Worldwide Sports News

TV: NESN

First Pitch: 6:45 p.m. ET

The Red Sox are within striking distance of dropping their magic number and securing a playoff spot over the next week or so. They can take another step if they can take the series from the Angels. Jake Bennett heads to the hill to get the rotation back on track after a fabulous weekend in Baltimore. 

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

The Angels counter with Ryan Johnson, who has thrown the ball well lately and allowed one run or fewer in four of his last five starts.  

It has been quite a series. After two late comeback victories in a row, the Milwaukee Brewers are looking for a sweep tonight of their rivals, the Chicago Cubs. Last night’s victory assured the Brewers of the season series and thus any tiebreaker, though their now-nine-game lead with only 16 games remaining means that tiebreaker should not matter. Still, Milwaukee is battling with the Dodgers and Braves for the top two seeds in the National League, so there’s still plenty to keep playing for.

On the bump for the Brewers tonight will be the guy who has developed into the Robin to Jacob Misiorowski’s Batman, Logan Henderson. Henderson has been nothing short of fantastic: he’s allowed fewer than three runs in 13 of his 15 starts this season, and more than three in zero of them. Henderson has also been a reliable source of innings lately: he’s completed seven innings in three of his last four outings after never having done it in any of his first 16 career starts. Overall, Henderson has pitched to a 2.48 ERA and an eye-popping 0.792 WHIP. He’s striking out 10 batters per nine innings while walking just 1.5 per nine; if he had enough innings to qualify, Henderson would lead major-league starters in strikeout-to-walk ratio at 6.64.

On the other side will be one of Chicago’s trade dealine pickups, Kevin Gausman. Gausman has pitched to nearly identical ERAs before and after the trade: when traded, he had a 4.38 ERA with Toronto, and he’s got a 4.37 ERA in six starts with the Cubs. Regardless of which you look at, FIP suggests he’s had bad luck—Gausman had a 3.50 FIP with Toronto and it’s at 3.83 with the Cubs. Gausman was fantastic against the Brewers last week, though: on Thursday, he went seven innings, allowed only one run on five hits and a walk, and struck out nine, his highest total since April 1st.

After his big night last night, Jackson Chourio is back atop the Brewers’ lineup. Joining him in the outfield tonight are Garrett Mitchell and Sal Frelick, while Andrew Vaughn, Brice Turang, Cooper Pratt, and Joey Ortiz make up the infield. William Conteras is catching, and Christian Yelich bats fifth as the designated hitter.

First pitch is at 6:40 p.m. on Brewers TV and the Brewers Radio Network. How about a sweep?

Keider Montero had another somewhat shaky outing, but otherwise the Tigers played their best game in recent weeks. Colt Keith set the tone with an early homer, and the Tigers walked, stole bases, and pitched really well ouf of the bullpen to take down the Twins and win their first series since mid-August by a 7-2 score on Wednesday afternoon.

After an hour plus rain delay, Keider Montero entered this game looking to get the taste out of last Friday’s loss to the Guardians out of his mouth. Montero was cruising along with a lead before losing his command and getting clipped for a four-run outburst that eventually led to a walkoff loss.

Luke Keaschall was up first for the Twins, and continues to lean in over the plate, trying to get hit. Montero obliged, hitting him in the arm with a 3-2 sinker. Keachall’s toes were right on the edge of the chalk and it’s debatable whether the pitch even got into the airspace of the batter’s box, but umpires rarely put the onus back on the hitter there.

Brooks Lee flew out deep to center field on a nice play from Max Clark. Keaschall couldn’t advance, and then Montero picked him off with his second throw over to first. Kody Clemens flew out to end the top of the first.

RHP Zebby Matthews took the mound for the Twins, and he got Kevin McGonigle to fly out to open the bottom half. Hao-Yu Lee drew a walk, and in a 2-2 count, Colt Keith got a changeup that hung up in the zone. He did not miss, lining it just over the right field wall into the foliage. 2-0 Tigers.

Riley Greene flew out, and Dillon Dingler grounded out to end the inning.

Montero got a ground out from Bell and a fly out from Kaelen Culpepper to start the second inning, before walking Trevor Larnach. Montero punched out Royce Lewis whiffing over a knuckle curve. The Tigers went down pretty easily in the bottom half.

