Worldwide Sports News

The Mets opened up their series against the Pittsburgh Pirates on Friday night with a 6-4 win to make it four straight victories.

Here are the key takeaways...

-- Following a difficult outing against the Miami Marlins his last time out, Zac Thornton turned the page and had himself a wonderful start while dealing with the elements. The left-hander’s night began with two scoreless innings where he faced the minimum with help from his defense, particularly in the second inning. 

-- The first nifty play came from first baseman Jared Young, who was in the perfect spot to snag a line drive before stepping on the bag to begin an unassisted double play. A.J Ewing followed that up with a diving catch on a shallow fly ball to center field through the raindrops, which ended the inning.

-- But speaking of rain, it didn’t stop during the next half-inning, which caused the umpiring crew to pause the game and bring out the tarp and resulted in a 35-minute rain delay. 

-- After the game resumed, the Mets tagged starter Carmen Mlodzinski for four runs in the third inning. Ewing began the inning with a single followed by a Francisco Lindor walk. With two outs following a baserunning blunder by Ewing on a flyout by Bo Bichette that resulted in two outs, Carson Benge knocked in a run with a single, his second run-scoring single of the game.

-- With runners at the corners after Young singled, Marcus Semien’s recent hot streak continued as he blasted a three-run shot to left field to put the Mets ahead, 5-0. The home run was Semien’s second in as many days and his 14th of the year, second on the team behind Juan Soto (21).

-- Thornton finally returned to the mound in the third inning after more than an hour since he last walked off the field to end the second inning and picked up right where he left off, but not without more help from his defense.

-- For the first out of the frame, Benge had to sprint across the field toward the left field foul line and made a sliding catch at the wall. The unbelievable play came at a cost, though, as Benge appeared to hurt his wrist. The outfielder finished the inning but left the game shortly after.

-- As for Thornton, the 24-year-old ran into his first trouble of the night in the fourth after a single and a walk, but escaped unharmed after a much more conventional 6-4-3 double play. In the fifth, the lefty had runners on the corners with two outs but retired his final batter to finish five scoreless innings on just 63 pitches (42 strikes). He lowered his ERA to 2.42.

-- Offensively, Semien had the big blow in the third inning, but New York banged out 10 hits with Ewing leading the charge from the top of the lineup and going 3-for-4 with a double, two runs scored and a stolen base. Fellow rookie Benge went 2-for-2 with two RBI, a run scored and a stolen base before exiting. Lindor also had a good night at the dish, knocking in a run with a single in the fourth, scoring a run and walking twice while adding his third stolen base of the year.

-- The Mets went 5-for-11 with RISP.

-- Out of the bullpen, Dedniel Nuñez struggled once again and allowed two earned runs on three hits. Meanwhile, Jefry Yan had a mixed bag outing in his second career appearance, but was able to end it on a high note by tagging the runner out at home after the ball got away from Luis Torrens. 

-- Daniel Duarte then pitched a scoreless eighth as he continues to impress before Devin Williams pitched the ninth, where he allowed two earned runs on three hits and a walk.

Game MVP: A.J. Ewing

Semien may have had the big hit, but Ewing had his hand everywhere in this one and was the catalyst for the Mets' offense.

Highlights

Carson Benge drives A.J. Ewing home to give the Mets an early lead! pic.twitter.com/j25ipIxRXN

— SNY (@SNYtv) August 7, 2026

A.J. Ewing makes the diving catch through the rain to end the second inning 🙌 pic.twitter.com/tCmEjOhu7d

— SNY (@SNYtv) August 7, 2026

Carson Benge singles and brings Francisco Lindor home after Lindor stole second base! pic.twitter.com/8eUO7hXzVV

— SNY (@SNYtv) August 8, 2026

Marcus Semien hits a 3-run homer to give Mets 5-0 lead 💥 pic.twitter.com/7Cq8EOn44F

— SNY (@SNYtv) August 8, 2026

Carson Benge makes the catch at the wall and gets the out! 😱 pic.twitter.com/gaS5jMgp2O

— SNY (@SNYtv) August 8, 2026

After being hit by a pitch earlier in the inning, A.J. Ewing scores off of a Francisco Lindor single! pic.twitter.com/1RwdJcJdz7

— SNY (@SNYtv) August 8, 2026

What's next

The Mets continue their weekend series with the Pirates on Saturday, with first pitch scheduled for 6:40 p.m. on SNY.

