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Game Summary

The Diamondbacks starting rotation has been on another level over the last couple weeks, and that trend continued tonight with Michael Soroka earning another Quality Start, their league-leading 13th this month. With only 78 pitches thrown after six innings and only a single run allowed, it looked like it was a no-brainer for Soroka to come back out for the 7th. Instead, Soroka was pulled and the Diamondbacks bullpen allowed 2 runs over the next 3 frames to hand the Rockies a rare win at Chase Field.

Soroka wasn’t the best we had seen him, but he was extremely efficient and mostly effective. Not much swing-and-miss, but a lot of light contact and good defense backing him up. Right from the start of the bullpen usage, however, things were off. Taylor Clarke was first up and got some terrific help from his defense to record 2 outs, but he also allowed a couple baserunners which led to him being pulled in favor of Brandyn Garcia who recorded the final out of the 7th and hit the showers. Then it was Juan Morillo’s turn one night after getting hit with a blown save against these Rockies and it started off just as poorly as last night ended, allowing a quick run to tie the game before recording an out, but Morillo regained his composure and got 2 outs before turning the ball over to Ryan Thompson who mirrored Garcia’s 7th inning performance with a groundout to end the 8th. Thompson came back out for the 9th and looked considerably less sharp than before and ended up giving up the go-ahead run before working his way out of a mess of his own making.

Still, after all of that, Diamondbacks pitchers combined to only allow 3 runs. That is not an epic meltdown. They kept the offense in the game, giving their teammates a chance to win it, but the offense was nowhere to be found. Or, perhaps, the offense was down in the locker room with hamstring tightness for the last few innings.

Coming into the 6th inning, the Diamondbacks had scored 2 runs thanks to 2 RBI base hits by Lourdes Gurriel Jr. In the top of the 6th, Lourdes sprinted in for a sliding catch in shallow left field but was very slow to get back up. Eventually, Torey and the trainer came out to speak with Lourdes and all three walked back to the dugout together, with the team saying Lourdes left with hamstring tightness. While Gurriel finished the night 2/2 with RISP on the night, the rest of the team was 0/5, leaving 6 LOBsters.

The team’s last real opportunity came in the 8th with the score still tied and Corbin leading off. He earned an infield single, then was bunted over to second by Perdomo. Arenado went to first the hard way with a HBP, bringing the very clutch Ildemaro to the plate. Unfortunately, he grounded into a double play and that was that. Jose Fernandez (pinch hitting for injury replacement Jorge Barrosa), Gabi, and ADC went down 1-2-3 in the 9th and the Rockies got their 4th win at Chase in their last 22 tries.

Loss Probability and Box Score

Outside the Box Score

• In perhaps an early indicator of how the ball was going to carry tonight with the roof and panels open (SPOILER: there were no home runs this game, just a bunch of warning track fly outs), the Rockies second hitter of the game lifted a flyball to left field that carried and carried all the way to wall where Lourdes made a leaping grab to either rob a homer or keep it from scraping down off the top of the wall. It did not seem like that ball was that well struck and the expression on Michael Soroka’s face when the ball was finally caught looked like he was surprised at the carry as well.
• The D-backs played some superb small ball in the 2nd inning to plate the first run of the game. Nolan Arenado led off with a double, Ildemaro hit fly ball to right field that was deep enough for Nolan to advance to third, and Lourdes then strung together a tough 8-pitch AB culminating in a deep flyout to center that scored Arenado.
• Waldschmidt’s strikeout to start the third was of the ꓘ variety. He made valiant effort to work the count from 1-2 to full, laying off some tough balls just out of the zone, but then was fooled by a fastball that he stared right through the outer-third of the plate and into the mitt. That was his 6th strikeout looking of the year out of 13 total Ks. His 46% ꓘ-rate is easily highest on the team and is one of the higher marks across the league.
• Ketel’s double in the third came off the bat at 116.7mph which was his 2nd hardest hit ball this year. The other was a 116.9mph grounder that resulted in an out. Because of course it was.
• Geraldo Perdomo and Ildemaro Vargas paired up for an outstanding play to get the 2nd out of the 4th inning. Gerry ranged way into the deep hole between second and third to field a grounder and threw back across his body with his momentum still carrying to third. The throw short-hopped Vargas, but it was dead on line and Ildemaro was able to scoop it and complete the out. Excellent play!
• Gerry Perdomo was back to his pesky self in the 4th inning, and it resulted in another D-backs run. Domo led off the inning with a 7-pitch walk, then exhausted Sugano’s disengagements across 2 different hitters looking like he was going to steal. After Arenado popped out during a Domo steal attempt, Ildemaro came up and grounded out to second but since Domo was running on that play, he slid in safely and was in scoring position for Lourdes Gurriel who played the hero again with a ringing single to left. A note should also be given that JR House gave a pretty aggressive send to Domo coming home, but the throw from left field was offline so there was no “option House to Reno” comments on the thread.
• Lourdes Gurriel left the game in the 6th inning after making a stellar sliding grab in short left field. Replays showed he made a bit of a face on his last couple steps before sliding and he knew something was wrong immediately. Hopefully nothing serious and he’s back in short order.
• The 7th inning was all about defense for the Snakes. Corbin started things off with a sliding, backhanded catch in right for the first out, then Waldschmidt made a long run and leap into the corner in left to track down a flyball for the second out of the inning. Then, with 2 runners on, Jake McCarthy hit a grounder halfway between first and second. Ildemaro ranged over and delivered an on-time, on-target toss to Brandyn Garcia who was hustling to cover first and beat McCarthy by a step.
• Ketel Marte worked a 3-0 count in the bottom of the 7th with 2 outs and a runner on. If anyone has earned the right to swing 3-0 on this D-backs team, it’s Ketel, but he grounded out weakly to end the inning.
• Juan Morillo was called on for the 8th inning one night after being pulled in the 8th for giving up the tying run and the box score will show he did indeed give up the tying run again, but tonight he was able to rebound after a rough start to the frame and get the final 2 hitters he faced out before handing the ball to Ryan Thompson who did his normal get-the-groundball-out-you-desperately-need thing.

