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Representing the Mets at the MLB Futures Game on Sunday afternoon was first baseman Ryan Clifford who entered the game as a defensive replacement in the fifth inning and worked a walk in the sixth.

Clifford, of course, was acquired by New York at the 2023 trade deadline when the Mets traded Justin Verlander and cash considerations to the Houston Astros for Clifford and Drew Gilbert. 

Since then, Gilbert was traded to the San Francisco Giants and has made his MLB debut while Clifford remains in the Mets’ farm system as their No. 6 ranked prospect, per SNY contributor Joe DeMayo.

Clifford, a power bat currently playing for Triple-A Syracuse, has had an up and down season in his first full season with Syracuse. The 22-year-old is slashing .196/.283/.395 with 16 home runs and 47 RBI and while the power is obvious, Clifford has struggled to make enough contact and has struck out 129 times in 86 games.

Never one to hit for a high average, Clifford is hitting a career-low this season and his .678 OPS is well-below his career average of .799 in 494 games across all minor league levels. But what Clifford lacks in batting average, he makes up for in on-base percentage and even though his walks are down this season, the lefty-swinging slugger walked in his only at-bat on Sunday against a left-hander after working the count full.

“It was great. It was fun to play in front of a big crowd and hopefully one day be back in this environment again,” Clifford said about his experience at the MLB Futures Game at Citizens Bank Park.

For Clifford to reach the next step in his development he needs to work on consistency, something he’s already well aware of.

“I think the first half was kind of up and down so I’m looking to, after the break, just maintain some consistency and stay out on the field and be healthy,” he said. “Look to cut down on strikeouts and keep the power up.”

Because of that elite power he possesses, New York, in the middle of a lost season, might be inclined to promote Clifford at some point later in the year even if he doesn’t improve with his consistency at the plate, especially because of the long-term hole at first base since the departure of Pete Alonso.

At the very least, Clifford is certainly a candidate for a September call-up to show what he can do at the big league level. In fact, earlier this year Clifford was invited to the Mets’ spring training for the first time and went 2-for-20 with seven strikeouts before being reassigned to minor league camp.

Despite the results, just being around major league players gave Clifford some great insight into being a pro and he was grateful for the opportunity.

“The clubhouse is great,” he said. “Everyone is open to helping out the younger guys and I shared a locker next to [Marcus] Semien so it was cool to be able to work with him everyday and overall just all the infielders were all kinda close to each other.”

After Alabama shortstop Justin Lebron was drafted #18 in the first round by the Cincinnati Reds on Saturday, three of his teammates joined him in pro ball on Sunday. Right handed pitcher Tyler Fay was picked by the Pittsburgh Pirates, left handed pitcher Zane Adams went to the Baltimore Orioles, and catcher/outfielder Brady Neal was nabbed by Cincinnati. Two pitchers that had committed to Alabama out of the transfer portal were also chosen, as well as two incoming freshman, and two former Tide pitchers also were taken. Dylan Marionneaux, a right handed pitcher out of NW State, and Garrett Lambert, a righty out of Mercer, were both drafted. Canadian high school pitcher, Cade Dorland will have a decision to come to school or sign after being picked, as will as pitcher Hudson DeVaughn out of Indiana. Former Alabama hurlers Beau Bryans and Ariston Veasey also heard their names called on Sunday.

The 6’6’ Fay was drafted in the 6th round, 169th overall, by the Pittsburgh Pirates. Fay had a special season in 2026 with an 11-5 record and 4.54 ERA, striking out 127 batters in 109 innings. The strikeout total was one short of tying former Tide left hander Wade Leblanc’s single season record of 128, set in 2006. The highlight of Fay’s year was the no-hitter he tossed against Florida, striking out 13 Gators along the way. The slot value of the 169th pick is $406,500.

Adams was picked two spots after Fay at 171 by the Baltimore Orioles. Adams was a three year starter for the Tide and has a career record of 19-14 with a 5.09 ERA. In 2026 Adams finished 8-5 with a 4.58 ERA, pitching 90 innings and striking out 100 batters. The slot value for Adams is $396,300.

