Worldwide Sports News

Iowa Cubs

The Iowa Cubs got egged by the Toledo Mud Hens (Tigers), 6-2.

Will Sanders took the loss after giving up four runs on five hits over four innings. One of the runs was unearned. Sanders struck out five and walked one.

Antoine Kelly had two perfect innings of relief, striking out two.

Left fielder Jonathon Long went 1 for 4 with an RBI double that scored right fielder Hayden Cantrelle. Cantrelle went 1 for 2 with a walk.

Long’s double.

Knoxville Smokies

The Knoxville Smokies pied the Columbus Clingstones (Braves), 5-4.

Four Smokies pitchers combined on a one hitter. However, four errors, eight walks, a hit batter and a wild pitch led to four Columbus runs.

Evan Taylor pitched the first two innings and allowed two runs, one earned, on no hits and three walks. He struck out five.

Erian Rodriguez pitched the next three innings and gave up an unearned run on no hits.. Rodriguez did walk four while striking out one.

Yenrri Rojas gave up the only Columbus hit, along with one unearned run over one inning. Rojas walked one and struck out one.

Luke Little threw the final two innings and got the win. He retired the side in order in the eighth, but then put two on and no outs in the ninth after he hit a batter and then make a throwing error on a bunt. But Little hunkered down and retired the next three batters in order to end the game. Little had one strikeout.

Catcher Owen Ayers crushed his 21st home run of the year and 15th with the Smokies with the bases empty in the first inning. Ayers went 2 for 4 with a double, the home run and two runs scored.

Left fielder Carter Trice doubled twice in a 2 for 4 afternoon. He scored one run.

Third baseman Jefferson Rojas was 1 for 3 with a two-run single in the fifth. He was also hit by a pitch once.

Ayers’ home run.

The two-run single by Rojas.

First baseman Edgar Alvarez doubled in a run in the bottom of the eighth that gave the Smokies the lead for good. Alvarez went 1 for 3 with a walk.

South Bend Cubs

The South Bend Cubs were swept in a doubleheader from the Beloit Sky Carp (Marlins), 1-0 and 2-0.

Jameson Taillon made a rehab start in game one and got the loss, but he allowed just one run on four hits over 3.1 innings. Taillon struck out two and walked no one. He threw 45 pitches and 32 of them were for strikes.

Kevin Valdez pitched the final 2.2 innings and retired all eight batters he faced. He struck out four of them.

South Bend had just three hits in this game, all singles.

Here are some Taillon footage.

In game two, starter Alfredo Romero allowed a two-out solo home run in the bottom of the first. He didn’t give up much else, but that was enough for the loss on a day the South Bend bats stayed home. Romero’s final line was one run on two hits over four innings. He struck out four and walked just one.

South Bend had five hits in this game, all singles. Left fielder Jose Escobar was 3 for 5. He went 1 for 3 in game one.

Josiah Hartshorn was 1 for 3 with a walk in game two after going 1 for 3 in game one

Myrtle Beach Pelicans

The Myrtle Beach Pelicans lost to the Hickory Crawdads (Rangers), 3-2.

Starter Noah Edders took the loss after allowing three runs on two hits and two walks over four innings. Edders did not strike anyone out.

First baseman Geri Lubo doubled in a run in the bottom of the ninth. He also walked and scored in the fifth inning. Lubo was 1 for 3 with a double and the walk.

Center fielder Alexey Lumpuy went 2 for 4.

DH Edward Vargas was also 2 for 4.

ACL Cubs

Off day.

Series almost always end on Sunday, just because that’s how the schedule works. Being the Sunday recap guy, I often have the series-deciding game. After winning the first two games against the Angels, tonight’s game will be the 5th straight weekend series in which the Red Sox are trying to complete the sweep (if you include a 2-game set against the Yankees with one postponed game). That streak dates back to the beginning of June. Over that span, the Red Sox were 3-12 in weekday series, and 11-3 in weekend series (including the first two against the Angels). Weird.

