Happy Saturday, folks! Hope you’re having a nice weekend. If you decide to spend it watching late-night West Coast baseball, I hope the Orioles grace you with a series win tonight. They snatched a win in Game One last night with a 4-3 victory in ten innings. Although Brandon Young pitched a strong seven innings, the bullpen couldn’t hold onto a meager 2-0 lead, and it took extras to sort things out: two clutch base hits by Coby Mayo and Christian Encarnacion-Strand gave the birds the winning margin of victory.

Let’s hope the Orioles make Game Two worth staying up for. Tonight, taking the mound at Sacramento’s Sutter Health Park for the Athletics is Jack Perkins, a 26-year-old righty who debuted for the A’s in 2025, and has been used mostly as a swingman. In 11 starts and 20 relief appearances in 2026, he has an ugly 6.68 ERA, although it seems he’s been the victim of bad defense, to judge by his FIP (4.79) and xERA (3.96). He’s still been much more effective as a reliever, going by his ERA splits (4.76 ERA in relief/8.17 ERA as a starter). His best pitch is the sweeper, which generates a 36.1% whiff rate, followed by a decent changeup and cutter. The soft spot in Perkins’ arsenal is his mid-90s four-seamer: it’s been his most hittable pitch by far (.318 average, .664 slugging against, Run Value -14), and he still throws it nearly a third of the time. Perkins is also prone to the long ball (1.69 HR/9) and to putting runners on via the walk (3.79 BB/9) or hit-by-pitch (9 on the year).

As for the O’s starter, I don’t know if it’s crazy or reasonable to hope for a win, given that it’s unlucky Shane Baz who takes his turn on the mound tonight. Despite the fact that Baz (4.04 ERA, 3.34 FIP) has allowed three or fewer runs in 19 of his 26 starts, he doesn’t have a win in his last twelve starts (which is incredible to process). And he’s been pretty good! He had a 3.68 ERA in June, a 3.00 one in July, and August, while slightly worse, shows him at a 4.30 mark. Poor Baz. Can the schneid please end tonight?

Tonight’s lineup features a surplus of lefties. Jackson Holliday back in the leadoff spot, and Henderson, hopefully rested after his day off, hitting third. Dylan Beavers, hot lately, is back in, and so is Cowser playing center field. The newly activated Blaze Alexander is sitting today. However, Coby Mayo, slayer of lefties, is getting a start against the right-handed Perkins anyway, hitting seventh. And Pete Alonso, lately called our team’s “iron man,” is still out there, hitting, even with a sore calf.

Last night saw these Orioles snatch a game back from Cleveland’s lead to put them just two games back of the third and final Wild Card spot. Earlier today, the lowly Royals did the Orioles a huge favor, pummeling the Guardians 8-3, which gives the team chance to make up yet another game! The next four games against the A’s and the Rockies, whom the O’s visit next, represent a best chance to make score some easy wins in the wild card race, if such a thing is even possible.

Orioles lineup:

Jackson Holliday 2B
Pete Alonso DH
Gunnar Henderson SS
Christian Encarnacion-Strand 3B
Samuel Basallo C
Dylan Beavers LF
Coby Mayo 1B
Colton Cowser CF
Leody Taveras RF

RHP Shane Baz

Athletics lineup:

Henry Bolte CF
Jeff McNeil 1B
Zack Gelof 2B
Lawrence Butler RF
Tommy White 3B
Donovan Walton SS
Max Muncy DH
Carlos Cortes LF
Jonah Heim C

RHP Jack Perkins

I think we can safely say, the opening game of the double-header went about as well as could be expected. Most importantly, Merrill Kelly had his best game since that complete game in Coors Field, tossing seven innings for the first time in the second half, and meaning we only had to use Taylor Clarke and Brandyn Garcia out of the pen. Jonathan Loaisiga is probably the only other man off the board among our relievers for the nightcap, with a preference for Kevin Ginkel, Justin Martinez and new guy Derek Law, over Juan Morillo and Gerardo Carrillo. Ideally, Mitch Bratt will give us six innings, then turn it over to the trio mentioned.