The Cincinnati Reds took Neal in the 8th round at #242. Neal played catcher and outfield for the Tide. After two years at LSU, Neal transferred to Alabama in 2025. The Tallahassee, FL native had a career year in 2026, hitting .316 with 15 doubles, 10 home runs, with a .969 OPS. The slot value for pick 242 in $229,700.

Dylan Marroineaux, a junior at Northwestern State in Louisiana, committed to the Tide out of the portal in June. The Chicago Cubs used the 126th pick in the 4th round on the right hander. Originally a walk-0n at NW State, Marroimeaux had a break out year in 2026 with a 4-2 record and 3.51 ERA in 84 innings with 81 strikeouts. The slot value is $609.200. However, Marroineaux was not listed as a top 500 prospect, and the thought is there may have been a deal cut at a lower bonus to secure the draft spot. Lambert, a redshirt freshman from Mercer, committed to transfer to Alabama out of the portal in June. The Colorado Rockies picked Lambert with the #165 pick-6th round- on Sunday. After two injury plagued years, Lambert broke out in 2026 with a 5-1 record, and a 4.31 ERA while pitching 71 innings, allowing 58 hits, and striking out 90 batters. The slot for the pick is $417,400.

Alabama had two 2026 high school signees drafted. Dorland was taken #382 in the 13th round by the Atlanta Braves and DeVaughn was picked with the 569th pick in the 19th round. The Tide will have a good chance of getting the two right handers to campus.

Former Tide players chosen were: left handed pitcher Beau Bryans out Jacksonville State in the 7th round with the 208th pick by the SF Giants and right handed pitcher Ariston Veasey out of Clemson with the 337th pick in the 11th round. Bryans pick carries a slot value of $292,300.

‘Roll Tide

Bama Baseball Fever, Catch it!

While the big names in the MLB draft are all gone after the first day (or essentially committed to going to or back to college next year), there are future big leaguers every year in the second or third day of the draft. Recent Royals draft picks outside of the first 150 picks in the last decade to make it to the big leagues include David Sandlin, Noah Cameron, Anthony Veneziano, Noah Murdock, Vinnie Pasquantino, Tyler Tolbert, Austin Cox, Jonathan Heasley, Nate Eaton, Tyler Zuber, Brewer Hicklen, Nicky Lopez, and Richard Lovelady.

Can anyone from today join them? Only time will tell, but let’s not forget: being drafted at all is an incredible achievement. Only 5% of the roughly 10,000 draft-eligible NCAA baseball players every year are selected by an MLB team.

151st pick: Ethan McElvain, left-handed pitcher from the University of Arkansas

McElvain transferred from Vanderbilt and moved completely to the bullpen, where he threw 38.1 innings, struck out 34.4% of batters, and had a 1.88 ERA. He stands at a hefty 6’ 4”, 250 lbs. Rated by MLB as the 144th-best prospect in the draft.

180th pick: Justin LeGuernic, left-handed pitcher from Clemson University

Another bullpen arm, LeGuernic is young to be drafted as a junior—he doesn’t turn 21 until October—and had a 4.69 ERA in 19 games. Rated by MLB as the 220th-best player in the draft.

Pick 209: Dylan Vigue, right-handed pitcher from the University of Georgia

A starting pitcher, Vigue started 16 games for the Bulldogs with a 4.43 ERA against tough SEC competition. Rated by MLB as the 201st-best player in the draft.

Pick 239: Hunter Possehl, left-handed pitcher from Florida Gulf Coast University

A draft-eligible sophomore, Possehl is also a giant at 6’ 8”. He had a 3.21 ERA and a 2.5 K/BB ratio this year for FGCU.

Pick 269: Camden Johnson, shortstop from the University of Oklahoma

Kansas City’s first position player selected on day two, Johnson transferred from Witchita State to Oklahoma this year and slashed .298/.403/.478 with 31 stolen bases. Rated by MLB as the 116th-best player in the draft.

Pick 299: Grant Fontenot, right-handed pitcher from Louisiana State University

Another reliever, Fontenot has battled with injuries and only has 48.1 total college innings over the last three years. When healthy, he’s been able to strike out 26.9% of batters.

Pick 329: Tanner Griffith, outfielder from St. Mary’s College

At 5’ 9”, the small Tanner Griffith nevertheless swung a big bat this year for St. Mary’s, hitting .342/.477/.545 with 22 doubles in 303 plate appearances.