Anywho, they’re going for the sweep of the Angels on Sunday in a game that starts at 9:30 PM for some reason. It’ll be All-Star Ranger Suarez against Ryan Johnson, who I’ve never heard of before tonight. There’s some intriguing stuff in his arsenal, but his lack of a good fastball makes me think he’s going to have a hard time not walking lefties. We’ll see.

First pitch at 9:30 PM on Peacock, NESN, and WEEI.

Lineups

Prior to today’s game, the Mariners players participated in the 2026 Little League Challenger game, a yearly tradition at the ballpark celebrating the Challenger League, an adaptive baseball experience for kids with special needs. While a handful of players are regular participants – J.P. Crawford, George Kirby, Luke Raley – this year almost every Mariners player was out on the field playing catch, helping kids run the bases, signing autographs or taking pictures pregame.

“That’s what’s really important about this game,” said Dan Wilson postgame. “Baseball affords us this incredible platform, and the ability to use that to bring joy to people that are challenged in some way…it’s just a really outstanding event, and to have the participation of the guys in that clubhouse to give up the time before a game to go out there and mix and mingle and run the game, you can’t talk enough about the heart that they have and the selflessness they all have and the understanding of the importance of this game, and how it can impact people outside of baseball.”

“I’ve always believed that we have really good people here,” said Emerson Hancock, who wasn’t able to participate this year because he was starting but has in years past. “I think we understand the importance of the platform that we have, and I think we also understand the impact that we can have on kids and people. Any way that we can positively impact someone, just share a smile, make a difference in someone’s life, I think that’s important.”

Mitch Garver, speaking postgame after providing the majority of the Mariners’ offense with a two-run homer, was a bit more direct.

“We do have good people, and that’s something that I love about this organization, is the people, from top to bottom. We don’t have any turds on this team.”

Today the turd-free Mariners banded together and defeated the Toronto Blue Jays. The pitching was lights out, blanking the Blue Jays once again, while the offense steadily added runs to ensure the Jays wouldn’t be able to come back from what was first a one-run deficit, then a three-run deficit, then four.

Emerson Hancock worked around some hard contact in the first, giving up a one-out double to Vlad Guerrero Jr. scorched off the bat at 115 mph on a sinker that didn’t quite sink, but was able to retire his next two hitters on weak-contact outs. He also had to work around a one-out single in the second, when Ernie Clement – the emptiest .300 hitter in baseball – managed to make contact with a sweeper a foot below the zone and just poke it into left field. But the Blue Jays helped Hancock out each time, swinging early and often and making a lot of weak-contact outs – he was at just 31 pitches through the third inning.

“I think that’s what happens when you’re aggressive,” said Hancock, who threw 14 of 24 first-pitch strikes, with seven of his outs coming on either the first or second pitch of the at-bat. “Sometimes they’re singles, but sometimes they’re first pitch outs, and so we always want to err on the side of throwing a ton of strikes, and if you’re able to get that first pitch out, those are always great for us.”

The Mariners had an opportunity to get to Blue Jays starter Trey Yesavage in the second, when Luke Raley opened the inning with a leadoff double, but Cole Young grounded out on the second pitch he saw, Mitch Garver struck out looking in a full count (burning a challenge in the process), and Colt Emerson fell victim to Yesavage attacking him with fastballs up, expanding the zone and chasing helplessly. That was a frustrating inning after the Mariners had managed to put 20 pitches on Yesavage, who didn’t have great command to start, in the first.

Finally, the Mariners were able to convert in the third, although it cost them two outs to score a single run despite the first two hitters reaching – Victor Robles on a piece of weak-contact hitting that dropped, and J.P. Crawford working a walk. Randy Arozarena moved the runners into scoring position with a good-as-a-bunt groundout and Cal Raleigh hit a sac fly to bring home Robles. Small ball runs are still runs, but it wasn’t exactly a back-breaking inning.