Worst-case scenario though: Arizona will end the day in at least a tie for the third NL wild-card spot, even if they lose the night cap. The Padres blew a 6-3 lead in Tampa, and have dropped four of five, losing series to both the Pirates and Rays, since a rather smug article appeared on Friars On Base, self-congratulating the Padres for turning things around: “Their veteran core chose accountability.” The slump couldn’t happen to a nicer team, between Tatis, Machado, etc. Let’s hope Tampa do their expansion siblings another favor tomorrow and complete the sweep over San Diego, while Arizona heads home and prepares to face Philadelphia.

But first, the little matter of this evening’s game. A split of the series is now assured, but of course, a series win would be much preferred. Bratt’s last couple of starts haven’t been up to much, lasting just three innings, while allowing three runs in each. Too many walks have been a problem, both in putting men on base and driving up his pitch count. His last start averaged 23 pitches per inning, the start before that just one less – not a recipe for going deep. But a night game in San Francisco is definitely a more pitcher-friendly environment, and let’s hope for a repeat of this afternoon’s victory.

This contest was a series of moments wrapped around a wild seventh inning that saw each team score at least three runs, albeit in different methods. Prior to a 7th inning that was off the rails in the home half, the Rays looked to be mostly in control with an early 2-1 lead through five innings thanks to an RBI single by Liam Hicks and a solo home run by Jonathan Aranda:

That prodigous was just Aranda’s second home run in the past 20 games and just his fourth extra base hit in his last 86 plate appearances: That held up until Ty France hit his 100th career home run sneaking an opposite field home run just over the right field cut out to give the Padres a 3-2 lead:

The Rays would come back to tie the game 3-3 on Junior Caminero’s first home run in 16 games and just his third extra base hit in his last 66 plate appearances to set the stage for an eventful 7th inning:

Garrett Cleavinger came in of relief of Nick Martinez in the 7th and committed the cardinal sin of walking the leadoff batter after being ahead 0-2 on Luis Rengifo. That walk was quickly followed by a single by Dustin Harris and a perfect bunt by Fernando Tatis Jr to load the bases with nobody out. Cleavinger would come back to strike out Jake Cronenworth, but was lifted for Kevin Kelly in hopes of getting an inning-ending double play. Manny Machado foiled those plans with a single through the abandoned part of the infield plating the first two runs of the inning, which was followed by a double-steal leading to the third run of the inning:

The Rays went into the bottom of the 7th down three runs against a team that had lost one game all season when leading after seven because their A-bullpen has an A+ grade and A+ stuff. The Rays simply followed the script the Padres used in the top of the inning with the 7-8-9 hitters each reaching base setting up the wildest play of the game. Yandy Diaz crushed a high fastball from Bradgley Rodriguez that looked and sounded lika grand slam off the bat. The baserunners were primed to run into the most TOOTBLANs of TOOTBLANs, but Rengifo’s knee gave out on him in a run-down and throw home allowing all three base runners to score and get Diaz to third base:

Diaz would eventually come in to score the go-ahead run on Chandler Simpson’s second hit of the game. That single gave Simpson a .384 batting average since the break, which leads all qualified hitters. Kelly would come back to work a clean 8th before handing the ball to Bryan Baker to save his 39th game of the season and his 27th consecutive save since his last blown save on May 13th.

The win by the Rays coupled with the Yankees losing the first game of the double-header gives the Rays a five-game lead over the Yankees. The Rays will go for a series sweep tomorrow with staff ace Drew Rasmussen on the mound opposing Robbie Ray.

Phillies survive sloppy night on the bases, beat Angels in extra innings originally appeared on NBC Sports Philadelphia

ANAHEIM, Calif. – The Phillies and Los Angeles Angels don’t play each often and maybe that’s a good thing.

You know, for the ol’ blood pressure.

For the second night in a row Saturday, the two teams played a wild one at Anaheim Stadium.

The Phillies pulled out a 4-2 victory when they rallied for three runs in the top of the 10^th inning – Kyle Schwarber doubled home a run and Trea Turner singled home two of them — but it really didn’t have to be this difficult.

The Phillies got seven shutout innings from Cristopher Sanchez and took a 1-0 lead into the bottom of the eighth. With two outs, Angels’ leadoff man Zach Neto capped a grueling 12-pitch at-bat against Jonathan Bowlan with a game-tying home run to left. Neto fouled off seven pitches during the at-bat, including four in a row before connecting for the homer.

