Worldwide Sports News

Diagnosing what is wrong with the Yankees lineup begins with Aaron Judge’s absence and includes Giancarlo Stanton’s injury. Their catchers’ collective .176 batting average and .521 OPS play a large role. So does Paul Goldschmidt’s recent 0-for-34 skid.

As recently as Sunday, Jazz Chisholm Jr. acknowledged he has “sucked all season” (although he has not since making this admission). They have not received enough offensively from the left side of their infield.

A bit more quietly, Cody Bellinger has been a below-average hitter for two and a half months.

A strong candidate to step up in a lineup missing a pair of sluggers, Bellinger instead has continued a long offensive slide.

Way back on May 7, Bellinger was hitting .299 with a .924 OPS and five home runs in his first 37 games. Combined with his defensive excellence and flexibility, you did not have to squint too hard to see Bellinger making a case for MVP on a team with Judge and Ben Rice.

But since that high-water mark, Bellinger owns the same OPS (.662) as Anthony Volpe does in his career.

For 61 games — in which the Yankees are 30-31 — he has hit just .229 and added just six home runs. His expected numbers in the span are better than his actual ones, but he has struggled regardless.

“I’ve been through it and just got to continue to stick to your plan. Got to stay positive,” Bellinger said at the All-Star Game, where his two-run single made him MVP, when asked about his slump. “This game’s hard.”

More recently, the issue has involved far more strikeouts than the Yankees and Bellinger are used to seeing. Re-signed in part because of his contact skills and knowledge about when to unleash a big hack and when to shorten up, Bellinger has struck out 20 times in his past 17 games and 70 plate appearances while walking just three times.

His strikeout rate in that span is 28.6 percent. Last season that mark sat at 13.7 percent.

“Probably a little more swing and miss in there,” manager Aaron Boone said recently of Bellinger. “I feel like a lot of the balls he’s getting in the air, it’s like, ‘Ooh, just missed.’ He’s hit some balls decent to center, decent to left, even decent to right.”

There are signs of hope for a player locked up on a $162.5 million deal. He has reached base four times in the past two games.

Even one of his outs during Monday’s victory over the Pirates was well struck, a hard ground ball up the middle that was aimed directly at the shortstop.

If Bellinger escapes the depths of this slide and joins a suddenly on-fire Chisholm, the wait for Judge to return would be far more manageable for the Yankees.

“He’s fouling some pitches that I feel like he’s getting a pitch to hit, maybe he’s fouling it off or he’s just missing it in the air,” Boone said of Bellinger, whose OPS has fallen from .813 last year to .760. “The difference between success and scuffling is razor-thin sometimes. But he’ll get it going.”

Fans who had tickets to Tuesday’s game can use them for Game 2 on Wednesday (scheduled to start at 7:05 p.m.), with the regularly scheduled day game now beginning at 1:05 p.m.

Charlotte Knights 7, Norfolk Tides 6
Charlotte (51-46) had to battle from behind, but a pair of rehabbing big leaguers helped spark the comeback. The Tides grabbed an early 1-0 lead after the dreaded leadoff walk surrendered by David Sandlin came around to score in the first. However, the Knights’ cavalry broke through in the fourth with a three-run frame. Rikuu Nishida worked a free pass before Everson Pereira roped an RBI double. Austin Hays followed by launching a two-run homer to put Charlotte in front for good.

Norfolk tried to creep back in with a pair in the fifth, but Charlotte had a four-run answer. Andy Weber mashed a homer, Nolan Jones drove in another run, and suddenly it was 7-3. The Tides did their best to make it interesting late, nicking Tanner McDougal for one and then squeezing two more out of Garrett Schoenle in the ninth, but the comeback fell a run short. Sandlin, for his part, was stingy with hits but generous with walks, serving up three in four innings and missing out on the win. He fanned two.

MVP
Austin Hays: 2-for-4, 2 R, 2 RBI, HR

Runners-Up
Everson Pereira: 1-for-2, 2 R, RBI, BB, 2B
Rikuu Nishida: 2-for-4, R, BB
Nate Jones: 2-for-4, RBI
Andy Weber: 1-for-4, R, RBI, HR

Cold Cat
Garrett Schoenle: 2/3 IP, 1 H, 2 R, 2 BB, K
Tanner McDougal: 2/3 IP, 2 H, 1 R
Duncan Davitt: 2 IP, 4 H, 2 R, BB, 2 K, W
Mario Camilletti: 0-for-4, 2 K

Montgomery Biscuits 13, Birmingham Barons 4
Caleb Bonemer wasted zero time, cranking his 22nd bomb of the year in the first to hand Birmingham (34-57) a quick 1-0 lead.

That was the last bit of good news. The Biscuits baked Birmingham as the Barons’ pitching staff got shelled for 13 runs on 17 hits.

The Birmingham offense couldn’t capitalize on its opportunities despite collecting nine hits and three walks, and they finished a disappointing 1-for-10 with runners in scoring position. Bonemer kept swinging, though, driving in another tally with a single in the fifth after Jacob Burke and Boston Smith worked back-to-back walks. Brendon Dixon chipped in a solo shot in the ninth, but by then, the game was long gone.

