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After Wednesday’s 12-4 defeat to the Miami Marlins where Andrew Painter surrendered six runs in just two innings of work, the Phillies will be shaking up the back of their rotation by optioning Andrew Painter to AAA.

The Phillies have tried everything with Painter. They’ve tweaked his usage in certain starts to limit fastball damage, they’ve used an opener, and they gave him 14 appearances to figure this out. With a 7.06 ERA in 65.0 innings pitched, nothing stuck long enough.

Through roughly the first two and a half months of the season, the Phillies have cycled through their number five and six starting pitching options from the big league roster. They went into the season with Taijuan Walker making starts with Zack Wheeler injured but he was released after just 22.2 innings of work because he had an ERA over 9.

Now with Painter out, there is no clear answer for what the Phillies will do on the rotation’s fifth turn. Matt Gelb wrote that former Atlanta Brave and Chicago White Sox Bryse Wilson had triggered his upward mobility clause in his minor league contract, which could force the Phillies to add him to the roster. In 54.1 innings with the Iron Pigs, Wilson carries a 6.29 ERA with 2.76 strikeout-to-walk ratio.

Alan Rangel is already on the 40-man roster and pitched for the Phillies earlier this year when they had Kyle Backhus open for the aforementioned Walker in the middle of their ten game losing streak. Rangel has looked solid, albeit not super inspiring with the Pigs, carrying a 3.74 ERA in 65.0 innings.

Maybe the Phillies try bullpen games to patch things until the trade deadline. The bullpen lost a key leverage arm in Brad Keller to the injured list but have built up plenty of depth through minor league signings and waiver claims. They have the options to make it work even if it’s not an ideal scenario to go through every fifth day.

Whatever path the Phillies go down, it will be without Andrew Painter, as he heads down to Lehigh Valley to figure out who he is moving forward.

Here’s the Guardians’ lineup:

Here’s the Brewers’ lineup:

Let’s go, Guardians!

Before they take a ride down the Canyon of Heroes on Thursday morning, Jalen Brunson and Josh Hart made a pit stop at Yankee Stadium on Wednesday night.

The newly crowned NBA champions threw out the ceremonial first pitches before the Yankees hosted the White Sox, and the two Knicks received a loud ovation from the crowd as the city continued to soak up the franchise’s first title in 53 years.

“I know [Thursday’s] just going to be otherworldly as far as a parade goes,” manager Aaron Boone said. “But it’ll be great to see those guys tonight. I’m sure they’re having a pretty good week.”

Brunson, the Finals MVP, threw to J.C. Escarra while Hart threw to Max Schuemann. 

Boone, a 76ers fan at heart, described the Knicks’ 16-3 showing in the playoffs as “a captivating run” that will have a lasting impact.

“I think it’ll be one of the historic teams that we talk about when it comes to the NBA,” Boone said. “Every championship is obviously memorable and going back to [Michael] Jordan and that run and the Lakers and the Celtics, what the Warriors [did], on and on, however you want to look at it. I think this team, in the annals of the NBA, will be talked about for a long, long time.”

After throwing all of his pitches “with good intensity” Tuesday in his first full bullpen session since going on the injured list with a left elbow bone bruise last month, Max Fried reported feeling good on Wednesday, the latest positive sign in his comeback.

The left-hander will still need to show improved healing in his elbow before he is cleared to fully ramp up towards a return, but assuming he continues to bounce back well in the coming days, Fried will throw another bullpen session this weekend. 

“Just talking to him today, he said, ‘I felt great during it and then feel good coming into today,’” Boone said. “So it’s been encouraging, really every step of the way, since even the couple days after the Baltimore start when he went on the IL. He’s responded well to everything, which I’m hoping is a really good sign for him and for us long-term.”

Facing White Sox lefty Anthony Kay (who had drastic left/right splits) on Wednesday, Boone started José Caballero in left field, Cody Bellinger in center field and Jasson Domínguez in right field.

Bellinger moving to center for a day opened up left field for Domínguez, but instead Boone opted to keep him in his new home in right to get him a steady dose of reps there to see if it can work moving forward.

Boone did not have an update on George Lombard Jr., the club’s top prospect who left Tuesday’s Triple-A game early after getting his left wrist/hand jammed while covering second base on a steal. … Austin Wells (cervical headaches) came through his first rehab game Tuesday without issue and was scheduled to start at catcher again on Wednesday for Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre before its game got rained out.

The Rays tried their best to avoid a sweep at the hands of the Dodgers and a 1-5 road trip, but came up just a bit short this afternoon losing their fourth of four 1-run games on this west coast trip.

The team came into the contest on a 16-inning scoreless streak having last scored a run in the second inning of the opening game in this series, and for awhile, it looked as if that streak could get much longer. Through four innings, Shohei Ohtani held the offense at bay scattering two hits over four innings while lowering his ERA to 1.00 on the season. Ohtani came into the 5th inning with a two-run lead that could have been much worse after a leadoff walk to Mookie Betts led to the first run after a single by Alex Call. Call then easily stole second off the battery of Shane McClanahan and Hunter Feduccia, who then came around to score on a Alex Freeland single after a walk to Dalton Rushing. Tommy Edman would then walk, but Casey Legumina was able to strand the bases loaded by getting the National League’s RBI leader, Andy Pages, to line out softly to Taylor Walls.