Manager Don Mattingly pulled Sanchez at 91 pitches. Any chance Sanchez had of facing the bottom of the Angels’ order in the eighth disappeared after two lengthy replay reviews in the top of the inning. The Phillies came out on the wrong end of both of them as Turner and Bryce Harper ran into outs at third base and home plate, respectively. Turner was caught off second by pitcher Trevor Martin and gunned down at third base. Harper tried to steal home on Martin. He was initially ruled safe, but the call was overturned for the third out.

Mattingly wasn’t happy with either call.

“I don’t mind Trea’s because we’re trying to get to third … trying to be aggressive,” he said. “I thought he was safe there anyway. Harp’s is not necessarily a bad play. They called him safe. I don’t know how they know his hand doesn’t get in there. How is that clear and convincing?”

Before rallying in the top of the 10^th, the Phils ran into a third out on the bases when Brandon Marsh was thrown out at third trying to advance from second on a ground ball to short.

Those outs on the bases fit the theme of the night – wasted chances. The Phillies went 1 for 6 with runners in scoring position over the first nine innings. They managed just one run in the first two innings despite Angels’ starter Ryan Johnson allowing six base runners on two hits and four walks over that span. They pushed across a run in the second on a hit by Marsh before leaving the bases loaded.

But all’s well that ends well.

The Phillies have won 12 of their last 14 and three in a row. They are a season-best 16 games over .500 and firmly in control of a wild-card playoff spot with 26 games to play.

“I feel like we’re definitely playing a lot better baseball,” Turner said. “Obviously, we can still learn from some things. Like tonight, I thought we made some mistakes as a team. And we know that and we want to play better as a team. But it’s nice winning those games and learning from it rather than losing them. I feel like that’s a little bit of a difference from now and the beginning of the year when it felt like we couldn’t overcome some of those mistakes. We’re playing better baseball. The pitching is keeping us in games. The offense has been great putting traffic out there. There’s still room for improvement, but it still feels like we’re playing better baseball.”

Sanchez allowed just two hits and a walk over his seven innings. He struck out eight as he reached 200 for the second straight season. He has 202, one less than team leader Jesus Luzardo.

Sanchez was in line for his majors-leading 17^th win before Neto tied the game. He remains stuck at 16. He will have five more starts to become the Phillies’ first 20-game winner since Roy Halladay in 2010.

Jhoan Duran ended up with the win Saturday night. He allowed the placed runner to score in the bottom of the 10^th, but eventually closed the door after the Phils rallied for three in the top of the inning. That inning included some good base running. After Marsh’s gaffe, J.T. Realmuto went first-to-third on a hit by rookie Justin Crawford, who continues to make his presence felt late in games. Schwarber then dropped an RBI double in front of Trout, who had been playing deep in center, and Turner squibbed a ball to right through a drawn-in infield for two more runs.

For the struggling Turner, who earlier in the game pinned left fielder Jose Siri against the wall, the softly hit two-run single was a keeper.

“It was so bad, but it feels so much better,” he said. “I thought I saw the ball well. I thought I was going to hit it pretty hard then, obviously, I capped it, but it worked out. You have to find a way, any way. No matter how bad it looks or how good it looks, you try to put runs on the board.”

The Phillies, who rallied to win the first game of the series on the strength of Edmundo Sosa’s ninth-inning grand slam Friday night, will look for a sweep Sunday afternoon behind Zack Wheeler. The right-hander has struggled mightily recently. He gave up four home runs and walked five in a loss Monday night at Seattle. Excluding a rain-shortened outing Aug. 2 in Baltimore, he has a 9.27 ERA in his last five full starts.

Last night, the Athletics fell to 14-29 in series openers this season after falling to the Baltimore Orioles 4-3 in 10 innings. The A’s had a chance to win their third straight game, but they could not conjure enough late-inning magic. As a result, the team must win tonight to avoid falling into a 2-0 series hole and keep its hopes of winning the series alive.

A’s right-hander Jack Perkins will take the mound in this evening’s Sacramento Saturday clash. The 26-year-old enters his 32nd appearance and 12th start of the season with a 3-9 record, a 6.68 ERA, a 1.48 WHIP, three saves and 104 strikeouts over 90 1/3 innings.