The Mariners were able to double up their run scoring in the fourth thanks to Cole Young and Mitch Garver. Young, showcasing one of those at-bats he’s so good at, fell behind 0-2 but battled for eight pitches until he got a fastball on the plate he hit hard at Ernie Clement at shortstop, who couldn’t get a clean throw off, allowing Cole to reach. Mitch Garver also fell behind 0-2, battled back, and got a fastball in that he was able to turn on and send onto the protective roof covering in Edgar’s cantina. Apparently the cantina needed a little Garvsauce.

“Sundays are my days,” joked Garver postgame. “So that was fun.”

Emerson Hancock continued to dominate over the back half of his outing, despite a little shaky command at times; he issued a leadoff walk to the nine-hole hitter to open the sixth, always a no-no, but was able to roll a double play ball immediately after; he then walked Guerrero Jr. on seven pitches (“wasn’t great”) but rebounded to get another quick popout from Kazuma Okamoto, giving him another inning of work. Gabe Speier took over in the eighth and put his foot right back on the Blue Jays’ collective throat, knocking down his trio of hitters 1-2-3.

Meanwhile, the Mariners added another run in the eighth off lefty Mason Fluharty, stacking singles together. Randy Arozarena got the singles party started, hitting a ball that Clement couldn’t field cleanly, and Cal Raleigh followed that up with a nice line-drive single to right, allowing Randy to go first to third. Josh Naylor then got a fluky RBI on a single that bounced off the bag at third, giving the Mariners one more precious run of insurance for Andrés Muñoz, who allowed a leadoff single on a ball that was a foot below the zone but set down the next three hitters he faced after that to secure a Mariners series victory.

The Challengers game might have ended in a tie, but everyone on the field was a winner, including the Mariners, who also brought home the win against the Blue Jays. Pretty nice day all around.

Tigers 6, Rangers 3

• The Rangers are now on a losing streak.
• And are back to .500.
• Why do the Rangers want to vex us so?
• Kumar Rocker seemed to be going well to start the game. He faced one over the minimum through three innings, allowing a pair of singles, but erasing one of them with a double play ball.
• Something went wrong in the fourth inning, though. Rocker’s velocity dropped, with what was said after the game to be attributable to his mechanics getting out of whack. And for the second day in a row, a Riley Greene two run home run gave the Tigers the lead, though this time took the lead away from the Rangers, who had gotten on the board with a solo home run by Jake Burger in the bottom of the third.
• Things got even worse in the fifth. After a strikeout to start the inning, Rocker elicited a weak roller from James Outman. In a flashback to 2025, Rocker was slow getting off the mound, which resulted in Burger having to field the ball, but with no one to throw to at first.
• Outman was the last batter Rocker faced, and while the beats reported that Schumaker said after the game it was due to Rocker laboring, the failure to cover first (or alternatively make a play on the grounder), one would think, played a part.
• Unfortunately that is when things when extremely bad. Robby Ahlstrom entered the game. He ended up facing five hitters, none of whom he retired.
• I am a bit concerned about the possibility of there being a Ketel Marte situation developing here. I already have a sense of dread that envelops me when Ketel Marte comes to the plate against the Rangers. I don’t want to assume that Riley Greene is, if given the opportunity, going to do bad things to the Rangers, put the Rangers behind, get hits and suck the life out of us.
• The precise sequence was single, single, catcher’s interference, run scoring wild pitch, triple (to Riley Greene, of course), walk. Gavin Collyer came in and got the next two runners and avoided any more runs from scoring, but, you know, barn doors locked after the fact and all that.
• The Greene triple was a skied opposite field ball that hit off of the left field wall, with Josh Smith (the game’s starting left fielder) hitting the wall going after the ball, which allowed Greene to make it to third. Smith got the start in left in place of Alejandro Osuna, who got the day off after his own defensive misadventure in left field the game before.
• Wyatt Langford will be back soon, though. I hope?
• Collyer, Cole Winn and Peyton Gray kept the Tigers off the board the rest of the way, but the Ranger offense never really seemed to be in danger of making it a real game. Texas got three runners on in the fifth and managed to score a run then. Ezequiel Duran homered in the eighth.
• The Rangers did, earlier in the game, get runners on the corners with two outs due to a Smith triple and a Cam Cauley (starting in place of Josh Jung, who was a late scratch due to a banged up knee from a foul ball on Saturday). That ended with a Nicky Lopez ground out.
• Once again, a lack of baserunners meant a lack of scoring opportunities. Texas had just four at bats with a runner in scoring position in the game, and put just eight runners on base.
• The Rangers were on a really nice run there on the road trip. These last two games have harshed some of the positive vibes being felt earlier in the week, particularly the lackluster offense.
• I liked it better when they were winning.
• Kumar Rocker touched 95.9 mph on his fastball, averaging 94.2 mph. Robby Ahlstrom hit 95.7 mph with his fastball. Gavin Collyer touched 98.8 mph with his fastball. Cole Winn’s fastball maxed out at 96.3 mph. Peyton Gray’s fastball hit 93.4 mph.
• Brandon Nimmo had a 107.0 mph fly out. Jake Burger’s home run was 106.6 mph, and he had a 100.3 mph groundout. Ezequiel Duran’s homer was 104.2 mph. Josh Smith had a 102.2 mph triple. Elias Diaz had a 101.6 mph line out.
• On off day Monday, then six straight at home before the All Star Break.