Pick 359: Lance Hartley, right-handed pitcher from the College of Central Florida

A draft-eligible sophomore, the 20-year-old Hartley struck out 22 batters in his 16 innings of work this year.

Pick 389: Dalton Hill, right-handed pitcher from Nicholls State University

Hill moved to the bullpen this year, where he posted a 1.35 ERA and a 3.2 K/BB ratio in 20 innings.

Pick 419: Banks Wickersham, catcher from Fort Dorchester High School

A multi-sport athlete, Wickersham is the first high schooler selected by Kansas City on day two. He’s committed to the College of Charleston.

Pick 449: Madden Clement, left-handed pitcher from Virginia Tech University

Clement and his very nice mustache have pitched out of the bullpen as a starter. Clement is another guy coming back from injury, only tossing 3.1 innings last year.

Pick 479: Dylan Alonso, right-handed pitcher from Troy University

Pick 509: Richie Roman, right-handed pitcher from the University of Houston

Roman just turned 21 a few days ago. Happy Birthday! The Houston pitcher had a 3.88 ERA this year.

Pick 539: Cooper Corkrean, left-handed pitcher from the University of New Mexico

Pick 569: Hudson DeVaughan, right-handed pitcher from Mooresville High School

Rated by MLB as the 138th best player in the draft and by Baseball America at 111, DeVaughan is the type of guy who could get some signing bonus overage to try to lure him away from the University of Alabama.

Pick 599: Riley McDonald, two-way player from State College of Florida

With their final pick today, the Royals selected McDonald, interestingly calling him an infielder and right-handed pitcher out of a junior college in Florida.

Dave Roberts had only one real request for his team in their first-half finale on Sunday.

Play. Clean. Baseball.

Once again, it was too tall an ask.

In a 5-3 loss to the Arizona Diamondbacks that sent the team into the All-Star break on an unsatisfying (and unsatisfactory) note, the Dodgers continued their puzzlingly poor run of play over the last week.

“Some mental lapses, some physical lapses,” manager Dave Roberts said. “This last week has just been below average for sure.”

Indeed, there were once again errors on defense, with a dropped ball by Andy Pages in the fifth and a bad throw from Max Muncy in the sixth directly leading to unearned runs that helped Arizona erase an early 3-0 deficit.

Also, again, there was sloppy pitching and wasteful offense, with the Dodgers managing just three hits at the plate while watching their pitching staff succumb to walks, balks and poorly-timed mistakes.

As a result, the club lost its fourth game out of the last five, dropped three in a row for the first time in exactly two months and suffered its first series sweep of the year as it heads into the All-Star break.

Most of it, in hindsight, felt so self-inflicted.

All of it, undoubtedly, served as sources of frustration.

“It’s just one of those stretches for us right now,” Muncy said. “I think everyone’s ready for the break.”

Sunday started well enough for the Dodgers. Shohei Ohtani hit the first pitch of the day out to center for a leadoff home run, then sparked another rally in the third with a leadoff double that eventually set Tommy Edman up for a two-run single.

After that, however, the Dodgers wouldn’t record another hit.

And on the other side of the ball, they opened one door after another to let the Dbacks back into the game.

Following back-to-back doubles off Emmet Sheehan in the fifth, Pages dropped a relatively routine fly ball that led to another score. In the sixth, a leadoff walk from Sheehan and a passed ball from backup catcher Eliezer Alfonzo created another Dbacks threat.

With runners on the corners later in the inning, Muncy got a ground ball at third but hit Geraldo Perdomo in the back while trying to throw home. That allowed Perdomo to score the tying run. Ildemaro Vargas then gave Arizona the lead with an RBI single in the following at-bat.

“The ball took me to my right, so instinctively I just went home,” said Muncy, explaining why he didn’t go to second for a potential double-play. “And the runner did his job by getting inside the line, and it just clipped his shoulder.” The throw was on line, but not on line because he was in the way.”

In the ninth, Arizona added insurance when Tim Tawa took Evan Phillips deep.

And in the end, the Dodgers put a disappointing bookend on their sloppiest week of the season.

What it means

Going back to Tuesday’s loss to the Colorado Rockies, when a couple late errors effectively gave the game away, the Dodgers have put up ugly marks in most facets of the game.