Tonight, Perkins will get another chance to start. Following three straight poor starts, the right-hander’s last two outings have come in bulk relief of an opener, a role in which he has pitched better. In his last appearance, Perkins earned the win against the Houston Astros after allowing three runs, one earned, on three hits and five walks across five innings.

If Perkins wants to remain in the A’s rotation, he will have to string together some quality starts. The more games in which Perkins puts his team in an early deficit, the likelier he is to find himself back in the bullpen. When the A’s faced the Orioles earlier this season, Perkins pitched once in that series, allowing a run on a hit and a walk in 2/3 of an inning.

Last year, he recorded his first major-league win against Baltimore after allowing three runs on three hits over six innings. The Green and Gold would gladly take that kind of performance from Perkins tonight in the wake of yesterday’s extra-inning affair.

Here’s the lineup Athletics’ manager Mark Kotsay is going with today:

The injury-depleted A’s are rolling out nearly the same starting lineup as last night, with Donovan Walton the lone position player making his first start of the series. Throughout this homestand, the A’s have made a habit of scoring late in games, so some early offense and a lead would likely help Perkins settle down and put the team in a better position to win this evening.

The A’s offense will face Orioles right-hander Shane Baz, who has turned his season around after a rocky first few months with Baltimore. The 27-year-old enters his 27th start of the year with a 4-14 record, a 4.04 ERA, a 1.35 WHIP and 135 strikeouts over 151 1/3 innings. Over his last seven starts, Baz has posted a 3.63 ERA, yet is 0-5, largely because he has received the second-lowest amount of run support in the majors. The right-hander brings a 1-2 record, a 4.10 ERA and 27 strikeouts into his fifth career game against the A’s.

The Green and Gold will look to defeat Baz for a second time this season after tagging him for five runs on five hits in early May. Given how much better the Orioles pitcher has been lately, the Athletics will need to take advantage of any mistake pitches he leaves in the middle of the plate and use strategies like base stealing and bunting to create run-scoring opportunities.

And Baltimore’s starting nine for this matchup:

Orioles shortstop Gunnar Henderson and catcher Samuel Basallo are both back in the lineup after getting the day off yesterday. They are joined by elite power-hitter Pete Alonso and first baseman Coby Mayo, who recorded the game-winning RBI single in the tenth inning of the series opener.

It will be up to Perkins and the A’s bullpen to keep the Orioles’ offense in check and prevent Baz from receiving much run support. On the other hand, if the Orioles establish a sizable early lead, the A’s could have difficulty pulling off another comeback as they look to force a series rubber game tomorrow afternoon.

Time to even this series and get back in the win column. Let’s go A’s!

Follow the Game:
Watch:
Athletics – NBCSCA

Listen:
Athletics -Talk 650 KSTE, KVMX 92.1/105.5, A’s Cast

The news of Juan Soto returning from the injured list to the Mets on Saturday was pretty sudden and came as a bit of a surprise seeing that it was ahead of schedule during a season where New York is out of contention.

However, Soto always maintained that he would return this season to finish the year strong and in his first game back he had an RBI single that broke a 1-1 tie in the fifth inning as the Mets beat the Houston Astros, 6-2.

“Feels good to be back,” Soto said after the game. “It’s just a great feeling to be a part of the team and part of the game. Trying to help the team as much as you can out there, it feels really cool.”

The win ended a three-game losing streak for New York, but before that the Mets had won seven of their last 10 games as part of a 14-10 record in August where they’ve looked much better.

Funny enough, the team’s recent success came with Soto, out since July 24, not in the lineup. In fact, New York’s upswing added more motivation to Soto to return so he could join in on the fun.

“I feel really good about it,” Soto said of the Mets’ improved play. “We [brought] a lot of young talent from the minor leagues and now seeing them playing the way they’re playing and seeing how everything is clicking for us is really cool to see. 

“It means a lot, not only for this year, but the next years coming and I’m just really happy about the way we’ve been playing. That’s another thing that motivated me more to come back and try to join this positive wave and try to carry on.”

With Soto back, New York adds one of “the absolute best hitters on the planet” as interim manager Andy Green called him, to a fun and energized team even with nothing left to play for. Still, Soto and the Mets have their pride and are using the final weeks of the season to see which players might be able to contribute next season while also giving plenty of young players extended looks.