MVP
Caleb Bonemer: 3-for-4, R, 2 RBI, HR

Runners-Up
Dylan Campbell: 2-for-4, SB, OA, E
Brendon Dixon: 1-for-4, R, RBI, HR, E
Anthony DePino: 1-for-4, RBI
Alec Briley: 1-for-4, 2B

Cold Cat
Connor McCullough: 3 IP, 6 H, 4 R (3 ER), 3 BB, 2 K, L
Jarold Rosado: 1 IP, 4 H, 4 R (3 ER), BB, K
Samuel Zavala: 0-for-4, 3 K

Greensboro Grasshoppers 6, Winston-Salem Dash 1
Things started well as the Dash (50-41) got on the board first in the bottom of the second. A leadoff single by James Taussig, a pair of wild pitches, and a triple by Ely Brown plated Taussig. Unfortunately, that was the high-water mark for the Dash, as the Grasshoppers answered in the top of the third, grabbed a 2-1 lead, and never looked back. That’s where things stayed until late in the game when Greensboro padded the score off the W-S bullpen with four more tallies, to put the contest out of reach. Five hits for the Dash, with four of them singles, and they went a dismal 1-for-7 with RISP.

MVP
Ely Brown: 2-for-3, RBI, 3B

Runners-Up
James Taussig: 2-for-4, R
Jack Young: 2 IP, 2 H, 0 R, BB, 2 K
Jeral Perez: 1-for-3, BB
Ryan Burrowes: 1-for-3, BB, SB

Cold Cat
Drew McDaniel: 4 IP: 5 H, 2 R, 2 BB, 4 K, L
Aric McAtee: 2 IP, 4 H, 3 R (2 ER), 1 BB, 2 K
Kyle Lodise: 0-for-4, 3 K
George Wolkow: 0-for-4
Kaleb Freeman: 0-for-4, K
Arxy Hernández: 0-for-4, 3 K

Columbia Fireflies 7, Kannapolis Cannon Ballers 4
The Fireflies came out swinging, and starter Gabriel Rodriguez never stood a chance, allowing six runs in not even two innings, and the Ballers were already buried. The Kanny (47-44) bullpen held Columbia scoreless for five frames until Choyce Diffey served up a run in the eighth. The Ballers’ offense finally ignited in the seventh. With one out, Stiven Flores and Derek Cerda slapped singles, and Matthew Boughton worked a walk to pack the sacks. Alexander Albertus punched in a run, Christian Gonzalez lifted a sac fly for another, and Jurdrick Profar doubled home the last of the rally. Kanny tried to make it interesting in the ninth when Boughton ripped a leadoff triple, and Albertus doubled him in, but it was too little too late.

MVP
Alexander Albertus: 2-for-3, 2 RBI, BB, 2B

Runners-Up
Jurdrick Profar: 1-for-4, RBI, 2B
Matthew Boughton: 1-for-3, 2 R, BB, 3B
Jaden Fauske: 1-for-3, BB
Derek Cerda: 1-for-3, R, BB
Blaine Wynk: 3 1/3 IP, 3 H, 0 R, 4 K

Cold Cat
Gabriel Rodriguez: 1 2/3 IP, 7 H, 6 R, 3 BB, 3 K, L
Billy Carlson: 0-for-4, K
Javier Mogollón: 0-for-4, 2 K

ACL Reds 4, ACL White Sox 2
The ACL White Sox offense was missing in action. Four hits, two walks, and a goose egg in eight shots with runners on. Leandro Alsinois briefly tied it up with his first bomb of the year in the third, but Orlando Suarez handed the lead right back in the bottom of the frame. Frank Mieses added a solo shot late, but that was just window dressing. Both runs came on solo homers, and the rest of the lineup might as well have stayed on the bus.

DSL White Sox 9, DSL Blue Jays Blue 4
Despite only five hits, the DSL White Sox (12-22) had no trouble finding their way around the bases, taking full advantage of a DSL Blue Jays pitching staff that completely lost the strike zone. Toronto hurlers uncorked seven wild pitches and handed out 14 free passes, and the Sox gladly cashed them in, scoring in every inning except the fourth. DSL All-Stars Ronald Cardoza and Sebastian Romero each drove in a run in the opening frame, while Cardoza added another RBI knock in the third, and Felix Lebron added a two-run single in the fifth. The pitching staff did its part, too, limiting the Blue Jays to just four hits and two earned runs across seven frames.

ACL White Sox 8, ACL Brewers 7 (July 20 — 7 innings)
The ACL White Sox looked dead in the water early, trailing 7-4, but then broke through with four late runs to swipe the win. Yordani Soto got things rolling with an RBI double in the second, and then the Sox hung a crooked number in the third, thanks to a two-run shot from rehabbing Wes Kath, who is still trying to justify that second-round pick from 2021. The third baseman, now 23, has yet to put it all together.

Still down three in the fifth, D’Angelo Tejada decided enough was enough and launched his fourth bomb of the year, plating three and knotting things at 7-7. The clincher came in the sixth when Jefrank Silva worked a walk, took second on a passed ball, and Darren Baker, also on the rehab trail, came through with a base hit to bring Silva home for the go-ahead run.

DSL White Sox vs. DSL Pirates Black (July 20 — postponed)
It’s unclear why this one was postponed. Makeup date is July 31.

The All-Star break may have been just what the Royals needed.

Kansas City won their fourth game in five tries since the Midsummer Classic with a 3-2 victory over the Giants on Tuesday night. Luinder Avila was solid over 6.1 innings, and Nick Loftin provided the go-ahead run as Alex Lange was able to slam the door shut for the win.