On a sunny Sunday in West Sacramento, the Athletics closed out their homestand with the finale of their series against the Miami Marlins. The Marlins completed the sweep with a 9-8 win over the A’s, staving off the hosts furious comeback after Miami pulled its starter, who was just six outs shy of a perfect game.

Marlins Score Early

The Marlins scored in the first inning for the second time this series. With one out, left fielder Heriberto Hernández hit his tenth home run of the season, a solo shot to center off A’s starter Gage Jump. The Marlins added two more hits, but Jump worked out of the inning, stranding runners at second and third.

The Marlins extended their lead in the second inning. Following two straight singles, shortstop Otto Lopez hit a ground-rule double over the head of A’s left fielder Carlos Cortes, bringing home Jakob Marsee for the visitors second run of the game. First baseman Liam Hicks drove in Miami’s third run in two innings with a sacrifice fly off Jump.

A’s Pitching Awful

In the third inning, Marlins’ designated hitter Leo Jimenez hit his first home run of the season, a two-run shot to left-center field to extend the visitors lead to 5-0. After hitting a batter, Jump allowed Brian Navarreto’s double before Otto Lopez added a sacrifice fly to bring home his team’s sixth run.

Jump’s afternoon was done after those three laborious, ineffective innings. He allowed six runs on eight hits, walking three while only striking out one. Jump may be hitting a rookie wall, and how he responds will be key to the rest of his season.

Right-hander Mason Barnett replaced him in the fourth inning out of the Athletics’ bullpen. He performed better than Jump, pitching two scoreless innings. The A’s left Barnett in the game one inning too long. Lopez and Hernández led off the sixth inning with back-to-back home runs, extending Miami’s advantage to 8-0 and setting a franchise record for home runs in a series. For Hernández, it was his second home run of the game.

The A’s finally pulled him, inserting fellow right-hander Justin Sterner. He did not give up any more runs, although he was helped by his teammates, who executed a relay throw to cut down a Marlins’ runner at the plate. Hogan Harris and Luis Medina followed with scoreless innings, with Medina escaping a bases-loaded situation

Perfect Perez

Meanwhile, Marlins’ starter Eury Pérez needed just 92 pitches to complete seven perfect innings. He struck out eight, keeping the A’s hitters off balance throughout his dominant outing. The A’s short-handed offense continued to struggle at the team’s hitter-friendly home ballpark, while its pitching staff gave up runs and baserunners galore.

A’s Offense Finally Wakes Up

Rather than let him have a shot at history, the Marlins took him out as it was just his third start since returning from the injured list. Right-hander Lake Bachar replaced him to pitch the eighth inning. He immediately ended the perfect game attempt by walking Athletics right fielder Lawrence Butler. Joshua Kuroda-Grauer then lined a single for the A’s first hit of the game. Next, Carlos Cortes ripped an RBI double, bringing home Butler for the A’s first run of the game.