RHP Robert Stock (0-1, 1.80 ERA) will take on RHP Bubba Chandler (4-8, 4.49 ERA).

Detroit Tigers (56-59) vs. San Francisco Giants (48-67)

Time/Place: 10:15 p.m., Pracle Park
SB Nation Site:McCovey Chronicles
Media: Detroit SportsNet, MLB.TV, Tigers Radio Network
Pitching Matchup: RHP Keider Montero (8-6, 3.17 ERA) vs. RHP JT Brubaker (0-0, 3.17 ERA)

The Boston Red Sox keep rolling.

The hottest team in baseball defeated the Athletics 13-1 at Fenway Park on Friday, Aug. 7, and while the bats did plenty of damage again, on this night it was all about the Payton Tolle show.

The second-year lefthander mowed down the A's, striking out a career-high 14 batters in his six innings of work. He gave up just two hits and no walks, firing 61 of his 84 pitches for strikes.

He was perfect through four innings and struck out the side in the second and fourth. After an infield single to start the sixth, he struck out the last three batters he faced.

Tolle walked off the mound with a 9-1 lead, which the Red Sox then extended to 11-1 in the bottom of the sixth.

They finished with 15 hits as they put up double-digit runs for the third time in four games.

Boston has now won nine games in a row and is a scorching hot 18-3 since the All-Star break. But the Red Sox's hot streak started well before that. After falling to 32-46 on June 24, the Red Sox now sit at 64-51. Their 32-5 stretch has put them well inside wild card position and in striking distance of the AL-best Tampa Bay Rays.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Payton Tolle strikes out 14 A's as Red Sox run winning streak to 9

The San Francisco Giants head back home to Oracle Park tonight to begin a three-game series against the Detroit Tigers.

As of the time this is being written, the Giants have not yet announced a starting pitcher for tonight’s game. Good old element of surprise. Gotta love the consistency there. Anyway, you can head down to the comments to see more up to date information.

Whoever it ends up being will be facing off against Tigers right-hander Keider Montero, who enters tonight’s game with a 3.17 ERA, 3.71 FIP, with 81 strikeouts to 25 walks in 116.1 innings pitched. His last start was in the Tigers’ 11-0 win over the Athletics on Sunday, in which he allowed just two hits and two walks with two strikeouts in six innings.

Game #116

Who: San Francisco Giants (48-67) vs. Detroit Tigers (56-59)

Where: Oracle Park, San Francisco, California

When: 7:15 p.m. PT

Regional broadcast: NBC Sports Bay Area

National broadcast: n/a

Radio: KNBR 680 AM/104.5 FM, KSFN 1510 AM

The Dodgers (69-46) look to snap their six-game losing streak in the desert when they open a three-game series against the D-backs (61-55) Friday night. 

Roki Sasaki (5-5, 4.64 ERA, 1.30) makes his 20th start of the season for the Dodgers. 

Merill Kelly (8-9, 5.04 ERA, 1.49 WHIP) toes the rubber for the D-backs.

Lineups

Friday game info

• Teams: Dodgers at Diamondbacks
• Ballpark: Chase Field, Phoenix
• Start time: 6:40 p.m. PT
• TV: SportsNet LA
• Radio: AM 570 (English), KTNQ 1020 AM (Spanish)

Go Rays!

Starting pitcher Blake Snell is expected to make his return to the mound for the Los Angeles Dodgers next week.

The left-handed pitcher is expected to start for the Dodgers on Tuesday, Aug. 11, according to manager Dave Roberts.

The two-time Cy Young winner made his way back from an elbow injury and recently participated in a minor league rehab assignment for the organization's Triple-A affiliate. He pitched 3⅔ innings in the Aug. 4 game, striking out three in 73 pitches (41 strikes). But Snell also allowed five hits, two home runs and four walks during the outing.

Blake Snell 2026 season stats

Snell has pitched just three innings against the Atlanta Braves on May 9 and was credited with the loss in his only start this season. He struck out five runners but allowed six hits, five runs (four earned runs) and two walks this season.