Carter Jensen got the scoring started for the Royals in the third inning when he battled Giants starter Tyler Mahle to drill a home run to right, his 14th of the year. The Giants got on the board in the fifth with two outs, when Jesus Rodriguez doubled. Drew Gilbert singled him home with Jac Caglianone’s throw home just off line to allow Rodriguez to score to tie the game. After a Christian Koss single, Tyler Tolbert misplayed a routine, potential inning-ending grounder by throwing the ball away, allowing another run to score.

The Royals tied the game back up in the bottom of the inning when Vinnie Pasquantino came through with an RBI single. After Starling Marte was hit by a pitch to load the bases, Michael Massey was caught looking. But Nick Loftin picked him up with a clutch RBI single to put the Royals on top.

Avila would exit the game in the seventh with seven strikeouts and one walk, having induced eight groundouts in the game. Matt Strahm was able to retire the two hitters he faced, and John Schreiber had a scoreless eighth.

Alex Lange has allowed a game-tying home run with two outs in each of his last two save opportunities, but there would be no such drama tonight. He allowed a walk, but recorded to strikeouts and earned his ninth save of the year.

The Royals improved to 42-60 and can go for the sweep tomorrow afternoon when Seth Lugo faces Landen Roupp at 1:10 CT.

The post-All Star break winning streak came to an abrupt end on Tuesday night as the Brewers were held to three hits and were shutout by Mets rookie starter Zac Thornton. The Mets were able to get a couple of big blasts and won the game 4-0.

Brandon Sproat faced his old team for the first time and it did not go the way he had planned. After a 28 pitch first inning, Sproat allowed a one out homer to Jared Young in the 2nd to put the Mets up 1-0. Sproat battled traffic on the bases all night, partially due to the four free passes he allowed.

The last of which was a two out walk to Bo Bichette in the 5th on Sproat’s 99th pitch of the night. At that point, Pat Murphy had seen enough and made the call to the bullpen, something Sproat was upset with himself about.

Francisco Lindor then sneaks a ball off the glove of a diving Brice Turang and gets a double out of it to put the Mets in business. Carson Benge then gets a 2 RBI double through the right side to put the Mets up 3-0.

Meanwhile, the Brewers bats could get absolutely nothing going at the plate. Jackson Chourio led things off with a single in the first inning and William Contreras walked to give the Crew two on and one out. But Andrew Vaughn grounded into a 1-4-3 double play and Thornton retired 12 in a row after that.

Milwaukee then got two runners on and nobody out in the 6th after singles from Cooper Pratt and Joey Ortiz to set up the top of the order. But a strikeout from Chourio and then a baserunning blunder on a passed ball led to Pratt being thrown out heading to third during Turang’s at-bat. Turang hit one to the warning track, but came up short and the threat was quickly ended.

They didn’t fare much better against the Mets bullpen and ultimately went down with their first shutout loss since June 3rd.

Bryse Wilson helped save the bullpen with four innings in relief, though he gave up a lot of traffic with seven hits and allowed a run on a mammoth, 451 foot blast by Luis Robert Jr.

The Brewers may have had some hard-hit balls in this game, but couldn’t get them to land. They’ll be back at it for the rubber match tomorrow afternoon with Logan Henderson on the mound against Christian Scott.

In his second game back with the Mets after a lengthy stint on the injured list, Luis Robert Jr. crushed a 451-foot blast over the left field wall in Milwaukee on Tuesday.

In the eighth inning of the Mets’ 4-1 win, Robert smashed the blast off reliever Bryse Wilson. Brewers left fielder Jackson Chourio turned around and watched the ball sail over the wall, not even making a move toward the warning track.

As Robert Jr., playing in his second game since April 26, rounded the bases, the SNY camera showed his Mets teammates in the dugout looking on in disbelief at the sheer magnitude of the outfielder’s homer.

Zac Thornton, who started the game for the Mets and tossed six scoreless innings, stood on the top step of the dugout with his mouth agape and arms raised in the air.

Robert’s fellow outfielder, A.J. Ewing, who had seen lots of playing time in center field during Robert’s time on the shelf, watched the scene with his hand over his mouth, laughing.

It was a happy moment for Robert, who missed nearly three months of his first season in Queens due to a lumbar spine disc herniation.

Robert was activated from the 60-day injured list, where he was placed on April 30, before Monday’s 8-3 loss in Milwaukee and started in center field, batting seventh.

After going hitless Monday, Robert finished Tuesday 1-for-5 with his third roundtripper of the season.

The return of Robert marks the first time the Mets have had the roster they envisioned over the winter all playing at the same time, as various injuries have kept the team from having the complete roster they built over the offseason.

Interim manager Andy Green, at least before the trade deadline, now has more choice in how to construct his lineup, including in center field, where Ewing had played excellent defense and batted to a 116 OPS-plus in one of the brightest spots of the club’s rocky year.

MILWAUKEE — The intrigue surrounding Zac Thornton isn’t about to dissipate anytime soon. 

For a second straight start, the rookie left-hander worked at least six innings for the Mets and departed without allowing a run. What’s not to like? 

His attack-the-strike-zone approach is refreshing, as veterans such as Freddy Peralta and Kodai Senga in particular continue to struggle on that front. On Tuesday, Thornton carried the Mets to a 4-0 victory over the Brewers at American Family Field for the team’s third win in five games since the All-Star break. 