Most glaring is their defense, which committed just 24 errors in their first 92 games but has stunningly combined for nine in the five games since (leading to eight total unearned runs in that span).

However, the pitching has also been spotty, highlighted by 19 walks, two hit batters, three wild pitches and two balks during this five-game rut.

And the offense hasn’t been bailing anyone out, going just 6-for-35 with runners in scoring position over that same span.

It hasn’t cost the Dodgers (61-36) the best first-half record in the majors. It’s also put only the slightest of dents into what is now an 11 ½ game lead in the National League West.

Still, Roberts was clearly irked even before Sunday’s dud. The search for cleaner baseball goes on, but will now have to wait until the season resumes next Friday on the East Coast.

Who’s hot

The biggest part of Ohtani’s day was slated to happen after Sunday’s game, with the two-way star scheduled to have his ailing knee drained and receive a pain-relieving injection.

But first, the four-time MVP made his latest mark at the plate, finishing his first half as a hitter strong by collecting his 22nd home run, recording his 58th RBI and hitting the All-Star break with a .293 average and .952 OPS.

Now, he’ll take the next couple days to let his knee rest –– which the Dodgers hope will allow him to resume full-time two-way duties when the schedule starts back up.

Who’s not

Hard to pick just one Dodger right now, but Muncy stands out because of his recent struggles on both sides of the ball.

The All-Star third baseman endured a quiet homestand at the plate, batting just .207 with two doubles, no homers and three RBIs. The bigger problems, however, were with the glove, where Muncy’s once-standout defensive season took a quick and ugly turn.

Sunday marked the third-straight game Muncy committed an error (he only had five errors all season previously). In that stretch, he has also missed a couple hard ground balls that were ruled for hits.

On multiple occasions, his frustration was evident.

“Just going through slumps,” Muncy said. “You just try to weather it.”

Up next

With the exception of Ohtani, the Dodgers’ other five All-Stars (plus manager Dave Roberts and his coaching staff) will head to Philadelphia for this week’s All-Star festivities. The team will be back in action next Friday, when it begins a three-city road trip with a three-game set against the Yankees.

The A’s couldn’t manage to escape the South Side with a win, getting swept by the White Sox 9-1 to wrap up the first half.

Righty J.T. Ginn was off today. After the A’s gave him a quick lead in the first he coughed that right back, allowing six runs in the first inning to put the squad in an early hole they wouldn’t come out of.

The tough part about today was all of the offense came in the first inning off the bat of Shea Langeliers. Other than that, nothing. The offense continues to run silent during this critical stretch.

Now the team has a little less than a week off, Hopefully they can take the time off and figure things out.

Blue Jays 4 Padres 3

A rough eight cost them.

Hoffman in. Xander Bogaerts, leading off, ground one softly (63.4 mph) up the middle, but between second and short. Ernie Clement got to it too deep to make a play. Bogaerts stole second. Manny Machado lined a single to center, scoring the run. Gavin Sheets ground one at Andrés Giménez, but Clements was slow getting to second so they couldn’t get the lead runner. The out at first wasn’t enough. I didn’t understand why Clements couldn’t get to the bag before the base runner. They had a shot at a double play. After that, a steal of third and a sac fly brought in the go ahead run. That was the game.

Barker talked about it after and watching it, again, I still don’t get what Ernie was doing.

And the bottom of the ninth went too quick. Ground out, pop out, strikeout.

Kevin Gausman had one bad inning. In the second he gave up a Machado single, Sheets walk, Ty France singled (scoring one). Jake Cronemworth singled to load the bases. A pop out got us one out. A walk scored run number two. Fernando Tatis struckout, but there was a rather weird balk in there. Gausman threw out of the stretch, instead of the windup with the bases loaded. Earlier he had told the plate umpire that’s what he was going to do, but not that time. I’m always unclear on balk rules, but I don’t think that I’ve seen that one before.

He got out of the inning after that, and went 6.0. Three hits and a walk that inning, one hit, two walks in the other five, with eight strikeouts total.

Tyler Rogers pitched a quick seventh.