After yesterday’s shellacking at the hands of the deadline-selling Tigers during a series where they were outscored 4054 – 4, the Mariners limp into their 50th Anniversary Weekend to face the best team in the AL, the Tampa Bay Rays. We’re already brainstorming names for what we’ll nickname this potential debacle, in the grand tradition of Lollablueza, Deadgar Weekend, and the Big P.Unit Weekend. I favor Golden Poopilee, but I also have the taste level of a toddler, so I welcome your suggestions in the comments.

Lineups:

No lineup graphic from the Rays.

News:

The Mariners announced that Cole Wilcox, who was injured pitching in yesterday’s blowout, has been placed on the 15-day IL with an oblique strain. RHP Nick Davila has been recalled from Triple-A Tacoma.

Those of you hoping to see former Mariner Ben Williamson in this series will unfortunately be disappointed; the Rays placed him on the 10-day IL yesterday with a hamstring injury. INF Carson Williams has been recalled to take his place.

The Yankees have signed recently-released Mitch Garver to a minor-league deal as catching depth. We wish Mitch luck in pinstripes, and with the famously kind and patient Yankees fanbase.

Tonight’s game information:

Game time: 6:45 PT

TV: Apple TV, with Alex Faust and Ryan Spilborghs on the call and Tricia Whitaker serving as field reporter

Radio: 710 AM Seattle Sports, with Rick Rizzs and Gary Hill Jr.

Postgame, the Mariners will air their first-ever Alumni Home Run Derby on Mariners.TV (free to stream), called live on air by Aaron Goldsmith and Gary Hill Jr.

The derby participants will include Ichiro, Mike Cameron, Ryan Rowland-Smith, Ryon Healy, Stefen Romero, Austin Nola, and Bucky Jacobsen. Julio Rodríguez will DJ the event as “DJ Pleno” and MLB Network studio host Greg Amsinger will host the event. Ken Griffey Jr. will serve as the event’s Commissioner, and the two team captains are Jay Buhner and Nelson Cruz.

We’re in for a major “old friend” alert Friday night as former World Series champion Braves pitcher Max Fried faces his former team for the first time as his second season with the Yankees nears the homestretch.

On the Braves side, Tyler Mahle, acquired from the Giants ahead of the trade deadline, will make his team debut.

Can the Braves make it nine straight wins in the Big Apple? Follow along with us here in the comments section!

So the weather in New York City is currently atrocious. There’s a nasty weather system rolling through the area at the moment and it’s gotten to the point where the tarp is on the field and the New York Yankees have already announced that their series-opener against our Atlanta Braves will have a delayed start.

We’ll have more information posted in here as it comes in but for now, just know that we’re going to have a later start than 7:15 ET tonight. Stay tuned!

[UPDATE (6:40 p.m. ET)]: Yeah, it’s pretty obvious why this game won’t be starting on time. The press box at Yankee Stadium has truly…………………………for the birds…………………

[UPDATE (8:20 p.m. ET)]: New York City is under a Flash Flood Warning until 9:00 p.m. ET. 9:00 is also, coincidentally, when first pitch is scheduled, so there you have it. See y’all at 9:00, folks!

[UPDATE (9:01 p.m. ET)]: First pitch has been thrown! We’re underway! Come join us in the game thread!

Carson Benge went all out to make a terrific catch on Friday night.

But the Mets’ rookie outfielder paid a bit of a price.

Benge was removed in the bottom of the fourth inning of a 6-4 Mets win with what the team called left wrist soreness. X-rays came back negative, but Benge is set to undergo further testing Saturday.

Starting in left field, Benge tracked down a long fly ball during the bottom of the third, making a diving grab on the backhand before crashing into the wall in the corner.

Benge immediately grimaced and removed the glove from his left hand before getting back to his feet.

Cristian Pache, recently summoned from Triple-A Syracuse, came into the game in the bottom of the fourth as a defensive replacement.

Benge, with two homers and a triple during a red-hot series at the plate in Cleveland, was 2-for-2 — upping his average to .270 — with a run scored before exiting Friday.