Thornton, who picked up his first career victory, pitched six shutout innings, allowing three hits and one walk with two strikeouts. It followed his seven scoreless frames against the Red Sox on July 12, and in his previous start he surrendered only one earned run over six innings against the Phillies. The opposition has been challenging. 

“I have always wanted to help this team win ballgames,” Thornton said. “It’s always been my No. 1 thing as a baseball player, not my personal accolades or anything like that. I have always been very team-driven and wanted to be part of the winning and a successful team.” 

David Peterson’s trade to the Cubs last month created the opening for Thornton, and he’s seized the moment. This latest gem extended his scoreless innings streak to 18 and lowered his ERA to 1.93 over four career major league starts. 

Another young pitcher who has excelled, Christian Scott, is set to face the Brewers in Wednesday’s series finale. Those two arms have joined rookie Nolan McLean to give the Mets a starting pitching nucleus worth celebrating. 

“[Thornton] was the same guy, unafraid, he attacks,” interim manager Andy Green said. “He went after every hitter, and it’s just a good mix with aggression and really good defense behind him today.” 

Jared Young’s second-inning homer against Brandon Sproat gave the Mets a 1-0 lead. Young’s blast was his seventh of the season, continuing his left-handed offensive contributions at first base, where he has provided a measure of respectability for the Mets this season. 

Thornton received a defensive boost in the third when A.J. Ewing snagged Joey Ortiz’s sinking line drive on a dive in left field for the second out. Thornton began his night by allowing a single and a walk in the first inning, but escaped by getting Andrew Vaughn to ground into a double play. 

Sproat, who was once the Mets’ top pitching prospect — he was traded to the Brewers with Jett Williams for Peralta and Tobias Myers in January — lasted 4 ²/₃ innings and surrendered two earned runs on two hits and four walks with four strikeouts. 

“On a personal level, I have a ton of respect for Brandon, the way he went about his job with us,” said Green, who served as the organization’s farm director before becoming interim manager last month. “He works incredibly hard and he’s a great person, a great teammate. You pull for those guys, but at the same time you face him today, you go hard in the other direction.” 

Carson Benge stroked a two-run double in the fifth after Sproat walked the final batter he faced, Bo Bichette. Francisco Lindor doubled ahead of Benge’s hit that gave the Mets a 3-0 lead. 

Luis Robert Jr. smashed a 451-foot homer to left in the eighth that gave the Mets their final run.

Robert was activated from the injured list a day earlier after missing 2 ½ months. 

Thornton surrendered the Brewers’ first legitimate hit in the sixth on Cooper Pratt’s sinking line drive that just eluded Benge’s glove in right field. Ortiz also singled in the inning.

Thornton escaped with help from Ewing’s tumbling catch on the warning track in left field on Brice Turang’s fly ball. 

“I didn’t want to leave the infield out there any longer, so I tried to throw my best strike pitch,” Thornton said.

PHILADELPHIA –– Nothing will top the championship significance, or defensive intuition, of the now-famous wheel play the Dodgers turned in the National League Division Series against the Phillies last October.

But on Tuesday night, in the same ballpark where the Dodgers produced that unforgettable highlight to escape a near-collapse in Game 2 of that NLDS, their infield conjured some more ninth-inning magic.

Only this time, with the help of an inexplicable baserunning mistake from veteran Phillies catcher JT Realmuto.

To finish off a rain-soaked 2-1 win against the Phillies, the Dodgers turned a game-ending double-play by catching two Phillies players in no-man’s-land on the bases.

There were runners on second and third with one out. Tanner Scott was in danger of blowing a five-out save. But on what should have been a routine rundown, the Phillies instead ran themselves right out of the game.

With only third baseman Max Muncy playing in on the Dodgers infield, Phillies outfielder Brandon Marsh hit a ground ball straight to him. The runner at third, speedy pinch-runner Justin Crawford, tried breaking for home, but got caught in a pickle as Muncy fired a strike to catcher Dalton Rushing, and Rushing zipped the ball back to shortstop Mookie Betts to make the tag near third.

The real disaster was what came next, with Realmuto suffering a stunning “lapse of judgement,” as he put it, by running all the way from second to third –– only to turn and try retreating to second again.

Had Realmuto stayed on third, only Crawford would’ve been out, the Phillies would have still had runners on the corners, and their comeback bid, which had been fueled by a leadoff single from Alec Bohm and one-out double from Realmuto, would’ve still been on.

Instead, Realmuto’s scamper back to second was too late, allowing Betts to turn after tagging Crawford and fire back across the diamond to second baseman Tommy Edman.

“When I saw JT going back, I think that’s like the first time I’ve yelled on the field,” Scott said. “I was like, ‘Mookie, two!’ Crazy play.”

So it went in a game that began with a one-hour, 20-minute rain delay, was played through steady showers from the second inning onward, and saw the sloppy conditions from the sky mirrored by sloppy play on the field.

Way back in the third inning, the Dodgers had committed their own baserunning gaffe. Shohei Ohtani got thrown out trying to turn a two-out RBI single into a hustle double. Even worse, baserunner Eliezer Alfonzo hadn’t even crossed the plate yet after jogging obliviously down the third-base line, wiping away a run that would’ve erased an early 1-0 deficit.

The Dodgers responded in the fourth, however, when Muncy flipped the score with a two-run homer off Phillies ace Zack Wheeler –– a blast that tied him with Ron Cey for second-most home runs in the franchise’s Los Angeles history.

