Both of those numbers are well below average. It leads to him having to fight an uphill battle.

Coming into the season, one of the biggest issues Crews had was his ground ball heavy profile. This season, he has actually gotten a lot better at elevating the ball, cutting his GB% from 50.2% to 38.5%. Unfortunately, a lot of these flyballs are to straightaway centerfield, making it harder to clear the fences. With all the athletic center fielders in the game, getting hits up the middle is now harder than ever.

He still has some issues with his batted ball profile, but I think the biggest problem is his swing decisions. Crews just throws away too many at bats, especially in big moments where he knows he has to do something. Against the Mets there was an at bat where he struck out on 7 pitches and not a single one of them was in the strike zone.

That at bat sums up the Dylan Crews experience for me. He has the talent to be a good player, but everything seems to be moving too fast for him at the plate. You can see that with how often he falls behind 0-2. Whenever you watch Crews, you see a hitter on the defensive.

With this season’s playoff hopes being gone, this should serve as an audition period for Crews. Unless he heats up significantly down the stretch, his spot on the team should not be secure. Right now, he is the fourth best outfielder on this team behind James Wood, Jacob Young and Daylen Lile. 

At the moment, he is closer to the likes of Andrew Pinckney and Sam Petersen than being the star fans thought they were getting. I still think there is a talented player in Crews, and he is a guy who could be a late bloomer. He has the exit velocities, athleticism and defense to be a good player. However, the bat leaves so much to be desired.

Is it possible that Crews becomes the next Jordan Walker type breakout star? I suppose, but it is certainly not something I would bet on. It is more likely that he is an athletic fourth outfielder who plays against left handed pitching. That can be a useful piece to a roster, but a massive disappointment given his pedigree.

Things can change quickly, but right now it just feels like things are over for Crews in DC. If you can get something worthwhile or even package him with other pieces to get a pitcher, it is something I would absolutely do. I have some hope for Dylan Crews, but I no longer have any real belief in him.