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This was a low-scoring game until the eighth inning saw the Astros blow things open and ultimately win the game 4-2.

The Tigers’ starting pitcher for tonight’s game should feel right at home taking the mound in the former Minute Maid Park. Framber Valdez spent his first eight years in the majors with the Houston Astros, and returned tonight in his Tigers’ uniform, facing off against his old club. The Astros, meanwhile, were counting on Hunter Brown as they would attempt to tie up the series after the Tigers’ Monday night win. Detroit would be working without Colt Keith, though, whose hitting heroics helped them win last night, but was a late scratch for Tuesday’s game.

The Tigers kicked things off with a single from Kevin McGonigle. He was quickly eliminated, however, in a force out off the bat of Dillon Dingler. With two outs, Riley Greene singled, but Dingler got caught making a play for home, and the Tigers were done in the first, though they put in a valiant effort. In the home half, Christian Walker got a two-out single, followed by a double from a former Tiger, Isaac Paredes, deep into the corner in left. A Jose Altuve flyout ended the inning, though.

Spencer Torkelson took a leadoff walk in the second. Two outs followed, but Torkelson moved his way up to third, so when Hao-Yu Lee singled, Tork was able to come home easily, putting the Tigers on the board first. Lee was subsequently caught stealing to end the inning.

Yainer Diaz walked to start the home half, but three outs followed, getting the Tigers out of a potential jam.

The Tigers went 1-2-3 in the top of the third. In the home half, Jeremy Pena started with a leadoff double. Yordan Alvarez then singled. But Valdez righted the ship after a rough start to the inning, and got the next three outs in order.

It was another 1-2-3 for the Tigers in the fourth, which isn’t going to serve them well. As we’ve seen time and time again with this team, the lead needs to be bigger than one run, especially as the game gets turned over to the bullpen. Valdez did his part, getting the Astros out three-up, three-down in the home half.

Wenceel Perez walked to start the fifth, but three outs quickly followed. In the home half, Raynel Delgado singled, and then with two outs was advanced to third. Christian Walker then lived up to his name with a walk. A rare and brutally timed passed ball by Dingler allowed Delgado to score, tying up the game. Paredes walked. Then Dingler got a bit of good karma back as he challenged a ball call that was overturned for the third strike and final out of the inning. But the game was now tied 1-1.

The Tigers continued to struggle in the sixth. Carpenter got a two-out walk, and that was enough to chase Brown from the game, but reliever Steven Okert came in to get the final out of the inning on the first batter he faced. In the bottom of the inning Cam Smith got a one-out single, but Valdez got out of the jam, leaving the game still tied 1-1 through six. Valdez got the shake when he got back to the dugout, so his day was done with a final line of 6.0 IP, 6 H, 1 R, 0 ER, 3 BB, 6 K on 92 pitches.

Enyel De Los Santos was the new Astros reliever for the seventh. He came in and got through the Tigers in short order. Keider Montero was the first reliever out of the Tigers’ pen. Pena got a leadoff single, but Montero got the next three outs in order.

Bryan King came in from the Astros’ pen and Lee got a leadoff double against him. A Matt Vierling (pinch-hitting) groundout moved Lee to third, and a Dingler sac fly was able to bring him home. I think that probably makes Dingler even for the passed ball earlier. The Tigers would have to settle for the one run, but the game was no longer tied.

Yanier Diaz got a one-out single in the bottom of the eighth. Cam Smith then reached on a fielder’s choice, but a fielding error from McGonigle allowed both baserunners to remain safely on. That was it for Montero, though, who was replaced by Will Vest with two on and only one out. Joey Loperfido walked to load the bases. Delgado then hit a liner right between every player on the infield and scored two runs. The Tigers were able to turn a double play to end the inning, but it was close enough at first for Houston to challenge. They won the challenge, so instead of ending the inning, the Astros scored another run and stayed in play. A.J. Hinch went back to the bullpen. Drew Sommers came in and got the final out of the inning but the damage had certainly been done.

Josh Hader was the next reliever for the Astros. Riley Greene singled, then Torkelson was out as Paredes nabbed a ball headed for the dugout. Two more outs followed and the Tigers were unable to stage a comeback. The series would come down to the afternoon rubber match on Wednesday afternoon.