And from there, the team held on, getting a 6 ⅓-inning gem from Justin Wrobleski, then another miraculous escape on the Citizens Bank Park infield. 

“The way Mookie kind of threw it and tagged, it kind of gave me a little bit of flashbacks [to last year], yeah,” Muncy said.

“You can’t really think about it [on a play like that]. You have to hope that all the work you put in in pregame and just from the start of the season kicks in, just instincts. That’s where the experience really matters in those types of situations. And with us, we always have a ton of experience out there.”

What it means

First and foremost, that the Dodgers won’t have to play a second double-header in the space of four days on this East Coast road trip.

Things seemed to be heading that way for most of the afternoon, with stormy forecasts and flash flood warnings threatening to postpone Tuesday’s game to Wednesday afternoon.

But then, a window in the weather opened. And the Dodgers –– who played a double-header at Yankee Stadium on Sunday –– were happy to squeeze the contest in.

Winning the way they did was only an added bonus.

“Big adrenaline, big win,” Roberts said. “Real fun ballgame to be a part of.”

Who’s hot

Wrobleski picked up where he left off in the first half of the season, continuing his breakout, All-Star season with yet another quality outing. 

As usual, he was efficient, needing only 89 pitches to rack up 19 outs (he could’ve gone longer, but manager Dave Roberts said pregame that the team has “got to be mindful of the workload” with Wrobleski as he compiled more innings than he ever has in his career).

In the continuation of a promising recent trend, he also got plenty of swing-and-miss, striking out seven batters while walking only one on a night his fastball was once again effective (getting seven whiffs on 22 swings).

After recording only 53 strikeouts over his first 86 ⅓ innings this year, Wrobleski has now amassed 27 over 20 ⅓ innings in his last three outings.

It’s been the latest development in his breakout season, helping him lower his ERA on Tuesday to 2.62 (fourth-best in the National League).

Who’s not

Ohtani’s base-running mistake was bad enough.

But more concerning has been his slow start offensively coming out of the All-Star break.

With a 1-for-4 performance on Tuesday, Ohtani now has just four hits in 21 at-bats over five games to begin the second half. Bad weeks happen, but Ohtani’s has come in the wake of a lubricant injection he received during the All-Star break to address a lingering left knee injury –– one that is currently preventing him from making pitching starts in the Dodgers’ rotation.

So did Roberts think Ohtani’s knee was starting to have an impact on his swing?

“I don’t think that’s the case,” he insisted pregame. “I would argue that if it was the right knee, potentially, because that’s kind of you’re turning on that knee, hitting off the front side. But with the left knee, I still see the intent there.”

Up next

With the threat of a double-header averted, a rubber-match game in this series now looms on Wednesday, when Eric Lauer (4-5, 4.81 ERA) will face Phillies right-hander Aaron Nola (3-7, 5.68).

Download The California Post App, follow us on social, and subscribe to our newsletters

The Detroit Tigers looked to follow up Monday night’s thrilling win with another on Tuesday night on the north side of Chicago. Instead, the Cubs pantsed the Tigers to the tune of an 11-2 drubbing.

Framber Valdez got the start for the Tigers, and after Monday’s game in which the bullpen pitched a total of six innings, the Tigers hoped Valdez could give them some length. He’d gone at least six innings in four of his previous five starts, and he was coming off seven sparkling innings against the A’s in which he’d given up a meagre three hits, surrendering a single run, walking nary a batter and whiffing nine. Of course, the Cubs are not the A’s. Spoiler alert: he absolutely did not give the Tigers length on Tuesday night.

Facing the Tigers was tall lefty David Peterson, who’s been with the Cubs for less than a month; he was traded to them by the Mets near the end of June for Cole Mathis. He broke into the major leagues in 2020 with the Mets, and was an All-Star in 2025; it’s been a rough year for him, though, and perhaps the Mets and Cubs both thought a change of scenery would do him good. His previous outing righted the ship a bit, though: he went five innings in Baltimore and gave up one run, but he walked four in the process.

It was a long, fateful first inning: Pete Crow-Armstrong led off by smacking a triple to the right-field corner; Seiya Suzuki walked and Alex Bregman wore a fastball to load the bases. Lefty-masher and Old Friend™ Carson Kelly followed, and he poked a two-run single through the right side; Michael Busch did the same to score Bregman for a 3-0 lead, and Nico Horner singled up the middle to reload the bases. A short fly ball to right field was blown in by the wind as the Tigers’ infield stared at it expecting it to head out to Malgeri in right. Instead, it fell like a stone into shallow right field and put the Cubs went up 4-0. After a popup and a strikeout, Valdez walked Crow-Armstrong and that was it for him, departing after two outs, a 5-0 score on the board, and the bases loaded. The recently-recalled Ty Madden came in, walked Suzuki but got Bregman to fly out to centre, and it was a 6-0 game.

Valdez’s final line: 2/3 IP, 5 H, 6 R, 2 BB, 1 HBP, 1 K. Yikes.

The wind was blowing in and was knocking fly balls down, especially to left field, with extreme prejudice: a couple of fly balls hit by the Tigers in the top of the second inning alone, which probably would have been home runs on Monday night, were caught well short of the fence.

The Cubs added-on in the second with a walk, stolen base, and single for a 7-0 score. Madden was slogging through, walking a few guys; Peterson was having a relatively easy go of it, slicing through the Tigers’ lineup like a hot knife through a warm wheel of Brie.