TONIGHT’S GAME: The first-place Houston Astros (59-57) will begin the first game of a six-game road trip tonight at Petco Park against the San Diego Padres (59-56).

RHP Ronel Blanco (0-1, 7.36 ERA) will make his fourth start of the season for the Astros tonight opposite newly acquired LHP Robbie Ray (10-6, 3.08 ERA) and the Padres.

THE TURNAROUND: After a slow start to the season, the Astros are 39-26 since May 22, which is the second-best record in the AL in that span. On that date, the Astros were 20-31, 11 games under, which is their low water mark for the season.

THAT’S OFFENSIVE: The Astros lead the AL in SLG (.416), and OPS (.738), while ranking second in runs scored (540), home runs (157), OBP (.322) and hits (955). In the Majors, the Astros rank third in homers, trailing only the Nationals (168) and Yankees (164).

BLANCO’S BACK!: RHP Ronel Blanco is making his fourth start of the season after missing the first few months while recovering from right elbow surgery. Blanco was a mainstay in the Astros rotation prior to his injury, making 45 starts over the 2023-25 seasons, going 18-11 with a 3.36 ERA (94ER/251.2IP) and a .200 opponent average in that span. In his last start on Saturday against the Rangers, he allowed three runs on five hits and two walks with four strikeouts in 4.2 innings.

ROAD WARRIORS: The Astros begin a six-game west coast road-trip with two three-game series against the San Diego Padres and the San Francisco Giants. The Astros went 5-1 on their last road trip. Houston is also 22-13 (.629) on their last five road trips and are 28-19 (.596) on the road since going 1-9 on their first road trip of the season. Houston is 29-28 overall on the road in 2026.

THE LINEUP: The Astros have used 114 different lineups in their 116 games, repeating a lineup just twice on the season, which includes using the same lineup on Monday and Tuesday. DH Yordan Alvarez has the most starts at any spot in the lineup among Astros, hitting second 103 times.

VS. THE PADRES: The Astros and Padres have faced off vs. each other 615 times with the Astros leading the series 321-294. The Astros last faced the Padres in a three-game series at Daikin Park from April 18-20 (Astros went 2-1). The last time the Astros were at Petco Park was from Sept. 16-18, 2024 at SD (Padres went 2-1).

WEDNESDAY’S GAME: The Astros were defeated by the Blue Jays, 5-4 on Wednesday at Daikin Park in 10 innings. RHP Hunter Brown (6 IP, 3 H, 3 ER, 2 BB, 8 K) spun his fifth quality start of the season. 2B Jose Altuve (2×5, HR, RBI), 1B Christian Walker (2×4, 2B, RBI) and LF LaMonte Wade Jr. (3×4, 2B, RBI) each recorded a multi-hit game.

ROSTER MOVES: OF Jake Meyers was recalled from Triple A Sugar Land today. Meyers takes the roster spot of IF/OF Zach Dezenzo, who was optioned to Triple A Sugar Land following Wednesday’s game.

PITCHER OF THE MONTH: RHP Bryce Mayer was named the Texas League Pitcher of the Month on Wednesday. He went 2-0 with a 0.47 ERA (1ER/19IP) in July with Double A Corpus Christi. He also recorded 29 strikeouts, six walks, a 0.79 WHIP and a .143 opponent batting average in four appearances, including three starts during the month. According to MLB.com, he’s rated as the Astros number five overall prospect and the top pitching prospect in the Astros system.

HEART & HUSTLE: OF Cam Smith has been the Houston Astros 2026 Heart and Hustle Award winner. This prestigious honor, which is awarded by the Major League Baseball Players Alumni Association (MLBPAA), is presented yearly to players who exemplify a passion for the game and who best embody the values, spirit, and traditions of the game.

NO. 500: RHP Bryan Abreu struck out two in 1.0 scoreless innings on Wednesday vs. Toronto. Struck out RF Nathan Lukes to begin his scoreless 8th inning, recording his 500th career strikeout. Became just the 4th reliever in franchise history to record 500 strikeouts with the club, joining LHP Billy Wagner (694), RHP Brad Lidge (557) and RHP Dave Smith (529).