Final: Astros 4, Tigers 2

CINCINNATI — Kodai Senga really needed a mulligan on his first inning back with the Mets. It turns out that do-overs aren’t allowed. 

The beleaguered right-hander had an ugly opening frame Tuesday in his return to a major league mound and followed with three improved innings, but by then it was too late. 

Senga’s clunker, coupled with a mediocre offensive showing, sank the Mets in their 5-3 loss to the Reds. The Mets lost their second straight and now just hope to avoid a series sweep. 

Thrust into the rotation after Christian Scott was placed on the injured list with a right hip impingement, Senga allowed two homers for four runs in the first inning. Overall, he surrendered four runs on two hits and four walks with five strikeouts over four innings. 

“My first time out there on a big-league mound in a little while, I just couldn’t gather it all together in that big inning,” Senga said through his interpreter. 

It was the kind of performance the Mets have received all too often from Senga, who was returning from a back injury that kept him on the injured list for six weeks. 

“As long as I can prepare the way I should prepare between outings, I should be able to be effective,” said Senga, who is expected to remain in the rotation. 

Manager Carlos Mendoza was ejected in the seventh inning for arguing with plate umpire Carlos Torres’ strike zone. The Mets were out of ABS challenges after losing both by the second inning. 

Senga walked Blake Dunn and JJ Bleday in succession to begin his night before Sal Stewart blasted a 2-1 sinker over the left field fence for a three-run homer. Senga got two outs in the inning — one on A.J. Ewing’s diving catch that robbed Nathaniel Lowe — before Spencer Steer homered to bury the Mets in a 4-0 hole. 

“The first three batters of the game, not ideal what you want to see right away,” Mendoza said. “A couple of walks and then the three-run homer … [Senga] found his sweeper and the slider, but they got him early on there.” 

Bo Bichette’s RBI single in the third sliced the Reds’ lead to 4-1. Brett Baty was hit by a pitch leading off and Francisco Alvarez singled with one out before the sizzling Bichette delivered for his 41st RBI this season. Bichette began the day on a 10-for-21 (.476) tear. But after a walk to Juan Soto that loaded the bases, Jared Young was retired to kill the Mets rally. 

The Mets loaded the bases against Brady Singer in the fourth with two outs — Ewing and Alvarez both walked with another Baty plunking sandwiched in between — before Carson Benge was retired. 

In the fifth, Bichette delivered a leadoff single but Young grounded into an inning-ending double play after Soto struck out. A night earlier the Mets loaded the bases three times without scoring. 

“Eventually we’ll get the big hit; it’s frustrating,” Mendoza said. “You continue to get traffic, you continue to put guys on, somebody will break through.” 

Stewart’s RBI single in the fifth against Cionel Pérez widened the Mets deficit to 5-1. Edwin Arroyo doubled leading off and Dunn singled before Stewart’s hit. 

Mark Vientos smashed a pinch-hit two-run homer in the sixth that pulled the Mets to within 5-3. Marcus Semien singled in the inning and reached second on Steer’s error in right field before Vientos went deep with two outs. 

The Mets had their best chance to tie in the eighth, following walks to Semien and Baty to begin the inning, but Vientos and Alvarez struck out before Benge was retired. 

After winning two of three games against the MLB-best Braves at Citi Field, the Mets have again lost momentum. 

“Throughout the year when we get the quality [starting pitching], those guys are going to give us a chance: the offense and the bullpen,” Mendoza said. “But we need to be better. We need more from them. We expect more from them and they know that.” 

Trevor Larnach got this game going with a bang, specifically a solo homer deep to right field on the second pitch from Rangers starter Kumar Rocker. Next, Byron Buxton singled, stole 2nd, and was brought home later by a Josh Bell 2-out RBI single to put the Twins up 2-0.

With Zebby Matthews going strong, the Twins tacked on 3 more runs in the 3rd. All of those came on a 3-run homer from Kody Clemens, just over the painted line on the right field wall. That homer continues Kody’s stretch of being hot at the plate, he’s slugging over .600 in his last 15 games, with 5 homers.