Victor Caratini grounded out to John Peck at shortstop to open the third inning. Walker Jenkins challenged a Montero curveball for a first pitch strike, and he was correct that it was actually ball one. Montero eventually walked him, but Keaschall flew out to Brett Callahan in left, as did Brooks Lee to send it to the bottom half of the inning.

The Tigers quickly got something going as Peck drew a leadoff walk. McGonigle slashed a double to left to move Peck to third, and then Matthews, starting to feel the strain, walked Hao-Yu Lee as well. That loaded the bases with no outs, and brought Colt Keith to the dish after homering in his last at-bat.

Matthews worked ahead 1-2 in the count as Derek Shelton got his bullpen active. Keith ripped a one-hopper just foul down the right field line, and then couldn’t check his swing on a backfoot slider, striking out. Riley Greene got ahead 3-1 and Matthews couldn’t tempt him into chasing the high heat, walking in a run. 3-0 Tigers.

That was it for Matthews. Shelton went to RHP Travis Adams instead, with Dillon Dingler at the dish. The Tigers catcher lifted a sacrifice fly to Larnach, scoring McGonigle from third. Brett Callahan was up next, and he sliced a 1-1 fastball down the left field line. It bounced fair and hopped into the seats for a two-run automatic double. 5-0 Tigers. Max Clark flew out, but the Tigers had cashed in their opportunities.

Montero then gave up a solo shot to Kody Clemens on his first pitch to start the fourth. Clemens 26th homer went to the opposite field and made it a 5-1 game. Montero promptly fell behind to Bell and a sinker on the outer edge got launched out to left field as well. This is not how you take advantage of a lead. Montero was still struggling to throw strikes early in counts and now it was biting him. 5-2 Tigers.

Montero got Culpepper to fly out to left, but the misses were still a bit much as he struggled to find his groove. A curve and a fourseamer were fouled off by Larnach to get Montero ahead 0-2, but he missed with three straight, and none of them were terribly competitive. Tyler Holton was warming in the pen at this point. Finally a good knuckle curve got the whiff for the second out. Lewis lined out to Lee at second on Montero’s 74th pitch, and we were on to the bottom of the fourth.

Malgeri grounded out to start things off, and then Adams whiffed Peck. Meanwhile, AJ Hinch was in the dugout with his hands on Montero’s shoulders conveying a message. Montero is about to become a father for the first time, so possibly it was just new father advice, but mid-game that’s probably unlikely. After the game, Hinch said he was basically leaning on Montero not to get down on himself for an iffy performance and concentrate on the more important things as he and his wife await the arrival of their first born.

McGonigle was up next, and he took a really close 2-2 pitch away out of the zone to work the count full. Another changeup was fouled off, and Adams despaired of getting him out and fired a fastball head high and walked him instead. Hao-Yu Lee fell behind 1-2, but he too stayed patient and forced Adams to throw strikes. He failed to do so, walking Lee as well. So Keith was up with two on and two outs. A cutter jammed him first pitch, and Keith popped out to end the inning.

Tyler Holton did indeed take over in the fifth, and he whiffed Caratini with a good changeup for the first out. Jenkins was tied into knots by a sweeper that was actually up in the zone, but the rookie whiffed on it, and Keaschall grounded out to Lee at second.

A good Adams cutter got Riley Greene to fly out to Larnach, beginning the bottom half. Dingler’s second half pain continued with a strikeout. Callahan fouled off a bunch of slider and changeups, but eventually whiffed on a slider as well. On to the sixth.

After a lengthy battle, Holton got Brooks Lee to pop out to Colt Keith next to the visitor’s dugout to begin the inning. Clemens made another bid for a homer but it fell short of the right field fence and Malgeri was there. Bell put up a battle, but a good changeup got a little pop up to Peck at shortstop. Still 5-2 Tigers heading to the bottom of the sixth.

Lefty Taylor Rogers took over for the Twins, and Max Clark continues to thrive against lefties, lining a sweeper to right for a single. Malgeri was unable to move Clark while Rogers kept a close eye on his leads, striking out. Then Rogers picked off Clark as he was primed to go first move, and they cut him down at second. Peck grounded out to Culpepper to end the inning.