With the bases loaded and zero outs, designated hitter Jonah Heim hit a grand slam, his ninth home run of the season making the score 8-5.

Miami Takes Back Control

After failing to record an out, the Marlins replaced Bachar with right-hander Michael Petersen, who stopped the bleeding, getting his team out of the inning still up three. In a big momentum swing, Athletics’ center fielder Henry Bolte was thrown out trying to steal second with Nick Kurtz at the plate and only one out.‘

Miami added an insurance run in the ninth against the A’s hard-throwing reliever Elvis Alvarado. With runners on second and third and one out, Hicks hit a soft RBI groundout that brought home the Marlins’ ninth run, increasing their lead by one.

A’s Comeback Falls Short

In the bottom of the ninth, the Marlins brought in their closer Pete Fairbanks to seal the series sweep. A’s second baseman Zack Gelof led off the inning with a single and then Butler doubled, advancing Gelof to third base. Gelof scored the A’s sixth run on a passed ball by Marlins’ catcher Joe Mack.

With Butler on third, Max Muncy on second and two outs, Heim came through again, lining a single up the middle to make it a one-run game. He finished with a career-high six RBIs, the lone A’s offensive bright spot today. Alas, Fairbanks retired catcher Brian Serven to end the game as the A’s last ditch comeback fell tantalizingly short.

This loss, which capped off a 1-5 homestand, drops the Athletics to 41-49 and into fourth place in the American League West. The “Green and Gold” will look to find more success on the road this coming week. Following an off day tomorrow, the team begins a three-game series against the Detroit Tigers on Tuesday night. The A’s have not announced who their starter will be, while their hitters will face back-to-back American League Cy Young Award winner Tarik Skubal.

The Colorado Rockies took the field under the scorching sun at Coors Field this afternoon looking for a series win against the San Francisco Giants to close out their final homestand before the All-Star Break. It wasn’t always pretty, but these scrappy and exciting rebuilding Rockies kept themselves within reach at all times, kept the game interesting, and eventually walked away with a win thanks to a bullpen that bent but didn’t break and the late game heroics of one Kyle Karros.

Gordon gets hit hard

When you look at Tanner Gordon working five innings with seven strikeouts and two walks while giving up six hits, it sounds like a pretty good start. The problem is that four of those six hits were home runs. Gordon allowed five earned runs this afternoon, all of which scored via the long ball.

After the Rockies took a 2-0 lead in the first inning, Gordon gave up a two-run shot to Drew Gilbert in the top of the second. He also gave up two solo home runs off the bat of Rafael Devers, the second of which was demolished with authority all the way into the right field third deck. That second home run was one of two times Gordon was taken deep in his fifth and final inning of work with Casey Schmitt–who has made highlight reels for his defense this series–being responsible for the other.

The bullpen faces traffic but holds the line

Brennan Bernardino took over for Tanner Gordon in the sixth inning and faced immediate traffic by walking Willy Adames on four pitches. A rare error under the glove of Ezequiel Tovar allowed Bryce Eldridge to reach safely and a Drew Gilbert single scored what looked to be the losing run as the Rockies’ offense had gone quiet. However, Bernardino escaped the inning giving up just that one run thanks to a sacrifice bunt for the first out of the inning and an incredibly fortuitous double play by Edouard Julien and Kyle Karros.

Holding the line became the theme for most of the bullpen this afternoon. Jimmy Herget pitched the seventh inning and once again the Rockies faced immediate opposing traffic. Herget plunked a batter on just his second pitch of the game before giving up a single. However, Herget dialed it in to record three straight outs with runners on first and second by inducing two flyouts and a strikeout. Victor Vodnik gave up a walk and a single in the eighth inning, but also tallied two strikeouts and continued the trend of not letting traffic cause issues for the Rockies.

Jordan Romano, in his second outing in a Rockies uniform since being called up yesterday, was called from the bullpen in a true closing situation. After a groundout for the first out, Romano battled Rafael Devers with nine pitches to strike out the Giants’ slugger. With two outs, Jung Hoo Lee (이정후) singled to keep the inning alive, but Romano struck out Willy Adames on a 94.6 MPH four-seam fastball–after throwing four straight sliders–to record the final out and earn his first save in a Rockies uniform.