In the top of the 4th, the Twins broke the game wide open, scoring 5 times. Alex Jackson doubled, then, with 1-out, Buxton hit a deep fly to right that Brandon Nimmo failed to catch. Cal Quantrill came in for Rocker, intentionally walked Clemens, then allowed a 2-run single to Royce Lewis. Josh Bell followed with a liner down the right field line for a double that scored 2 thanks to another error by Nimmo. Bell would later score on a Luke Keaschall single to give the Twins a 10-0 lead.

The Rangers would score just single runs in the 4th and 5th against Zebby, who did a good job of limiting the damage. His most effective pitch tonight was the slider, generating 2 of his 4 strikeouts and a 45% whiff rate. Zebby would toss 7 innings of 2-run baseball, much more than good enough tonight.

Travis Adams struck out the side in the bottom of the 8th. In the top of the 9th the Rangers went to catcher Kyle Higashioka as a pitcher. Keaschall doubled, then scored on Jackson’s double. Then a Larnach single followed by Kyler Fedko’s first career RBI, a sacrifice fly, made it 12-2. Fedko is still searching for his first hit. That gave the Twins 17 hits on the night, a season high for the team.

Cody Laweryson tossed a shutout 9th inning, giving us our 12-2 final.

Studs:

Trevor Larnach: 4-6, 2 R, HR, RBI

Kody Clemens: 2-4, 2 R, 2B, HR, 3 RBI, BB

Josh Bell: 2-4, 2B, 2 RBI, BB

Luke Keaschall: 2-4, 2B, RBI, BB

Alex Jackson: 3-5, 2 R, 2 2B

Brooks Lee: 2-5, 2B

Zebby Matthews: 7.0 IP, 8 H, 2 ER, 4 K

Duds:

NO DUDS TWINS WIN!

Well, that’s not how you want to start a road trip after going against two of the best teams in all of baseball. There’s no good way to slice it: the White Sox (38-33) got whooped by the Yankees (44-27) in the series opener, 12-2. Though they scored 12, the Yanks somehow still left 10 on base and went 3-for-12 with runners in scoring position. Translation: it was already really bad, and it could have been a lot worse.

Tonight was not Davis Martin’s night. In fact, it was unfortunately his worst start of the season and tied for the most runs allowed in his career. Martin looked great in the first, only taking 10 pitches to get out of the inning while striking out both Ben Rice and Paul Goldschmidt, but things went downhill from there, and the Yankees blew the game open in the fourth. New York exploded for nine runs against him on eight hits, three walks, and three homers, while striking out just four. The control just wasn’t there for Davis, and one of his walks even brought in a run for the Yankees. Martin ultimately lasted 3 1/3 frames and received his third loss this year as his ERA ballooned to 3.31, up from 2.41 before the first pitch.

The South Siders had even scored one run in the first to jump ahead, 1-0, thanks to a solo shot from Andrew Benintendi, but they ended up needing way more runs than that.

In hindsight, the second inning was just foreshadowing the damage the Yankees’ bats were about to do. Spencer Jones blasted a game-tying solo homer into the upper deck in right field; the short porch strikes again. Since Statcast was down for the first few innings of this game, I can’t tell you the exact distance, but my sources (myself) say it was hit very hard and very far, 1-1.

While the Good Guys went three-up, three-down over the next four innings, New York did the opposite. Two plays snowballed into a four-run rally in the bottom of the third and cast a black cloud over the team. The first was J.C. Escarra’s check-swing-double down the third-base line, sliding around Chase Meidroth’s tag at second despite the ball beating him there. Annoying, but it was what it was. Right after that, however, Jacob Gonzalez seemed to have a mental lapse on a ground ball to Meidroth at second, as he was nowhere to be found at first base to get the out. It seemed like he was maybe thinking the ball was getting through and that he might need to cut it off? Who knows, but all of a sudden, Martin had to deal with runners on the corners with no outs and the heart of the Yankees’ lineup coming up.

All three of Martin’s walks came in the third. Ben Rice was originally called out on strikes by the umpire, but an ABS challenge confirmed the umpire was wrong by over 1 1/2 inches, and alas, the bases were loaded. Cody Bellinger took the first pitch for a two-run single out to right, and the Yanks took the lead, 3-1. Dear reader, I wish I could say the scoring ended there.