Offensively:

• One in the first: Nathan Lukes homered.
• Two in the fourth: With two out, Andrés Giménez doubled and Ernie Clement homered.
• One in the eighth: Kazuma Okamonto led off with a single. Two outs later, Alejandro Kirk (pinch hitting for Sean Keys) was intentionally walked. Jonatan Clase singled the run in.

We should have scored more. We had nine hits (two home runs) and three walks.

Clase and Okamoto had two hits each. Vladimir Guerrero (with a walk) and Sean Keys had 0 fors.

We had two on in the second, two on in the third, one on in the fifth. We were two for nine with RISP.

Jays of the Day: Clase (0.26 WPA), Okamoto (0.11

Other Award: Hoffman (-0.55, some of that belongs to Clement), Varsho (-0.11) and Valenzuela (-0.09) anad Keys (-0.09).

And we have the All-Star break.

The 2026 Major Legue Baseball Draft is now in our rearview mirror. While it wasn’t a 2024 or 2025-esque firestorm of Tennessee Volunteers flying off the board, Tennessee still had a solid six players selected over the two-day event.

Let’s take a closer look at who went where.

CB-A, No. 32: Tegan Kuhns, St. Louis Cardinals

The headliner was, of course, Tennessee ace Tegan Kuhns. He had been projected from anywhere as high as 24 to Seattle down to below where he was taken, which was at No. 32 overall by the St. Louis Cardinals.

Yes, the Cardinals. For the second straight year, St. Louis tabbed the top of Tennessee’s pitching rotation early in the draft. Last year, St. Louis took Liam Doyle with the No. 5 overall pick.

Kuhns was the second player taken by the Cardinals in the top 32 this year. With pick No. 13, St. Louis also tabbed Tennessee commit OF Trevor Condon out of Etowah High School in Woodstock Georgia.

So, Tennessee fans should have a keen eye on St. Louis to see where the progam’s ace pitchers from 2025-26 end up, as well as who could have been their freshman superstar in 2027.

Rd 6, No. 191: Henry Ford, Seattle Mariners

Tennessee’s biggest bat from 2026 finds his new home, and he’ll be joining a team that certainly has the pitching, but still needs to find some answers at the plate.

Ford slugged a team-high 20 home runs last year, which put his total at 48 for his three collegiate years. Without question, he showed he has high upside at the plate from a power perspective at the MLB level. But his batting average dropped off pretty heavily in 2026 from his previous two seasons at Virginia. He posted a .293 average after hitting .362 in 2024 for the Cavaliers.

Opportunity is there for Ford, and he’ll hit his fair share of long home runs with a path to move up — if he can continue to make contact.

Rd 7, No. 219: Bo Rhudy, Philadelphia Phillies

Not a bad franchise to land with as far as being a consistent winner. Rhudy ended up putting together a very nice stat line in his one year at Tennessee: 3.38 ERA, 41 Ks, six walks.

His unorthodox delivery and arm slot should help him out at the big-league level and continue to give him a slight edge by deceiving hitters.

Rd 8, No. 229: Garrett Wright, Los Angeles Angels

Another Vol is headed to Orange County, California. Wright joins Christian Moore and Ben Joyce in the Angels organization. He was a crucial part of Tennessee’s offense last year, hitting an impressive .348 with nine homers and 17 RBIs. A catcher and outfielder, he has some added benefit with positional flexibility.

Rd 12, No. 367: Brandon Arvidson, Chicago Cubs

Arvidson was certainly an important part of the Vols’ pen last year, appearing in 16 games with one start and logging 37.1 innings. He doesn’t have overwhelming stuff, but the 6-5, 210-pound lefty has the frame and delivery to be a problem for hitters with proper development.

Rd 13, No. 381: Evan Blanco, Athletics

Last but not least, one third of the Vols’ weekend rotation gets the nod in Round 13 by the (future Las Vegas) Athletics. He doesn’t have the Kuhns-type stuff, but he wasn’t all that far behind the Vols’ ace in strikeouts (101 in 89 IP vs. Kuhns’ 106 in 81). However, he gave up a team-high 17 home runs. He’ll have to learn how to avoid mistakes to get by with his arsenal at the next level.

The Dodgers needed to turn things around Sunday to wrap up the first half on a high note. Manager Dave Roberts said as much the night before.