Indeed, it’s those same young players that Soto’s return from a second calf injury in a lost season affects greatly.

“We all know how hard this game is. Definitely those guys are young and still working and still learning a lot of things, but I think, yeah, they get to see what I did and I hope they can take it in a positive way and look at it in the right way and take some advice from it,” Soto said. “I won’t be the guy to like carry them and show them how I did it, but whenever they need me I’m gonna be there.”

Even with a player like Nolan McLean, Saturday’s starter who went seven terrific innings, seeing Soto back with the team was inspiring.

“We know with Juan how much it means to him,” McLean said. “He’s in here every day before everybody making sure he can get back on the field and that means the world to us because guys like that in your lineup is important. He’s arguably one of the best hitters on the planet and I’m glad he’s on my team and I don’t have to face him. It’s good to have guys like that back.”

Of course, on top of being a good example for the rest of the team, Soto’s production is what New York missed the most so it wasn’t a shock to see him have a good day at the plate right away.

“I feel great. I feel like we worked a lot on my timing through those days that I was down. I definitely tried to stay as locked in as possible and I feel great right now,” Soto said.

As for how Soto, who skipped a rehab assignment entirely, will be used in the final month of the season, the slugger mentioned what the Mets are likely thinking in order to preserve him the best they can.

“I feel pretty comfortable with my calf and all that stuff, but at the end of the day we got to remember I came a little bit [quicker] than they expected and I didn’t do any rehab assignments, so my guess is I’m probably gonna be DHing a little bit more and we will see one day when they decide to let me play the outfield,” Soto said. “But I think for now the plan is to be more in the DH spot.”

The Yankees may have another injury to deal with. 

George Lombard Jr. left the second game of a doubleheader against the Red Sox Saturday night at the Stadium with a right knee injury. 

The Yankees later announced that Lombard is suffering right knee discomfort and will have an MRI exam tonight. 

In Lombard’s first at-bat in the second inning, he awkwardly checked his swing and didn’t seem right.

Manager Aaron Boone and a trainer came out to check on him.

Lombard, a top shortstop prospect, stayed in the game and singled to left field.

He batted in the third inning, and lined out to left, but was replaced in the top of the fourth. 

Jose Caballero moved over to shortstop and Amed Rosario was inserted at third base.

If Lombard needs a stint on the injured list, the Yankees could bring back Anthony Volpe from Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre.

After a hot start to his MLB career on both sides of the ball, George Lombard Jr. has taken his lumps in the second half of August. He has a .563 OPS in his last 14 games and recently had a streak of errors in six consecutive games, though optimism of course remains high on his long-term outlook. Anyone can go through a tough stretch after all, especially as a rookie.

But Lombard might have hit a new hurdle during the nightcap of the Yankees’ Saturday doubleheader against the Red Sox. During an at-bat against Brayan Bello, he checked his swing but appeared to hurt his knee in the process. To be clear, this is just conjecture on my end, but that area certainly seemed to be causing serious discomfort. Lombard remained in the game to finish his at-bat — remarkably in hindsight, a single to left — and stayed in long enough to play the field and take another trip to the plate.

By the start of the fourth inning, however, the 21-year-old was forced from the game. José Caballero moved to the six and Amed Rosario entered at third base.

Any sort of lower-half injury is alarming, particularly at this point in the season. They can take a little while to recover from, and the postseason begins in exactly one month. The best-case scenario is that Lombard just had cramping of some kind or a different minor ailment.

The official diagnosis in the short term was “right knee discomfort.”

Unfortunately, it may be best to mentally prepare for the possibility that Lombard has to miss time. If he does, the most logical move is to bring Anthony Volpe back from the minors. Lombard’s predecessor as the Hot New Thing™ at shortstop has primarily been working at second since his demotion that coincided with Lombard’s promotion, though he also coincidentally got his first start at third tonight. But 2025 aside, Volpe remains a good defensive shortstop, so if that’s the goal, then he would step in for Lombard, at minimum in a timeshare with Caballero.

We’ll find out soon enough what the imaging says. Cross your fingers and knock on some wood.

Update

Here are the lineups. For the Phillies:

For the Angels:

Let’s talk about it.