Finally, an out was recorded after Goldschmidt struck out for a second time, and Davis got ahead in the count (1-2) on Jazz Chisolm Jr. before tossing three straight balls to walk him and reload the bases. In the next at-bat, Martin walked in a run to give the Yankees a three-run lead, 4-1, and the walk was confirmed via ABS after Drew Romo wasted a challenge. With how rough the inning was going, I can understand why he wanted to challenge it, but it felt pretty unnecessary there. Before he was able to officially end the inning, Davis allowed the fourth tally of the inning on a sac fly to center from José Caballero, 5-1.

The fourth sadly didn’t get any better for Davis. To spare you the details, both Rice and Goldschmidt blasted two-run bombs, and that ended up being the end of Martin’s night. Reflect on the game, then start fresh tomorrow and move on. Sometimes those days just happen.

Chris Murphy came on in relief for the remainder of the fourth, but it still took another 27 pitches to end the inning, with two more runs scoring, making it 11-1. Ouch. Only one of those two was earned, however, after Murphy himself made a throwing error to first on a swinging bunt from Escarra, who was seemingly the luckiest guy at the plate today.

Offensively, the bats were dead after the Beni bomb, not getting another until the top of the sixth. Gerrit Cole was pretty solid tonight, allowing just three hits and one run while striking out six White Sox hitters. Once they were down 10 runs, Will Venable just started subbing in anyone and everyone because it was time just to take this one on the chin, get through the game, and move on. The Sox started a tiny rally in the sixth that ended with them scoring just one run and leaving the bases loaded, 11-2. Spoiler alert, this was also the last run they scored for the rest of the game. The Sox mustered four total hits, walked twice, left four on base, and went 1-for-3 with runners in scoring position. They didn’t even have enough runners left on base to cut the score in half, so we can just chalk this one up as an L.

The one pitcher who actually did a solid job for the South Siders was lefthander Joe Rock, who acted as a long reliever with three scoreless innings in which he allowed four hits, a walk, and struck out four. After the seventh, Venable turned Luisangel Acuña into a two-way player, as Acuña also pitched the eighth inning, nearly scoreless if not for a garbage-time homer from Caballero, 12-2.

As a surprise to no one, Chicago once again went down in order, putting themselves and all of us out of our misery. If you didn’t watch this game, I’m genuinely happy for you. The good news is that the South Siders remain in first place as the Guardians also lost tonight, so it’s time for a good night of rest for the White Sox and come back fresh tomorrow. Same time, same place, with Anthony Kay on the mound.

ATLANTA — More than two dozen groundskeepers worked nonstop for over an hour, pouring pounds and pounds of dry sod across the rain-soaked infield, pitcher’s mound and home plate.

More than an hour and a half later, they rolled the tarp out for the first time.

The result was the opening game of the Giants’ road trip against the Braves being suspended after only an inning and a half of play and a wait of nearly three times that long.

They will resume play in the bottom of the second as part of a double-header Wednesday with Game 1 set to begin at 11 a.m. PT and the second game at its regularly scheduled 4:15 p.m.

“It’s not ideal,” manager Tony Vitello said of being forced to use Adrian Houser for only one inning. On the flip side, the Braves got only two innings out of Grant Holmes.

“It was pretty rough on those guys not to just burn a night, but those guys are amped up the entire day to throw. It was pretty difficult conditions to pitch in.”

Both teams will be able to add a 27th man to their roster for the second game.

While Vitello said no decisions had been made, reliever Matt Gage would be a natural choice; he is on the trip and eligible to be activated from the injured list. Robbie Ray, their scheduled starter for Wednesday, would likely start the first game.

Vitello said there was no discussion before the game of starting in a delay, and with the regrettable decision to begin the game, both teams ended up burning their starting pitcher.

The Giants had put seven men on base in two innings against Holmes, who was clearly affected by the conditions, while Houser was tagged for two runs in the bottom of the first.

Holmes twice called for a towel as he issued three walks and four hits amid the downpour that led to two runs. Braves outfielder Michael Harris II left with lower back tightness. Water began to pool around home plate, which Vitello said was the most-impacted area.

“It started to look a little soupy out there,” Vitello said.

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Despite the extended stoppage after the top of the second inning, the game was never put into an official rain delay because the tarp was never put on the field.