Comment of the Game

The GameDay Thread started out fairly light tonight, but the comments picked up as the game outcome became more and more in doubt. A final tally of 310 comments at time of publishing with a tie for Comment of the Game awarded to Veeloh and Dano_in_Tucson, fittingly the top two rec’d comments on a night where Lourdes Gurriel had a great game and a very bad night:

Coming Up

The Diamondbacks face the Rockies for the third game of this 4-game set tomorrow evening with a 12:10pm first pitch Arizona time. Righthander Michael Lorenzen (2-6, 7.03 ERA) will take the mound for Colorado and Zac Gallen (2-4, 4.78 ERA) takes the ball for the good guys. Can Gallen continue this impressive streak of elite starting pitching for the Snakes?

If you had “a tidy 2-0 victory in Kauffman Stadium” on your mind tonight, no you didn’t. The amount of nonsense in AL Central road games over the past few seasons has been enough for a lifetime, but no greater shenanigans have taken place than here. There was the 11-spot in 2022, its little sibling in 2024, and despite ultimately winning three out of four games, I think plenty of ink has been spilled about that August 2023 series. Mix in a feeble righty-heavy lineup and a scuffling Logan Gilbert? Yeah, no one would blame you if you grabbed the clicker.

Tonight the Mariners transcended the ghosts of Kauffman.

The bats had an early chance in the first, with Julio Rodríguez continuing to lay waste to the Royals by ripping a one-out double down the left field line and Randy Arozarena working a walk to put two runners on. Alas, notably left-handed Royals starter Noah Cameron got the last laugh against Rob Refsnyder and Patrick Wisdom, dispatching them both on swings and misses over a combined ten pitches. Spark joy, that does not. Logan Gilbert thankfully came out of the gate strong, setting down Maikel Garcia and Bobby Witt Jr. with a pair of leadoff strikeouts. Vinnie Pasquantino showed off a nice piece of hitting by slapping an up and a away fastball into left field, but after a harmless flyout from Salvador Pérez, the Royals were turned away.

That’s just kind of how the next several innings went. Logan picked up another duo of Ks from Carter Jensen and Isaac Collins that sandwiched a nice grab by Julio in center off the bat of Jac Caglianone. At long last scaling back the cutter (just nine out of 94 pitches thrown!), Gilbert’s slider and splitter were his primary offspeed offerings. The split kept any hard contact at arm’s length, and strong fastball command kept the Royals’ bats regular off balance. A one-out walk to nine-hole hitter Kyle Isbel was the only blemish through his first five frames, but things may have turned out different had J.P. Crawford not turned back the clock a tad in the fourth.