In the fifth, Brenan Hanifee replaced Madden, and within three pitches he gave up a single and a home run for a 9-0 score. But he had a 1-2-3 sixth, so that was nice in terms of pacing.

In the seventh Dillon Dingler led off with a walk, and after a strikeout and flyout, Matt Vierling singled and Dingler got to third base. Would the Tigers finally get on the board? No, they would not! Crow-Armstrong made a nice basket catch in centre to end the inning.

The Tigers waved the white flag by putting Zach McKinstry on the mound to chuck some eephuses below 40 mph, but he zipped an 81-mph fastball in there too. The Cubs tacked-on a pair of runs to make it 11-0, and I was starting to think the Tigers might not win this one.

Jake Rogers and his knuckleball took to the mound for the eighth and he struck out two batters. Holy mackerel!

Our All-Star catcher managed to get the Tigers on the board in the ninth: Hao-Yu Lee singled to lead off the inning, and Dingler sliced a home run through the wind to narrow the gap to 11-2. With two outs the Tigers loaded the bases and had the tying run, well, firmly on his behind in the dugout, but McKinstry flew out to left and that was, mercifully, the game.

The finale and rubber match is Wednesday night at 8:10 pm EDT. It should have been a day game, but I guess the national-television powers-that-be decided the Tigers didn’t need to get home at a reasonable time after a road trip.

Final score: Cubs 11, Tigers 2

NINE-DART LEG ALERT

Magnificent. Cool as a cucumber. Look how tightly-clustered those triple-twenties are, too.

Numbers and Such

• In last night’s game, when Pete Crow-Armstrong took second base in the bottom of the ninth to put runners on second and third with one out, at that point the Tigers had a 16% chance of winning. So, roughly five times out of six in that situation, the Cubs win. But they didn’t!
• Spencer Torkelson has been famously terrible at the plate with the bases loaded; including last night’s two-run single, he has been 4-for-38 for a .105 batting average (.323 OPS).
• You know who the opposite of Torkelson is? Well, it may not be the exact opposite, but Pat Tabler comes close: .489 BA and 1.198 OPS in 109 plate appearances with the bases loaded over his career.
• Marshall McLuhan was born on this day in 1911. This writer and philosopher had insightful and informative views on media, and coined the phrase, “The medium is the message.” As media continue to evolve and shape our views — sometimes in positive ways, sometimes not — I’d say his idea is as true now as it ever has been.

The Philadelphia Phillies (56-46) squandered another dominant outing by Zack Wheeler and a promising walk-off situation with a befuddling baserunning blunder to allow the Los Angeles Dodgers (64-38) to even the three-game set in a 2-1 loss.

Wheeler made one crucial mistake in the fourth inning, a cutter out over the plate that Max Muncy sent to straightaway center field for a two-run homer.

On the good, Wheeler had nine K’s across his seven innings and fell one short of becoming the second Phillie ever to throw 10+ strikeouts in four straight starts.

Dodgers’ lefty, Justin Wrobleski, went toe-to-toe with Wheeler, notching seven punch outs of his own.

The Phillies’ only run came courtesy of an Alec Bohm single in the first inning. Bohm saw six pitches on the night and ended with three hits, one of which was his 15th double of the season.

Jose Alvarado and Jonathan Bowlan held the line for Wheeler in the eighth and ninth, retiring their six charges in order.

Bohm’s third hit was a leadoff single to begin the bottom of the ninth. After a three-pitch strikeout of Edmundo Sosa, JT Realmuto smoked a 3-1 slider from Tanner Scott up the left field line to put runners on second and third with one out. Brandon Marsh grounded to third and caught Bohm’s replacement, Justin Crawford, in a rundown. Realmuto, safely at third while the rundown transpired, made the confounding choice to bolt back toward second base and was tagged out easily to end the game on a double play. Tanner Scott got a five-out save.

Trea Turner showed off his range and made a couple of impressive plays a night after having a rough go in the field.

Derek Hill made a great throw in the third inning that saved a run when Shohei Ohtani tried to stretch a single into a double and was tagged out just before his lead runner crossed the plate.

Aaron Nola is set to face lefty, Eric Lauer, in the series decider tomorrow night.

The Texas Rangers scored ten runs while the Chicago White Sox scored zero runs.

Coming into tonight’s game, the Rangers had allowed exactly 100 runs in the month of July in 13 games. That’s a ghastly 7.7 runs per game. There had been losses of 9-4, 13-1, 9-3, 15-1, 10-3 to list a few of the more unseemly blowout defeats this month. Here recently the Rangers had allowed 39 runs in four game since the start of the second half.

The Rangers were due for a little ass kicking of their own and they delivered with one of their more lopsided wins in recent memory.

Texas scored at least one run in the five of the game’s first six innings with four runs coming in the fifth. Every member of the starting lineup had at least one hit. Brandon Nimmo had a four-hit night with a two-run dong that opened the scoring.

No. 9 hitter Alejandro Osuna went 3-for-4 with two runs scored and three RBI. Wyatt Langford had two more hits, scored twice, and hit a two-run home run that poured salt in the Chicago wound.

Meanwhile tonight’s starter Kumar Rocker allowed a leadoff single in the top of the fourth and then the White Sox didn’t collect their second hit of the night until former Rangers farmhand Luisangel Acuna singled in the top of the eighth. Acuna pitched the last inning for Chicago and they finished with just three hits.