“He’s been doing this a very long time,” said Warren Schaeffer. “He’s got a ton of big league saves. You could tell out there today he’s calm under pressure. He wants the ball.”

Offense in the beginning, offense at the end

The red-hot Jake McCarthy kicked of the Rockies’ half of the first inning with his sixth triple of the season on the very first actual pitch–Giants starter Tyler Mahle was dinged for a pitch clock violation to start the at-bat–of the game. McCarthy was driven home on an RBI groundout by Hunter Goodman and the first run was on the board. Back-to-back singles by the Rockies’ TJ duo–TJ Rumfield and Troy Johnston–set the table yet again with two outs, and a failed pick-off attempt by Mahle sailed into the outfield and allowed Rumfield to score.

The Rockies scored two more early game runs in the second and third innings of the game. An Edouard Julien single and a Brett Sullivan double brought home a run in the second, while back-to-back singles by Hunter Goodman and TJ Rumfield set up Troy Johnston to bring home another run via a sacrifice fly.

“Sully’s been pretty consistent all year,” manager Warren Schaeffer said in his post-game comments. “I mean, there was a time where he was hitting left-handers really well this year, which is special, but he always gives a good at bat, and when Goody needs a DH day and we’re facing a right-hander, Sully steps right in, we don’t skip a beat.”

Then something curious happened. The Rockies’ offense went quiet. The Rockies had just two singles (Willi Castro and Hunter Goodman) through the next four innings. They failed to draw a single walk all game, and they had not recorded a single hit with runners in scoring position heading into the eighth inning. Down by two runs, it looked like the Rockies were likely to drop the final game of the series.

However, TJ Rumfield kicked off the bottom of the eighth inning by doing what TJ Rumfield does: getting on base. The May and June National League Rookie of the Month winner swatted a double to left field with one out, and his fellow TJ in Troy Johnston joined him on base shortly after by getting hit by a pitch.

Kyle Karros–who enjoyed excellent results at the plate in June with a .357/.444/.586 line–entered the batter’s box and drew a patient 3-1 count before one upping Rafael Devers. Karros crushed a three run home run 471 feet to left-center to put the Rockies ahead and in line for the win.

“I knew it was gone,” said Karros after the game. “I got it off the bat as good as I can get a baseball. I was juiced up. Fired up.”

Karros, not usually one to admire his work, says he took a minute to watch his home run fly.

“I hit it 471 feet,” he said. “That’s a different one. I can gaze at that one.”

Coming Up Next

The Rockies have finished all of their home games for the first half and will board a plane to the City of Angels this evening. Tomorrow they will kick off a three game set against the Los Angeles Dodgers at Chavez Ravine. In a battle of the lefties, Kyle Freeland will face off against Eric Lauer. All three games in the series are scheduled for 8:10 PM MDT.

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The Sox needed length from Erick Fedde today, and he delivered. The Sox needed a lot of big outs from their bullpen, and it delivered. The Sox needed their defense to buckle up and make plays when it counted, and they did. If it felt like they rather deserved to lose last Thursday and Friday’s heartbreakers, today’s 7-6 squeaker of a win over the Cleveland Guardians felt like a game they squarely deserved to have, despite a number of miscues that nearly cost them the series.

It could have barely been possible for this series to be any closer. Three of the four games were decided by a single run, with yesterday’s two-run margin being the exception. It feels likelier by the day that it’ll continue to be a season-long dynamic. The next time the two teams meet, on August 7 in Chicago, it feels more likely than not the two teams won’t be much farther apart in the standings than their current one-game margin.

Though a bizarre start-and-stop series of rain delays seemed to significantly impede Cleveland starter Tanner Bibee’s warmup routine, Fedde’s usage as a bulk reliever today meant that his planned entrance to the game was more or less unaffected by Cleveland’s warning track. Drainage issues before the game led to an additional delay of nearly an hour after the rest of the field seemed to have recovered from the afternoon’s heavy rain.