Gilbert wobbled a bit in the sixth, sneaking a knock from Garcia in between a popout from Isbel and an initially scary flyout from Witt, but an errant pickoff throw where his cleat got caught in the mound let Garcia scoot into second. Vinnie Pasquantino battled for seven pitches – the last four of which were splitters down – and came out victorious with a walk, ending a visibly frustrated Gilbert’s night. Walter may have been cranky, but after his last start against the Padres spiraled quickly, it was a reassuring sight to see that he’s still there. Eduard Bazardo was on to face Salvy, and took a minute to settle in, going into a full count before a harmless forceout at third.

Conversely, Cameron threw his four-seam just fifteen times in his six-inning start, leaning heavily on his changeup and curveballs to dice through Seattle’s hitters, setting a season-high in strikeouts in the fourth. The Mariners also did themselves no favors in the sequencing department. Julio spanked a 113 MPH ground ball into left for a two-out base hit in the third, but Randy went fishing on 2-2 curve. Mitch Garver checked in with a leadoff single in the fifth, only to be almost immediately erased by a Víctor Robles double play. But hey, Colt Emerson notched his second Major League hit, pulling a hard ground ball through the right side. J.P. Crawford and unable to get him in, though, sending a flyball to center for the third out, and after six, the 0-0 score felt quite earned.

The one silver lining on the offensive side was that the bats had worked Cameron for 96 pitches, forcing the Royals to turn to their struggling bullpen. Righty Nick Mears took over duties for the seventh, and promptly walked Cole Young. Garver stepped to the plate for the third time tonight, taking an easy high fastball before getting a middle-high sinker that didn’t sink. Two pitches prior, Angie on the broadcast opined that it was “do your job” time for the lineup.

The Garv man obliged.

The M’s never added on, and they never looked back. Bazardo was sent back onto the mound and threw a hellacious seventh inning, striking out the side in order – including a pair of his patented called third strikes. Matt Brash handled eighth duties, working around hits from Michael Massey and Garcia and some hard contact to stave off a late Kansas City threat. Andrés Muñoz, as is typical, was in to seal the deal. Three batters – and for the first time in his career, zero fastballs – later, and the Mariners had done the unthinkable: win a low-scoring, low-stress game in Kansas City. George Kirby squares off against notably right-handed Stephen Kolek tomorrow at 1:10pm Pacific time. Maybe the ghosts of Kauffman will show us something cool.

The Texas Rangers scored six runs but the Anaheim Angels scored nine runs.

Last Friday we were wondering if the Rangers would make use of a ninth-inning rally from their previous game to push them forward on the cusp of returning to .500 baseball only for them to spend their Friday evening getting one-hit on their way to a series loss in Houston last weekend.

After coming back to win with a ninth inning rally on Wednesday in Colorado, the Rangers got their first look at the Anaheim Angels and instead of any presence of momentum, Texas combined two of the more dubious threads that have plagued them this season into one crappy first inning.

A dash of first inning woes with a pinch of Jacob deGrom dingerball issues put the Rangers in an immediate 4-0 hole. The first inning issues have been well documented but the home run bug for deGrom is something that was worrying early but became a crisis after allowing four dongs in the second loss in the series against Houston.

Tonight, deGrom allowed two more homers, including an inexcusable three-run bomb from someone named Wade Meckler, the first of his big league career.

Overall, deGrom lasted just three innings and allowed six runs on six hits while tying a season-high three walks. This came against a club that had won just five times all month and had scored as many as the four runs that they scored in the first inning alone in just six of their 19 games in May. As you might expect, their nine runs tonight is their best this month.

Texas tried to chip away at the Angels’ early lead and even got to within a run at 6-5 but they eventual ran out of innings but not before old, broken relievers allowed three more Angels runs.

So once again instead of building on a comeback victory the Rangers opened a series against the American League’s worst team with a loss to a division rival.

Player of the Game: Brandon Nimmo has been beat up a little over the last few weeks but after a day off yesterday he had a nice game tonight.

Nimmo hit a fourth inning solo home run and a seventh inning double that, at the time, seemed like it might bring in what would have been the tying run if not for the fact that Josh Jung is incredibly slow and couldn’t score from first base on a two-out extra base hit.

In addition to the success at the plate, Nimmo also made a nifty catch at the wall in right field that prevented extra bases.

Up Next: More Rangers and Angels with a pitcher to be named for Texas opposite LHP Reid Detmers for Anaheim.

The Saturday evening first pitch from the Big A is scheduled for 6:20 pm CDT and will be aired on NBCSN / Peacock.

Yes, it was another loss – to the Rays, no less. Again.

But if you zoom out from the workaday parts of Rays 4, Yankees 2 on Friday night at the Stadium, there’s gold in the fact that Gerrit Cole looked so good in his first big league outing since Game 5 of the 2024 World Series.