Of course, even in a blowout win nothing is every perfect for the Rangers as No. 3 hitter Josh Jung exited with calf tightness. Nevertheless, it was nice to see the Rangers on this side of one of these kinds of games again after being victimized by them frequently in recent weeks.

The win keeps Texas above .500 with a shot at a series win against Chicago tomorrow night.

Player of the Game: The Rangers scored ten runs. They worked the White Sox’ pitching over for 18 hits. There was plenty to like from the lineup tonight, but what Texas really needed was an outing like the one they got from Rocker.

With the pitching sputtering of late, Rocker took the bump and allowed just one hit to division-leading Chicago — a team that scored ten runs off Texas last night — with two walks and six strikeouts over six innings of shutout ball.

It took Rocker an economical 75 pitches to make it through six innings. Rocker was the final rotation regular to make his first start of the second half and he saved the best for last.

Also, Marco Gonzales — pitching in the big leagues for the first time since 2024 — made his team debut with the Rangers and pitched the final three shutout innings while picking up a quite Wes Littleton-esque save in the blowout win.

Up Next: The Rangers and White Sox close out this series with a rubber match featuring RHP Cal Quantrill for Texas against LHP Anthony Kay for Chicago.

The Wednesday evening first pitch from The Shed is scheduled for 7:05 pm CDT and will be carried on the Rangers Sports Network.

The Cubs have signed free agent outfielder Greg Jones and assigned him to Triple-A Iowa.

LHP Josh Fleming was activated off the Development List and assigned to Iowa.

RHP Connor Schultz was activated off the Development List and assigned to Double-A Knoxville.

Iowa Cubs

The Iowa Cubs reeled in the Gwinnett Stripers (Braves), 7-4. It was Iowa’s first ever trip to Georgia and the lights went out in the sixth inning, leading to a 17-minute delay.

Grant Kipp started for Iowa and had a tough task as there were five veteran major leaguers in the Gwinnett starting lineup: Ronald Acuña Jr., Carlos Santana, Andrew McCutchen, Rowdy Tellez and Ha-Seong Kim. Kipp allowed three runs, two earned, on five hits over 3.2 innings. Kipp struck out five and walked one.

Josh Fleming pitched the final five innings, allowed one run on three hits, and got the win. Fleming struck out two and did not issue a walk.

Shortstop Ben Cowles doubled twice in a 3 for 5 night. He scored twice and drove in one.

Third baseman Owen Miller went 2 for 5 with a three-run double in the sixth inning that Acuña ironically lost in the lights.

Left fielder Jonathon Long was 2 for 4 with a walk. He scored two runs.

RBI double for Cowles.

Owen Miller’s three-run double.

Knoxville Smokies

The Knoxville Smokies compacted the Montgomery Trash Pandas (Angels), 4-3.

Starter Connor Schultz got the win after pitching five innings and giving up two runs on three hits. Schultz walked five and struck out three.

Tyler Ras pitched two scoreless innings to close out the game and get the save. Ras allowed two hits. He struck out two and walked no one.

Right fielder Alex Ramírez homered in the first at bat of the game and homered again with two men on in the fifth. That accounted for all four Smokies runs. They were his 11th and 12th home run of the year. Ramírez went 3 for 4 with the four RBI.

DH Miguel Useche was 2 for 4 with a double.

The first one.

The second one.

South Bend Cubs

The South Bend Cubs defanged the Wisconsin TimberRattlers (Brewers), 5-2.

Starter Jostin Florentino pitched the first four innings and allowed two runs on three hits. Florentino struck out seven and walked just one.

Nate Williams threw a scoreless fifth inning and got the win because Florentino didn’t go five innings. Williams gave up one hit, walked no one and struck out two.

Jackson Brockett turned in an impressive three-inning save. He only allowed one baserunner, which came on an error in the ninth, but he erased him with a double play so he faced the minimum nine batters. Brockett struck out three.

Center fielder Kane Kepley went 2 for 3 with a double, a walk and two stolen bases. Kepley scored three of the Cubs five runs and drove in one more.

Jose Escobar was 0 for 3 and drove home Kepley three times. Once on a fielder’s choice, once with a sac fly and once with a ground out. Escobar also stole a base.

Kepley’s RBI double.

Myrtle Beach Pelicans

The Myrtle Beach Pelicans were one-hit by the Hickory Crawdads (Rangers), 1-0.

Jordan Henriquez kept the Crawdads scoreless over the first three innings. Henriquez surrendered two hits and issued two walks. He struck out three.

Hayden Frank took over for the next three innings and got the loss with one unearned run. Frank gave up four hits. He struck out four and walked one.

Second baseman Jose Silva singled in the fifth inning for the only hit of the game for the Birds. He was 1 for 3.

ACL Cubs

Lost to the Giants, 6-0.

The Mesa Cubs were no-hit in a seven-inning game.

KANSAS CITY — With their place in the standings at this point in the season, all that really matters for the Giants is how other teams value their potential trade candidates.

All things considered, Tuesday’s 3-2 loss to the Royals was a mixed bag.

Tyler Mahle, potentially making one of his last starts for the team he signed with last winter, was solid but unspectacular and far from efficient. He threw 91 pitches and departed without recording an out in the sixth inning, surrendering all three runs to raise his ERA to 5.31.