Tyler Kinley has been quite effective for the Tigers since they claimed him from the Braves. He popped up Culpepper to Dingler to start the seventh. Larnach singled to right for the Twins third hit of the game. Of course, two of them were homers. Royce Lewis fell behind as Kinley fed him nothing but sliders away. He eventually switched to a curveball and whiffed him for the second out. Caratini fell behind 0-2, but took a pair of sliders down before Kinley had to adjust and feed him one at the bottom of the zone. The Twins catcher ripped a single to right, and Larnach took third on the play.

Hinch had seen enough, and with the rookie left-handed hitter Jenkins coming to the plate, he called on Drew Sommers to snuff this threat out. The big fella got ahead 1-2, and then dusted the rookie with a perfect fourseamer at the top of the zone. Nice job there. Still a 5-2 game with six outs for the Tigers to get.

Kody Funderburk took over for the Twins in the bottom half, and he struck out McGonigle and Lee to start the frame. Spencer Torkelson entered to hit for Keith. He fought Funderburk to a full count and Caratini decided to confer with his pitcher. They elected to go with a changeup and got weak contact, but the blooper dropped into right field for a single. Funderburk missed up repeatedly and issued the Tigers seventh free pass of the day to Riley Greene. So two on, two outs for Dingler, but Derek Shelton wasn’t going to let him see a lefty. RHP Tommy Nance got the call to try and get the Twins out of this.

He did not get the Twins out of this. Dingler lined a single to left center field to score Torkelson, moving Greene to second. 6-2 Tigers.

Callahan took a 1-1 sinker away that was called a ball, but a Caratini challenge showed it just slightly skimming the outer edge of the zone. That put Nance in charge, and he whiffed the outfielder to send us to the eighth.

Sommers got Keaschall to ground out to Peck to start the inning. The throw was low, but Torkelson picked it nicely to retire the speedy and highly irritating outfielder. A really nasty changeup whiffed Brooks Lee, and if Sommers has that pitch he’s really in business against right-handers as well. He closed the frame in style, blowing away Kody Clemens with a 94 mph fourseamer.

Tommy Nance walked Clark to start the bottom of the eighth, and quickly paid for it as Clark stole second base. Ben Malgeri grounded out, moving Clark to third, and Peck banged a single through the right side to score Clark. That made it 7-2, and Peck promptly stole second as well.

McGonigle struck out again, this time of a mistake pitch as Nance dropped a slider just at the top of the zone. Ha0-Yu Lee grounded out sharply to the other Lee at third base, and we were on to the ninth. 7-2 Tigers.

Kyle Finnegan came on to close it out, and he quickly gave up a single to Josh Bell. A ground ball off Culpepper’s bat went to Peck for a double play to clear the bases, and it was up to Larnach. He flew out to left, and that’s a series win.

This was the Tigers first series victory since taking out the Guardians back on August 13. Everything has gone badly since then, but not today. The Tigers will have an off day on Thursday, and then welcome in the Colorado Rockies for three starting Friday.

The Houston Astros have recently made several waiver claims of players other teams have been willing to cast off, choosing to give these players a chance with the club over their own minor league players who have performed well at Triple-A.

Should the Astros be giving their own minor leaguers a chance with team in September over players available on waivers?

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

SB Nation Reacts pols are powered by FanDuel, the official sportsbook partner of SB Nation.

https://sportsbook.fanduel.com/navigation/mlb

The Athletics prevailed in the rubber match, defeating the Toronto Blue Jays 2-0 in what was one of the pitching staff’s best performances of the season. The bullpen combined to shut out the Blue Jays, while center fielder Henry Bolte continued to provide the fireworks at the plate.

Opener Strategy Works for Both Teams

The two openers, A’s left-hander Brady Basso and Blue Jays right-hander Brayden Fisher, each set the tone with a scoreless first inning. Right-hander Michael Lorenzen replaced Fisher in the bottom of the second. With two outs, the hosts got their first two baserunners before catcher Brian Serven struck out to end the Athletics’ first scoring opportunity of the game.

Bolte Blast

The A’s took the lead in the bottom of the third inning. With one out, Bolte hit his second home run in as many games. The rookie’s 10th home run of the season, a solo shot to left field off Lorenzen, put the Green and Gold ahead 1-0 after three frames.