“You look back on it, I’m sure everyone would have liked to try to do something different at the beginning of the game,” Vitello said. “But the rain, at least from what everybody saw was coming, wasn’t supposed to. … There wasn’t supposed to be additional rain.”

The crowd slowly trickled out, going from an upbeat in-stadium dance party to a few poncho-clad stragglers, over the course of the 110-minute delay as the Braves provided zero communication over the in-stadium screens or loudspeakers.

Finally, after about an hour and a half, Vitello and Walt Weiss emerged from their respective dugouts and huddled with the umpires for about 10 minutes.

“We were out there for a long time just because nobody wanted to make a rash decision,” Vitello said. “I didn’t have much to say, obviously, but those guys have experience with this stuff. They mentioned it was one of the stickier, more difficult in-between situations.”

The teams were planning on resuming play around 10 p.m. local time had the conversation ended differently. However, with an unexpected second round of precipitation, they determined the field couldn’t handle anymore rain and called off the game at 9:50 p.m.

“We were going to see if the work those guys had put in had done enough to get out there and play,” Vitello said. “It probably was. But not with more rain coming.”

The teams will be motivated to get both games in Wednesday as the heaviest rain this week isn’t forecasted to arrive until Thursday. Per the National Weather Service, thunderstorms are expected to begin around 11 a.m. and continue until Friday evening.

The Giants and Braves are scheduled to wrap up their series at 7:15 p.m. local time on Thursday, possibly making for a late arrival into Miami if the game is delayed.

While the Braves visit San Francisco next weekend, the teams only share two off days the rest of the season — Aug. 13 and Sept. 17 — each with its own complications should they need to make up a date in Atlanta.

The Texas Rangers scored very few runs but the Minnesota Twins scored a lot of them.

The Sweden men’s national football team is set up in Frisco, TX for the World Cup. With their next match down in Houston not for a few days yet, the Group F hopefuls hopped on over to Arlington to check out a baseball game tonight at The Shed.

They got to see a leadoff home run. That’s not very common unless you’re playing the Rangers so they lucked out there. That was the tenth leadoff home run that the Rangers have allowed this season. 10 in 73 games. No other team has allowed more than six. Basically once a week on average the Rangers play a game already down a run.

They got to see seventeen Twins hits and twelve Twins runs. Assuming this is the first big league game that they’ve taken in — and with more pressing things to attend to in the coming days, potentially their last — it’s likely they’ll go to their graves believing that A. the 35-40 2026 Twins are among the greatest teams of all time and B. The Shed is quite the hitters’ haven.

They got to see the Rangers field yet another lineup of questionable quality that produced two runs on eight hits. If by cultural osmosis they learned about our back-of-the-trading card stats, they got to see Texas starter Kumar Rocker’s season ERA balloon over half a run from 3.56 to 4.17 after allowing six earned runs in 3.1 innings.

In that case, they probably wondered why the guy for the other team with the career 5.68 ERA, and 5.20 ERA in 2026, did so much better as Zebby Matthews went seven innings of two run ball.

They got to see this play:

So hopefully they still consider baseball a professional sport.

They got to see position player Kyle Higashioka pitch an inning. That’s quite a novelty! No, Swedish national team a catcher doesn’t pitch very often and when they do, something went very wrong. Our apologies.

I don’t know. Maybe someone brought them some Hurtado brisket and that’s how they’ll remember the Rangers instead of this game.

Player of the Game: Dallas Cowboys’ first-round selection Caleb Downs threw out the ceremonial first pitch. It was the best pitch of the night for someone on a local team.

Up Next: Because they’re playing a World Cup game at “Dallas Stadium” tomorrow and “Dallas Stadium” is located across the parking lot from The Shed, the Rangers have tomorrow off before resuming this series against Minnesota on Thursday.

Sal Stewart turned around a meatball from Kodai Senga in the Bottom of the 1st inning, launching it 410 feet off the facade of the upper deck beyond the left field wall in Great American Ball Park on Tuesday night. Stewart, who was batting 3rd for the Cincinnati Reds on the night, did so after each of the first two batters of the game had also reached, and it gave the Reds an immediate 3-0 lead over the New York Mets just a day after the Reds beat their NL foes 12-0.