The performance likely didn’t do much to change how teams view him. A veteran set to be a free agent again this winter probably won’t be making any postseason starts, no matter what uniform he’s wearing, but he could still be a buy-low option to boost a team’s pitching depth.

Asked of his mindset ahead of the deadline, Mahle said: “I’m just trying to pitch better.”

Mahle employed the Giants pitching staff’s special combo to begin the sixth — a walk to Isaac Collins to lead off the inning, followed by a hit-by-pitch of Salvador Perez — and handed off the jam to another pitcher who could be of interest to teams in need of left-handed bullpen help.

Sam Hentges, however, didn’t help the situation. He fell behind on Vinnie Pasquantino, who laced a grounder up the middle to tie the game. Hentges hit another batter, loading the bases, and manager Tony Vitello decided he’d seen enough, calling on Keaton Winn.

Winn, a less likely trade candidate, got two strikes on Nick Loftin and threw him a sinker well below the zone. The pitch got the intended result — a swing and a ground ball — but it was struck well enough and in the right place, out of the reach of either Casey Schmitt or Willy Adames, that it scooted into left field and allowed the Royals to take a 3-2 lead.

Both of the base runners put on Mahle and inherited by Hentges came around to score.

“[Mahle] looked good, like he has the past two times out,” manager Tony Vitello said. “Just unfortunate a couple free bases there to end it. Sam’s been pretty good as of late getting us out of trouble. At the end of the day, the inning was the difference maker.”

Less than two weeks to go until the Aug. 3 deadline, possibly the best thing the Giants did to help maintain the value of any of their trade chips’ came in Vitello’s lineup decision.

Luis Arraez, their top asset, was held out for only the sixth time this season. He wants to play everyday but has been hampered by the right foot that seems to be a magnet for his foul balls. One less game meant one less chance for Arraez to more seriously hurt himself.

The Giants were apparently so intent on getting Arraez a full day off that Vitello kept the National League’s second-leading hitter on the bench in a pair of prime pinch-hit opportunities.

Trailing 3-2, Jung Hoo Lee singled to lead off the seventh and made it to second base on a sacrifice bunt from Jesus Rodriguez. But in spite of having the potential tying run in scoring position and the bottom two spots in the lineup coming up, Vitello didn’t call on Arraez.

He allowed Drew Gilbert to go down swinging for the second out, which brought up Christian Koss, who started in place of Arraez at second. Koss had walked and singled in his previous two times up but popped out to short to end the inning.

“Game on the line with a runner in scoring position,” Vitello said. “Pretty much that was the conversation.”

The situation nearly presented itself in the ninth after Lee reached again via a walk. Pinch-runner Grant McCray never made it to second. Arraez, who had his elbow guard on, never left the dugout.

What it means

After notching a win in their first game after the All-Star break, the Giants have dropped all four games since. It’s San Francisco’s sixth losing streak this season of four or more games.

The loss dropped the Giants a season-high 17 games below .500, at 42-59, the furthest under water the franchise has been since it ended the 2017 season 64-98, the second-worst record in the Giants’ 68 seasons in San Francisco.

Who’s hot

The temperature of the Giants’ frustrations reached a point early that home plate umpire Lance Barrett paused the game to tell the visitors’ dugout to pipe down with the chirping.

San Francisco was especially upset by a check-swing call that went against Willy Adames in his first at-bat, ending in a strikeout to start the second inning.

“The check swing got the whole dugout defending his case,” Vitello said. That included Gilbert, who was shown on camera appearing to retort back to the umpire to “Shut the f— up.”

Adames, who later booted a ball at shortstop to begin the bottom of the seventh, was a victim of another odd call that earned the umpiring crew no friends among the folks in gray uniforms.

The Giants believed Adames should have been awarded first base in the sixth when his swing appeared to connect with the glove of Royals catcher Carter Jensen. Vitello requested a video review to check for catcher’s interference, and although it appeared to show exactly that, the lengthy replay process led to the no-call on the field being upheld and Adames popping out.

“My best guess from only the video replay they were showing on the board was maybe there wasn’t a good view of the bat hitting the catcher’s mitt,” Vitello said.

Who’s not

Bryce Eldridge continued to be an on-base machine, lining a single in his first time up to get on safely for the 53rd time in 59 games since he was called up on May 4. 

But after a strong start to the second half in Seattle, the rookie slugger has had a rough go of it this series. Before he wasn’t able to make a difficult play on the game-winning squeeze bunt Monday night, he struck out three times, and he went down on strikes two more times Tuesday.

There was always going to be some swing and miss paired with Eldridge’s power stroke, but it has been prevalent lately. In 16 games this month, he has struck out 24 times and drawn nine walks. He had struck out 24 times in his previous 27 games, with 14 bases on balls.

Up next

Landen Roupp takes the mound against Seth Lugo as the Giants wrap up their series against the Royals on Wednesday (11:10 a.m. PT) before heading home to host a third straight sub-.500 American League opponent, the Angels, beginning Friday.

San Francisco’s 9-17 record in interleague play is the worst in the majors.

It’s been a back-and-forth affair at Coors Field, with the Colorado Rockies currently leading the Washington Nationals 7-6. But since there are three whole innings left (or hopefully only 2.5!), it’s time for another OVERFLOW THREAD!

As a reminder, here are the lineups:

Let’s go Rockies!

Please keep in mind our Purple Row Community Guidelines when you’re commenting. Thanks!