Because if these Yankees are going to reassert themselves in the AL East race, their rotation figures to be a major factor. And if Cole can be his old self, they’ll doubtless make a push.

“We’re capable of big things,” Aaron Boone said, referring specifically to his starting rotation. “And it’s great to have our ace back in the mix.”

Frankly, the Yanks needed the boost, even if one night’s result didn’t turn things around immediately. Following Friday night, the Yankees had lost three straight games and 10 of their last 14. Tampa Bay has pushed its division lead to 5.5 games on the Yankees (seven in the loss column).

Aaron Judge is struggling – he’s 0-for-his-last-15 – and while the Yankees had 11 hits Friday and mustered 12 at-bats with runners in scoring position, they only scored two runs. Boone, though, noted that there were several hard-hit balls throughout the lineup, including a long drive to the warning track by Judge that ended the game, that left him thinking “this wasn’t the last couple of nights” with his sputtering offense.

Cole, meanwhile, delivered six shutout innings, allowing just two singles, and seemed delighted by the results in his first game in 569 days. A reporter asked how close the performance was to his “full self,” and Cole, who is coming back from Tommy John surgery, responded like this:

“You know, it’s pretty close.”

Added catcher Austin Wells: “Both fastballs look great. All the stuff was moving.”

Cole had only two strikeouts, a far cry from the nights he’s been utterly dominant in his wondrous career. But he and Boone attributed it partly to Tampa Bay’s overt aggression and their outsized ability to make contact. That helped Cole to some brief innings, including a four-pitch 1-2-3 fourth.

“The stuff I was looking at (Friday), moving forward, I think there’ll be nights when the swing-and-miss is there,” Boone said.

And one of the strikeouts was, perhaps, a harbinger of whiffs to come, according to Boone. Cole caught Rays cleanup hitter Yandy Díaz looking at a 97.2 mile-per-hour four-seamer to end the first inning. “The freeze of Yandy was really nice,” Boone said.

Overall, Cole threw 72 pitches and there was no thought of pushing him for more, even with the recent struggles of the Yankee bullpen. “He was done at that point,” Boone said. “He was great.”

“I feel like that was a smart play,” Cole said of when he exited. “You know, it may seem easy, but it was a high-pressure, tough game.”

The Rays tested Cole early by getting their first two batters of the game on base. Cole picked off the speedy Chandler Simpson, which probably helped settle any nerves that may have bloomed in the first inning. Boone praised Cole for the way the pitcher managed the Rays’ aggressive style.

Command is generally the last skill item to fully return for pitchers. Cole walked three Friday night and it was clear that a couple of four-ball free passes irked him.

“I might have to deal with some of that here,” Cole said.

Whatever tweaks he may have to make, the night, as a whole, was a success for him. He noted that his sons were thrilled for his comeback. He called the whole experience of being back “lovely” and that seems like a nice state to land in after all the ups and downs of surgery and rehab.

Now, of course, the Yankees have to start playing better. Over the long season, having Cole back and at this level – in start one – will help.

But the Yanks need to perform immediately against the Rays, too. Tampa Bay is 4-0 against the Yankees so far this season. You might remember a theme of the Yanks’ 2025 season was their inability to beat the Blue Jays, who won the division on a tiebreaker and got home-field advantage against the Yankees in the playoffs. Ultimately, Toronto eliminated the Yanks in the playoffs.

They can’t afford a repeat scenario with another division rival this year. The teams are close – the Rays have won four games against the Yankees by a total of six runs.

“Obviously,” Boone said, “we got to find a way to beat that team.”

With the Mets in the midst of a grueling stretch of 16 straight games, New York will need reinforcements and are going to rely on a couple of young arms.

The team announced Saturday that they've called up right-handed reliever Jonathan Pintaro from Triple-A and optioned LHP Zach Thornton back down to Syracuse.

Additionally, the Athletic's Will Sammon reported late Friday night that after Jonah Tong's impressive season debut in relief in the Mets' 2-1 loss to the Marlins, the young right-hander will be rewarded by staying with the big league team. While his role is not yet known, Sammon reports that it is expected that Tong will pitch against the Reds on Wednesday.

Tong allowed just one walk in three scoreless and hitless innings on Friday while striking out two batters. It's arguably the most impressive he's looked with the Mets and the team hopes this time around, things will be different.

The right-hander struggled in his brief time with the Mets at the end of the 2025 season, going 2-3 with a 7.71 ERA over five starts.