Basso Delivered Today

Basso remained in the game for the fourth inning. He allowed two hits, the first of which was incorrectly ruled a hit after first baseman Tommy White misplayed a grounder hit directly to him. The southpaw escaped the jam, stranding two runners and preserving his team’s 1-0 lead. Basso tossed four scoreless innings on a season-high 68 pitches, allowing three hits and two walks while striking out four.

A’s Increase Their Lead

In the bottom of the fourth, White and Max Muncy hit back-to-back singles against Lorenzen, setting the A’s up with a chance to extend their lead. White scored the A’s second run on a wild pitch.

A’s Bullpen Holds On!

In the fifth inning, right-hander Scott Blewett replaced Basso, who gave the A’s a much longer start than everyone expected. The hosts’ defensive woes continued as left fielder Carlos Cortes’ misplay turned Brett Bateman’s base hit into a double.

Blewett escaped the threat by getting Vladimir Guerrero Jr. to ground into a double play with runners on the corners and one out. The next inning, Blewett induced another groundball double play, completing two scoreless innings of relief.

Right-hander Luis Medina followed with a scoreless seventh, keeping the A’s 2-0 lead entering the seventh-inning stretch. The Green and Gold had a chance to extend their lead in the bottom of that inning, but Toronto reliever Tyler Rogers stranded a runner at second.

Athletics left-hander Hogan Harris bounced back from Friday night’s blown save with a scoreless eighth inning against the top of the Blue Jays’ lineup.

Still holding a 2-0 lead, the Athletics turned to hard-throwing right-hander Elvis Alvarado for the save opportunity. Pitching for the first time this series, the 27-year-old allowed just one single, securing his sixth save of the season and the Athletics’ second straight series victory over a team with playoff aspirations.

The A’s have a well-deserved day off Thursday before continuing their homestand with a three-game series against the Seattle Mariners this weekend. Friday night’s pitching matchup will feature a rematch from one of the four games these teams played in Seattle earlier this month. Left-hander Jeffrey Springs will start for the Athletics, while right-hander George Kirby will take the mound for the Mariners.

Mets lineup

Francisco Lindor – SS
Juan Soto – LF
Bo Bichette – 3B
Carson Benge – RF
Jared Young – DH
Marcus Semien – 2B
A.J. Ewing – CF
Brett Baty – 1B
Luis Torrens – C

SP: Robert Stock – RHP

Marlins lineup

Kyle Stowers – DH
Heriberto Hernandez – LF
Griffin Conine – 1B
Otto Lopez – SS
Jakob Marsee – CF
Javier Sanoja – 2B
Owen Caissie – RF
Graham Pauley – 3B
Joe Mack – C

SP: Janson Junk – RHP

Broadcast info

First pitch: 6:40 PM ET
TV: SNY
Radio: Audacy Mets Radio WHSQ 880AM, Audacy App, 92.3 HD2

Wednesday notes…

• AVOIDING BEING SWEPT: The Cubs have not been swept in a series at Milwaukee since June 28-30, 2021. This is their 12th series there since then. They avoided being swept with third-game wins in five series, including their first series a year ago. They are 26-34 in games at Milwaukee in the last week of August or later, including 7-14 since 2018. The Cubs are 7-2 this season in third games of series after losing the first two. They are 4-0 on the road, with wins at Atlanta and Pittsburgh in May, Colorado in June and Seattle in August. (Courtesy BCB’s JohnW53)
• THAT THIRD GAME: At 11-12 in third games of series on the road, the Cubs already have lost more such games than they did all of last season, when they finished 15-11. They are 24-22 in all third games, home and road.. They ended last year 27-23. (Courtesy BCB’s JohnW53)
• WEDNESDAY, THE GOOD DAY: The Cubs are 14-9 on Wednesday, their best record of any day of the week, ahead of 13-10 on Tuesday and 13-11 on Saturday. They ae 8-4 on the road on Wednesday, also their best, ahead of 7-5 on both Tuesday and Friday. (Courtesy BCB’s JohnW53)
• ITEM FOUR: Jon Lester, Hector Rondón and Aroldis Chapman combine on a seven-hit shutout and Kris Bryant’s two-run homer in the fifth provide all the runs the Cubs would need in a 2-0 win over the Astros. It happened 10 years ago today, Friday, Sept. 9, 2016.