With first pitch announced as coming at 1:30 p.m. CT, Bibee re-started his pregame throwing routine only to shut it down again for an additional hour. He never found a groove once the game started, lasting just four innings and departing with six earned runs on his line, the third time this year he’s been tagged for at least that many.

It didn’t take long for the Sox to jump on him, with Kyle Teel’s opposite-field blast giving the Pale Hose a 2-0 lead within three batters of the game’s belated start.

Two innings later, Bibee fell victim to Tristan Peters’ burgeoning power surge. The Sox center fielder scooped a low cutter out to the pull side for his fifth longball of the year. Since his first roundtripper on May 17, Peters is slugging better than .550, and his 15 doubles in that span are tops in the AL. He went 2-for-4 on the afternoon.

Bibee couldn’t get his other fastball by Sox lefties, either. Just an inning later, Colson Montgomery broke the game open with his team-best 23rd homer of the season, driving in Andrew Benintendi and giving the Sox a 6-0 lead with a 110 mph laser on an outside fastball. Montgomery joined Peters as Sox hitters with multi-hit efforts today.

Miguel Vargas had the final big day in the Sox lineup, reaching base four times thanks to three walks. He scored two of the team’s seven runs.

The offensive surge didn’t make this any less tense of a game than its predecessors. After those nail-biters to open this series, the Sox bullpen was in bad need of a respite, and they got one — sort of. When Sox opener Chris Murphy failed to make it through the first inning, forcing Fedde into the game earlier than expected, the veteran righthander nonetheless got them through the sixth with a lead somehow intact. A breathtakingly clutch multi-inning outing from Sean Newcomb dragged the White Sox across the finish line without having to entrust a one-run lead to one of their more erratic relievers.

The “somehow intact” comes courtesy of the Sox defense, which had an uncharacteristically hard time this afternoon even accounting for the difficult field conditions. The tone was set early on when left fielder Sam Antonacci slipped on the outfield grass in pursuit of Cleveland leadoff hitter Steven Kwan’s shallow fly ball, allowing a baserunner that would come around to score. A few hitters later, freshly-minted All-Star Miguel Vargas’s failure to wrangle a soft ground ball — on an admittedly tough play — kept Cleveland’s inning alive long enough to plate another run.

Even as the Sox offense continued to pile on runs, the defense gave them right back. Fedde’s solid performance was nearly undone when Colson Montgomery’s double-play-turned-error was instantly punished with a game-tying moonshot from Gabriel Arías:

After eight precarious innings of navigating shoddy defense and a combination of timely and untimely hitting, the only question was who would take the ball in the ninth. Today gave us confirmation of just how far Seranthony Domínguez has fallen down the closer depth chart, as Newcomb was allowed to take the hill again in the ninth inning, with Jordan Hicks waiting in the wings if things got hairy. It seemed little thought was given to putting the game in Newcomb’s hands.

After a frazzling eighth-inning appearance, Newcomb was nails in the ninth inning, aggressively hitting his spots and taking just nine pitches to retire the side with two strikeouts and guarantee the White Sox sole possession of first place entering the first half’s home stretch.

Brutal losses on Thursday and Friday could have been crushing to a young and inexperienced team with no prior history of being in a high-pressure playoff race. Instead, the lack of quit we’ve seen all season showed that it still has life. Wins and losses count the same all year round, but from a psychological standpoint, leaving Cleveland with a split and their position in first place intact should be a massive boost to a continuously-growing belief that this Cinderella first half by the Chisox hasn’t been a simple mirage.

Steve Stone said it best in the top of the ninth inning: Both of these teams are going to be quite happy for tomorrow’s off-day. The Sox have a short flight home tonight to enter the final six games of the first half, and they’ll be back on the field Tuesday against the Red Sox. It’ll be an intriguing battle of rookie lefties at Rate Field, with Noah Schultz set to square off against Payton Tolle at 6:40 p.m. CT. We’ll see you there!