Pintaro, 28, has pitched well in Triple-A Syracuse this season. He's pitched to a 2.81 ERA while striking out 32 batters in his 15 appearances (25.2 innings). He appeared in one game in the majors in his career, and it came last season with the Mets. 

Back on June 25 against the Braves, Pintaro allowed two runs on two hits and two walks while striking out one batter in just 0.2 innings pitched. 

With Tong being expected to pitch on regular rest, Pintaro taking Thornton's spot on the roster was the straightforward move. Freddy Peralta and Christian Scott are set to pitch this weekend, which leaves Nolan McLean and David Peterson going Monday and Tuesday before Tong on Wednesday. 

The Mets are set to take on the Marlins at 4:10 p.m. on Saturday.

The Atlanta Braves improved to 36-16 after Friday night’s 5-4 win over the Washington Nationals. The win came in walk-off fashion, and this time, Chadwick Tromp was the hero, ripping a hit in the 11th inning to score Eli White. 

The hit capped a memorable night for Tromp, the fourth string catcher, who not only recorded two hits on the night, but also tallied the first walk-off hit of his career. The Braves hope this version of Tromp continues to suit up since the usual backstops are sidelined with injury. 

The series continues this afternoon at 4:10 ET behind Grant Holmes.

More Braves News:

This (mini) deep dive on Dylan Dodd outlines his cutter, slider, and more. 

After a lackluster first game, the Braves returned to form for a series win over the Miami Marlins. 

Alex Lodise launched two home runs on Thursday for the Augusta GreenJackets. More in the minor league recap.

MLB News:

The Colorado Rockies placed outfielder Mickey Moniak on the 10-day injured list with right ankle tendinitis. It’s already his second stint on the IL this season. 

Boston Red Sox shortstop Trevor Story underwent hernia surgery and will likely miss six to ten weeks. 

The Chicago Cubs placed infielder Matt Shaw on the 10-day injured list due to back tightness. The move is retroactive to May 20. 

After 12 major league seasons, Chris Taylor has announced his retirement. 

From the Feed:

AJ Smith-Shawver continues to rehab after Tommy John surgery, and Walt Weiss provided a promising update on the young pitcher. 

José Azócar has elected free agency after being designated for assignment earlier this week.

MILWAUKEE –– Max Muncy didn’t dodge the literal bullet. But he’s hopeful he skirted a figurative one.

After getting hit in the right wrist by a 95.5 mph sinker from Brewers reliever Aaron Ashby in the eighth inning of Friday’s loss in Milwaukee, Muncy left the game early but got good news back in the Dodgers’ clubhouse, with initial X-rays on the injury coming back negative.

“It hurts (but) it’s not broken,” Muncy said. “It is a relief. We just gotta monitor the next couple days. Typically, especially in that area, the X-rays never come back positive immediately. It kind of forms a little bit. But I’m pretty sure it hit half my wrist pad and then half my wrist … I haven’t looked at (the replay) yet, but that’s kind of what I was feeling.”

Manager Dave Roberts echoed that sentiment, saying that while Muncy is unlikely to play the rest of this weekend’s series, the club’s initial expectation is that he avoided anything more serious.

“I think it got enough of that pad to protect him,” Roberts said. “So he’ll be down for the next couple days, just to make sure we get that swelling out. But I think right now we’re breathing a sigh of relief.”

Any extended absence of Muncy, 35, would represent a major blow to the Dodgers’ offense. 

The third baseman is batting .258 this season with a team-leading 12 home runs, as well as 19 RBIs and a .878 OPS. He has also said repeatedly that his swing is in as good a place as it has been in years, having finally gotten over elbow and oblique problems that have limited his playing time the last four seasons and disrupted the mechanics of his stroke at the plate.

Muncy has suffered a right wrist fracture before, missing two weeks late in the 2019 season after getting hit by a pitch in a similar area.

This time, however, he said the pain wasn’t quite so intense.

“The biggest thing I always took with me from that (2019 injury) was just the nauseous feeling that you get, and I didn’t quite have that tonight,” he said. “So that’s why I’m feeling pretty optimistic about it.”

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The Dodgers will have options to replace Muncy over the next several days, with Santiago Espinal set to handle third base on Saturday and Kiké Hernández scheduled to return from the injured list for his season debut on Monday back in Los Angeles.

If all goes well with Muncy, though, he could be back in action by Tuesday.

“It hurt really, really bad,” he said. “In that moment, you’re trying to figure out what you can feel. Trying to assess how bad you think it is. 

But, he added, “I think we skipped the worst.”

A bullet, the Dodgers hope, dodged indeed.