Cubs lineup:

Brewers lineup:

Kevin Gausman, RHP vs. Logan Henderson, RHP

Here’s the third and last pitching rematch from last week’s series at Wrigley Field.

Kevin Gausman was absolutely nails in the game last Thursday, allowing just five hits and one run, with nine strikeouts. Gausman usually isn’t a strikeout pitcher, either. Do that again, Kevin. For whatever it’s worth, the Cubs are 5-1 in Gausman starts.

Logan Henderson was also very good last week, giving the Cubs just three hits. Fortunately for the Cubs, one of those hits was a two-run homer by Pete Crow-Armstrong. Do that again, PCA.

Today’s game is on Marquee Sports Network.

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

MLB.com Gameday

Baseball-reference.com game preview

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

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

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

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

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

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

Discuss amongst yourselves.

Here are the lineups for today’s matchup against Houston. Let’s discuss!

For the Phillies:

For the Astros:

Vance Honeycutt might be in the running for the best career of any position player to ever play baseball for North Carolina, but he hasn’t had an easy time of it since being drafted in the first round by the Baltimore Orioles in 2024. Through a season and a half in High-A ball, it looked like the concerns around his swing-and-miss and strikeout rate were going to end up overpowering all the tools he brought to the table, as he was striking out on over 40% of his plate appearances and thus not really giving himself a chance to put up any numbers. It looked like he might have turned a corner in spring ball, when he hit home runs in four straight at-bats and appeared to have reworked his swing into something more repeatable. But when he went back to the High-A Frederick Keys, it was unfortunately more of the same: 43% of his plate appearances ending in strikeouts and a dismal slash line of .182/.285/.359. He’d slipped from 5th to out of MLB Pipeline’s Top 30 prospects for the Orioles and was looking at a steep climb uphill if his big-league dreams were to be realized, because the list of players who have recorded that many strikeouts as a minor leaguer and become successful in The Show is basically empty.

Those stats and that situation don’t scream “guy ready for promotion,” but who knows what the Orioles organization was seeing under the hood. Maybe they were tinkering more with his swing. Maybe they thought he just needed a change of scenery. Or maybe they were just letting him sink or swim, giving him the opportunity to prove he’s still worth putting resources into developing. Whatever it was, they decided to promote him to their AA affiliate, the Chesapeake Baysox, on August 17th.

And whatever it was, it’s paying dividends. Honeycutt looks like a completely different player against AA pitching — through four-ish weeks, 16 games, and 65 plate appearances, he’s slashing .339/.431/.661 with 3 home runs, 11 RBI, and 10 stolen bases, and an OPS over 1.000, compiling a high-but-manageable 21.5% K rate (and is 2-5 with two home runs and a stolen base in his 17th game as I’m writing this, basically in my backyard no less). I don’t know if new coaching and a new environment has unlocked something for him, if AA pitchers are just giving him more opportunities to swing at something in the zone, or if the independent coach who recently posted about working with him during the month of August has something to do with it, but it’s a near-unprecedented turnaround for a minor league prospect and has Honeycutt looking like a bona fide prospect again.

Obviously, Honeycutt’s Double-A numbers come from a much smaller sample size than the problematic High-A ones. But he never even approached having a month like this in High-A, and we’re starting to get to a point where the sample size is big enough that it can’t be ignored entirely. Maybe this pace ends up being unsustainable for the former Tar Heel, but I think seeing him fall all the way back down would be even more surprising than the turnaround has been. As it is, he’s putting himself in a great position to maybe be looking at Triple-A at some point next year, if after a likely lockout, and resuming the trajectory that he put himself on as he wrote his legend at Boshamer Stadium.

Plenty of other recent Tar Heels are doing pretty well in the minors — including Kane Kepley, who’s the Chicago Cubs’ fifth-ranked prospect in his second year as a pro — and we’ll likely have a roundup of all of them once the minor league season is over in a few days. But this potentially career-saving stretch from Honeycutt was certainly worth covering on its own.