The Rays came into the top of the 5th having not scored in 20 consecutive innings before finally showing some life offensively. Victor Mesa Jr. led the inning off with a walk before Feduccia lined a double deep to left center giving the Rays more runners in scoring position than they had in yesterday’s game. Walls drove in the first run with a sacrifice fly, followed up with consecutive singles by Yandy Diaz and Jonathan Aranda. Cedric Mullins then went on to hit what was scored an infield single which was aided by a slow initial reaction by Ohtani to cover the bag. The single gave Mullins at least one hit against all 30 major league teams over the course of his career. Junior Caminero drove in Diaz on a fielder’s choice that involved two athletic plays on both ends by Tommy Edman and Freeland to prevent things from getting worse. Yet another single in the inning, this time by Richie Palacios, gave the club a two-run lead before the rally was ended by Chandler Simpson bunting into the third out.

A leadoff walk to Freddie Freeman followed by consecutive well-aimed soft contact balls by Betts and Miguel Rojas loaded the bases with nobody out. Garrett Cleavinger came in to relieve Legumina and walked Kyle Tucker in a nine-pitch at bat in which Tucker chased early, but then tightened up his zone and drew the walk after fouling off several close sweepers:

That run would miraculously be the only run of the inning as Cleavinger would go on to induce weak contact flyouts to both Alex Call and Dalton Rushing before overpowering UCF’s Alex Freeland weith three sliders much to the delight of USF alum Shane McClanahan.

The game would remain 4-3 until a one-out double by Andy Pages was followed by a two-run homer to Freddie Freeman on a pitch Feduccia wanted on the other side of the plate and Kelly simply missed his spot in the worst possible place to a lefty, let alone one destined for Cooperstown when it is all said and done:

Kevin Cash would go on to nearly empty the bench in the later innings to counter the lefties coming out of the pen in Jack Dreyer and Alex Vesia, and it nearly worked. Austin Slater drew a leadoff walk from Vesia in the 9th and subsequently swiped second base. Ben Williamson and Walls had two unproductive outs, but an intentional walk to Diaz and yet another walk to Aranda brought Mullins to the plate with the bases loaded. Mullins chased a high fastball in a 1-0 count before spitting on two other fastballs and swingingly helplessly at two sliders that would end the game.

The Rays were held scoreless in 24 of the final 25 innings of this series and have the overnight flight home tonight to reset before taking on the surging Nationals this weekend. Neither starting pitcher had a great line in this game. Ohtani has now allowed three or more earned runs in consecutive starts while McClanahan ended a 10-game streak of walking two or fewer batters in his outings. He had 11 batters in his last 10 starts after the consecutive four-walk outings early in the season. The Dodgers were incredibly disciplined in this outing chasing just 13 of McClanahan’s offering out of the zone and were also aided by several ABS overturns on what would have been 2025 strikeouts.

It appears Jonny DeLuca will be back for this weekend to give the club some much-needed help in the lineup, and perhaps that playing time comes at the expense of Simpson who is now mired in a 3 for 44 slump wrapped around the hand issue that hit him in May. The club needs to find some type of offense spark to snap out of this cold stretch which has seen them lose too much ground in the standings and now have an 11-16 record in Interleague play with six more interleague contests coming up on this 10-game homestand. Hopefully they can find a way to snap out of this June swoon.

After a disappointing loss on Monday, the Colorado Rockies rallied back on Tuesday night with a 5-2 victory over the Chicago Cubs to tie up the series. Now, they will turn to a rookie starting pitcher for his second career appearance as they look to snag a series victory.

Sean Sullivan (0-0, 0.00 ERA) takes the mound for the Rockies for the second time. His last start in Las Vegas against the Athletics looked good for three innings before it was cut short. Sullivan had to depart the game because he had been feeling ill before, during, and after the start. Heat stroke didn’t help matters either. Still, he showed off how effective he can be as a pitcher despite averaging a fastball under 90 mph. While the Cubs have been in a tough place lately, they still have some dangerous hitters who should prove to be another worthwhile challenge for the young lefty.

Javier Assad (4-1, 3.99 ERA) takes the mound for the Cubs. Assad started the year in the rotation for the Cubs but was moved to the bullpen after three mixed starts. He made five relief appearances after that before being optioned to Triple-A in mid-May, where he struggled to a 7.31 ERA over five starts. Assad was recalled to the Cubs on June 6 as a rotation reinforcement and has looked good in his two starts. Since returning, he has thrown 12.1 scoreless innings, having surrendered just four hits and two walks while striking out 10. He has made six appearances, including five starts, against the Rockies in his career, while sporting a 4.94 ERA. His last start against Colorado came in 2025, where he allowed three runs over six innings at Coors Field.

And now to the details.