“When you give teams free bases, extra outs, it’s hard to win a game, regardless of the opponent,” he said. “Emmet [Sheehan] needs to go out there and throw the baseball well tomorrow. We’ve got to find a way to win a game tomorrow to feel somewhat better about going into the break.”

Instead, the Dodgers fell to the Arizona Diamondbacks 5-3, swept for the first time this season. It was Arizona’s first sweep at Dodger Stadium since September 2017.

Read more:Yoshinobu Yamamoto has rough start as Dodgers drop series to Arizona

Perhaps the break is coming at a good time.

“I guess,” Roberts said. “Gives guys a reset. ... We’ve got some good teams coming up and we’ve got to play good baseball.”

Sheehan at least did his job, holding the Diamondbacks to three runs in 5⅓ innings. It was clear from the first at-bat that his pitch count could limit how deep he pitched into the game. Sheehan won a 14-pitch battle to strike out Ketel Marte.

The right-hander then struck out the side and was efficient enough to pitch into the sixth. He exited after his pitch count reached 101.

Shohei Ohtani sparked the offense with his ninth leadoff home run of the season — and 22nd overall — on a two-hit day. But he’ll get treatment this week instead of playing in the All-Star Game.

It wasn’t a clean defensive game for the Dodgers. In the midst of the Diamondbacks’ two-run fifth, All-Star center fielder Andy Pages tracked a long fly back to the wall but missed the catch as the ball bounced off his glove for an error.

In the sixth, the tying run scored when All-Star third baseman Max Muncy’s throw to the plate hit Geraldo Perdomo in the back as he ran home for another error.

“Just a slump,” Muncy said. “You go through slumps both offensively and defensively, mentally. It’s just one of those stretches for us right now, and I think everyone’s ready for the break.”

Regardless of some sloppiness, the Dodgers have had a successful season going into the break.

Read more:Dodgers' top MLB draft pick Bo Lowrance eager to emulate Freddie Freeman, Corey Seager

“Just flush it,” Roberts said. “We’re still in a really good spot. Don’t let it carry over to the second half.”

They have the best record in the majors (61-36) and an 11½-game lead in the National League West. They also had six players selected as All-Stars.

So, as Major League Baseball pauses play and honors some of the best performers in each league, now’s a good time to hand out our first-half awards.

MVP: Shohei Ohtani

Who else? Ohtani’s the frontrunner for the NL most valuable player — not just these unofficial first-half awards — for his two-way performance.

He’s been a top performer both on the mound and in the batter’s box. He entered Sunday among the top three in the league in offensive fWAR (26.6) and on-base-plus-slugging percentage (.940). And his 1.79 earned-run average ranked second among NL pitchers who have thrown at least 50 innings. He remains in the Cy Young conversation, despite pitching only 85 ⅔ innings in the first half because of the Dodgers’ six-man rotation and a missed start stemming from an irritated left knee.

Honorable mention: Freddie Freeman, Max Muncy

Cy Young: Yoshinobu Yamamoto

Yamamoto has carried this rotation through both performance (2.85 ERA) and workload, leading the team with 110⅔ innings.

Last month, he carried a perfect game into the eighth inning and no-hitter into the ninth against the Chicago White Sox. That was one of two starts of at least eight innings that he’s authored. He’s thrown six or more innings in all but two starts.

Honorable mention: Shohei Ohtani, Justin Wrobleski

Most improved: Justin Wrobleski

This time last year, Wrobleski was moving back and forth between triple A and the majors, providing length out of the bullpen after making changes to his delivery.

Coming into this season, a regular rotation spot was not guaranteed. Now, he’s an All-Star. And in a star-powered rotation, he has the second-best ERA (2.69) and has pitched the second-most innings (100⅓).

Honorable mention: Tanner Scott, Dalton Rushing, Andy Pages

Second-half breakout candidate: Kiké Hernández

Hernández has been on the field for only four plate appearances, exiting because of a strained left oblique in just his second game back from offseason surgery on his left elbow. But he recorded a hit in each of those plate appearances, including a pair of doubles.

Hernández, on the verge of a rehab assignment, is on a faster track to return than Roberts initially expected.

Others to watch: Edwin Díaz, Edgardo Henriquez, Alex Freeland, Kyle Tucker

Sign up for more Dodgers news with Dodgers Dugout. Delivered at the start of each series.