TRADE DEADLINE: The Astros made one trade on Monday, acquiring OF Daulton Varsho and cash from the Blue Jays in exchange for RHP Spencer Arrighetti. Varsho, 30, was activated on Monday and started the first three games of this series for the Astros, batting cleanup in all three contests.

MVP-CALIBER: Yordan Alvarez leads the AL in all three Triple Crown categories, ranking first in batting average (.329), HR (35), and RBI (85). Additionally, he leads MLB in OPS (1.083), OBP (.442), SLG (.640), and TB (265). In the AL, he ranks first in hits (136), extra-base hits (59), and runs (78), and second in walks (81).

HEAVY TRAFFIC: DH Yordan Alvarez has reached base safely in 21 straight games (since July 10), batting .413 (31×75) with 16 runs, eight doubles, six home runs, 18 RBI, 22 walks, a .551 OBP and a 1.311 OPS during the streak. Alvarez also has on- base streaks of 25 games (May 22-June 19) and 22 games (April 4-28) this season.

CLIMBING THE CHARTS: 2B Jose Altuve went 2×5 with a solo home run on Wednesday vs. Toronto. Marked his 247th career home run as a second baseman, surpassing Joe Gordon and Ian Kinsler for the 8th-most home runs by a second baseman in MLB history.

CHIPPING IN: A couple Astros are on mini hot streaks, including OF Taylor Trammell, who’s hit three homers with seven RBI and a .950 OPS in his last 10 games. RF Cam Smith has hit safely in six straight games, batting .385 (10×26) with two doubles, one triple, four RBI and a .945 OPS during his streak. 1B Christian Walker has a nine-game hitting streak, batting .324 (12×37) with four doubles, two homers, four RBI and a .985 OPS.

TODAY IN ASTROS HISTORY: 1998 – A week after his acquisition at the trade deadline, LHP Randy Johnson makes his Astros home debut with a 5-0, 5-hit, CG shutout over the Phillies in the Dome. Johnson allows just 1 walk with 8 punchouts. Jeff Bagwell has a big night going 3×5 with 2 HR and 5 RBI.

Game Info

Game Date/Time: Friday, August 7, 8:40 p.m. CT

Location: Petco Park, San Diego, CA

TV: SCHN, SCHN 2

Radio: KBME 790 AM & 94.5 FM HD2; TUDN 102.9 FM HD2 (Spanish)

Roster moves

The Arizona Diamondbacks made the following roster moves. The D-backs’ 40-man roster is at 40.

• Recalled from Triple-A Reno: RHP Kade Strowd
• Optioned to Triple-A Reno following last night’s game: LHP Kohl Drake

That appears to be the decision as to who will be replaced when Michael Soroka returns from the injured list. Seems he’ll take over Drake’s spot in the rotation on Tuesday against the Rockies at Chase. The stark difference in performances this week between him and Mitch Bratt were just too much to overlook. But the Arizona bullpen is not in too bad shape, thanks mostly to Philip Abner sucking it up and throwing over fifty pitches. I’m actually a bit surprised that he wasn’t also optioned down to Reno for another fresh arm, since after that outing, Abner might not be seen at all in this series.

This weekend will also decide the winner’s of the season series between Arizona and Los Angeles since, like the Padres season series, it’s currently tied at 5-5 with three to play. It’s been a while since the D-backs came out on top. Indeed, you have to go back all the way to 2018, to find the last time Arizona won, going 11-8 that season. At least the last couple of seasons, the Diamondbacks have made a fight out of it, going 6-7 [insert obvious meme here] both in 2024 and 2025. Could end up being that way again this season. That’s a heck of an improvement over nightmare years like 2021-22 when Arizona were a combined 8-30 against Los Angeles.

Last year, the Diamondbacks had a great chance. Like now, they went into the final series at Chase Field tied at 5-5. They won the opener coming from behind in the ninth to walk-off on a hit by Geraldo Perdomo. But it was their final win of the year. They lost in 11 innings the next night, then got hammered 8-0 in the finale, on their way to a five-game losing streak to end the year. Let’s hope for better this time. If Arizona does reach the post-season, there’s a significant chance they could end up facing Los Angeles in the wild-card round. Showing we can beat them in the regular season would be a good way to put a seed of doubt in their heads for the playoffs, especially after 2023.