First Pitch: 6:05 pm MDT

TV: Rockies TV

Radio: KOA 850 AM/94.1 FM; KNRV 1150 (Spanish)

SB Nation site: Bleed Cubbie Blue

Lineups:

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The San Francisco Giants have another doubleheader today, after their eventual 7-2 win over the Atlanta Braves was paused in the second inning on Tuesday, and finished earlier today.

Because of the doubleheader, the teams are given a 27th player for the second game, and that’s exciting for the Giants, because it means the season debut of lefty Carson Whisenhunt, who will make the start. Whisenhunt has pitched in 14 games for AAA Sacramento this year, and is 5-2 with a 3.65 ERA, a 3.61 FIP, and 77 strikeouts to 30 walks in 69 innings. The one thing he’s struggled this year is going deep into games due to a constantly high pitch count, but that’s not as big of an issue today as it sometimes is in doubleheaders, as San Francisco only used two relievers (Dylan Smith and Caleb Kilian) in the first game of the day.

In addition to calling up Whisenhunt, the Giants made a move between games, calling up lefty reliever Matt Gage, while optioning lefty reliever Reiver Sanmartin.

Atlanta is sticking with their scheduled starter, after finishing the first game with a bullpen showing. That means righty JR Ritchie will take the mound. Ritchie is in his debut season, and turns 23 later this month. He’s appeared in six games this year, while making five starts, and is 1-1 with a 3.82 ERA, a 5.15 FIP, and 26 strikeouts to 18 walks in 30.2 innings. He threw five shutout innings against the New York Mets his last time out.

Enjoy the game, everyone.

Lineups

Giants

1. Luis Arráez — 2B
2. Bryce Eldridge — 1B
3. Matt Chapman — 3B
4. Rafael Devers — DH
5. Jung Hoo Lee — RF
6. Willy Adames — SS
7. Casey Schmitt — LF
8. Drew Gilbert — CF
9. Eric Haase — C

LHP. Carson Whisenhunt

Braves

1. Mauricio Dubón — CF
2. Drake Baldwin — DH
3. Matt Olson — 1B
4. Ozzie Albies — 2B
5. Austin Riley — 3B
6. Eli White — LF
7. Jorge Mateo — SS
8. Mike Yastrzemski — RF
9. Sandy León — C

RHP. JR Ritchie

Game #74

Who: San Francisco Giants (30-43) vs. Atlanta Braves (46-26)

Where: Truist Park, Atlanta, Georgia

When: 4:15 p.m. PT

Regional broadcast: NBC Sports Bay Area

National broadcast: n/a

Radio: KNBR 680 AM/104.5 FM, KSFN 1510 AM

The Braves turn to JR Ritchie on the mound as they look to earn a split from a virtual doubleheader on Wednesday night after 7.5 innings of Tuesday’s game played were played Wednesday afternoon.

The vibes are as bad as they’ve been all season for the team, and the lineup for Game 2, which is missing Michael Harris II after he exited Tuesday night with lower back tightness once again, doesn’t help that.

Drake Baldwin moves down to the second spot in the lineup and will DH again, with Mauricio Dubon batting leadoff and playing in center with Sandy Leon behind the plate. The Braves also called up Jair Camargo as their extra roster member and emergency catcher, making sure Baldwin won’t need to catch the nightcap.

The Giants, on the other hand, are keeping their lineup almost exactly the same. The only change is swapping out Eric Haase behind the plate and in the nine spot for Daniel Susac, who hit ninth and caught the first game of the series.

San Francisco will give left-hander Carson Whisenhunt his first start of the season against Ritchie in a matchup of pitchers each making their sixth career major league starts.

Tune in and see if the Braves can avoid dropping a third straight series or if they force a Thursday rubber match.

Game Notes

Preview

Some unfortunate Ronald Acuña Jr. news between games

Similarly to how it seemed likely that the Braves were going to be without Ronald Acuña Jr. for a bit, it seemed inevitable that Spencer Strider would be put on the longer-term IL eventually once it got out that he’d be shut down for at least a month.

That appears to be the case, as the Braves have gone ahead and moved Strider to the 60-Day IL.

So while Strider is being shut down for four weeks, that also meant that even if all went well with his future IL, it would take a while for Strider to ramp up and get back into big league pitching shape, so this is simply a way to open up a roster spot for Carlos Carrasco. I’d say that this could be a sign that Cookie might be staying around for a bit longer but it still wouldn’t be shocking if he had to ride the DFA cycle once more in the near future.

Meanwhile, Anthony Molina is back in Triple-A Gwinnett and Hunter Stratton has been designated for assignment, himself. All of this roster shuffling is starting to look similar to what was going on in 2025 and that’s not exactly a positive. Obviously, here’s hoping that we’ve (finally) seen the worst of this bad injury luck for the Braves and that once these guys get healthy, they get healthy for good. It’s been a long, long time since we’ve seen the Braves operate at full strength and as we’ve seen, this could be a special team if the core players could stay healthy.

For now, Spencer Strider will be given all the time in the world to get healthy while the Braves continue to try to figure things out with their pitching staff with the trade deadline in the distance. We’ll see what happens.