This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.

The Colorado Rockies fell to the San Francisco Giants in yet another close, low-scoring game in the Bay Area. This afternoon’s series finale was the last of 17 straight games the Rockies had to play before the All-Star Break. After a hard fought close series in Los Angeles, the Rockies lost four of their final five games of the half.

“It’s disappointing,” said manager Warren Schaeffer after the game. “We come expecting to win every night, but the season isn’t over yet.”

The season so far has been full of ups and downs, but has also been infinitely more watchable. The Rockies finish the first half with a 39-59 record, a full 17 games better than they were at the All-Star break in last year’s 119-loss campaign.

Now the Rockies will take a well deserved rest in preparation for the true dog days of summer: the second half of the MLB season.

“We’ll come back and get after it on Friday,” said Schaeffer.

Lorenzen gets the job done

Rockies starting pitcher Michael Lorenzen wasn’t necessarily sharp, but he gutted his way through five innings while only giving up one earned run to Giants hitters. Lorenzen entered today’s game having given up more than two earned runs in just one of his last six starts while going at least five innings in all but one outing during that same stretch.

Lorenzen struck out just one batter while giving up five hits and issuing three walks. That one strikeout came in the first inning against Rafael Devers, who came to the plate with runners on first and second with just one out. The Giants would fail to score that inning. Lorenzen worked just two 1-2-3 innings–the second and fifth–and dealt with frequent traffic, but really only had one truly bad inning where the Giants were able to capitalize. In the fourth inning, Lorenzen gave up a walk and back-to-back singles with two outs, allowing the Giants to score their first run of the game. He then issued a walk, but was able to navigate out of the inning with no further damage.

The offense limps into the All-Star break

Let’s get the good parts out of the way.

Jake McCarthy—who has been an electric acquisition for the Rockies this season—kicked off the game with a leadoff inside-the-park home run. It was his second such feat of the season and put the Rockies ahead early.

McCarthy becomes the just the third Rockies player in franchise history to hit two inside-the-park home runs in a single season–joining Brandon Barnes in 2014 and Charlie Blackmon in 2017–and is also the first player to hit two leadoff inside-the-park home runs since 1929.

“If anybody’s going to do it, it’s going to be Jake,” Schaeffer said of the accomplishment when informed after the game.

In addition, Hunter Goodman went 2-for-2 and the Rockies lineup as a whole struck out just six times.

That sadly does it for the positives, as the Rockies’ offense was whisper quiet for most of their final game of the first half. Outside of those two Goodman hits and the McCarthy home run, the Rockies had just one other hit. It came off the bat of Tyler Freeman in the fifth inning.

With the Rockies down to their final out in the ninth inning, rookie center fielder Cole Carrigg fought valiantly to keep the game alive. He worked an 11-pitch at-bat with a full count and fouled the ball off six times. Unfortunately, a sliding catch by Giants outfielder Jung Hoo Lee in shallow right field cemented the Rockies’ loss.

Senzatela blues

Relievers Brennan Bernardino and Jimmy Herget combined to give up just one hit and one walk over their two innings of relief for Lorenzen. Each pitcher recorded a strikeout.

Where things fell apart was when Antonio Senzatela entered the game in the eighth inning.

Senzatela issued a leadoff walk to Devers and a single to Bryce Eldridge to put a runner in scoring position. The pinch runner for Eldridge stole second base and an errant throw from Goodman ended up in the outfield allowing Devers to score the go-ahead run for San Francisco. A Willy Adames single plated another run to put the Rockies behind 3-1 in what would be the final score of the game.

After an incredibly strong start to the season, Senzatela has faltered as the months wear on. Since the start of June, he had a 6.60 ERA over his last 13 appearances, although his 3.17 FIP in that stretch indicates he’s also gotten unlucky.

Coming Up Next

The Rockies are off until Friday for the Midsummer Classic in Philadelphia, where Hunter Goodman will be their sole representative. After the break, they will start a three game series against the Cincinnati Reds at home.

The first game of that series will start at 6:40 PM MDT with right-handed pitcher Brady Singer on the bump for the Redlegs. The Rockies have yet to announce who will start for them.

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