Spencer Steer followed with a solo homer of his own, and that ended up being enough for the Reds to take the win after all.

Brady Singer mercifully poured in his second straight good start (5.0 IP, 3 H, ER, 3 BB, 5 K on 91 pitches), and despite the Mets drawing things close with a homer in the Top of the 6th off Sam Moll, the Reds threadbare bullpen managed to otherwise hold down the fort for an eventual 5-3 win. Tony Santillan hammered down the save after Tejay Antone pitched around a pair of walks in the 8th inning, and the Reds inched closer to the .500 mark at 35-37 on the season.

Of note is that this victory paired with last night’s clinches a series victory for Cincinnati, and that comes after they’d found way after way to lose each of their previous five series before this one. To say this one was pretty vital is the understatement of the season, methinks.

The series finale between these two will begin at 12:40 PM ET on Wednesday afternoon with lefty Nick Lodolo on the mound. New York will be sending out promising rookie Nolan McLean, who the Reds managed to hit pretty hard the last time they faced him. So, there’s at least a theoretical chance that the Reds can a) sweep a series and b) head into their series against the New York Yankees on a real, live win streak.

One can dream!

You’d think not having Aaron Judge around might make it more of a fair fight for teams like the White Sox. 

But the supposedly resurgent White Sox were pummeled 12-2 by the Yankees on Tuesday night in The Bronx, as the Judge-less offense still pounded them for three homers in the first four innings en route to the lopsided win. 

Gerrit Cole barely broke a sweat, as he allowed just one base runner until the sixth inning. 

For the Yankees, it was their seventh win in their past eight games, as they improved to an AL-best 44-27. 

“It’s not like Judge and [Giancarlo Stanton] are coming back tomorrow, so we have to do this for a while,” said Paul Goldschmidt, who hit his 10th homer of the season. “This is a good start, but we’ve got to keep it going. I think the way we’re playing speaks to our depth and the culture I stepped into here last year. It’s about winning, no matter who’s out there.” 

Beating the teams they should helps, as well. 

The Yankees have won 11 of 13 games this season against the consistently lackluster AL Central, having swept the Guardians in Cleveland just over a week ago and winning all six games against Kansas City. 

• CHECK OUT THE LATEST MLB STANDINGS AND YANKEES STATS

A four-run third inning set them up for an easy win with Cole on the mound and a six-run fourth ended any hope of a Chicago comeback. 

By the end, they put up 16 hits — their second-highest total of the season — and hit four homers. 

Cole, brilliant in his first two starts back from Tommy John surgery before struggling in his past two, was strong again Tuesday. 

He allowed a two-out solo homer to ex-Yankee Andrew Benintendi in the first. 

The Yankees tied it on Spencer Jones’ second homer since his arrival — and first at home. 

In the third, the Yankees loaded the bases with no one out to set up a two-run single by Cody Bellinger, which made it 3-1. 

Jazz Chisholm Jr.’s one-out walk loaded them again for Jones, who drove in another run by also drawing a walk. 

José Caballero hit a sacrifice fly to add to the lead, as the Yankees went up 5-1 in the 40-pitch inning. 

A pair of two-run homers in the fourth — one from Rice and then Goldschmidt — ended Chicago starter Davis Martin’s night. However, the Yankees weren’t done, as Ryan McMahon added an RBI single and a throwing error by new pitcher Chris Murphy led to another run. 

Cole rolled along, as he retired 13 straight after the homer to Benintendi before Tristan Peters opened the sixth with a single that Rice couldn’t handle. 

By then, the Yankees had chased Martin, who entered with the sixth-best ERA in the majors. He’d also allowed just three homers in 13 starts on the season and gave up three in just 3 ¹/₃ innings Tuesday. 

Chicago entered the game in a virtual tie with Cleveland atop the AL Central, but looked more like the laughingstock that just suffered through three straight 100-plus-loss seasons. 

And while the Yankees have been making it look easy even with their stars sidelined, Goldschmidt said they know there will be hard times ahead as Judge & Co. are on the mend. 

“We know how long the season is, especially with two of our best hitters out,” Goldschmidt said. “But this is what we’re built for.”

Andre Pallante was nearly unhittable for the first half of the game while the St. Louis Cardinals offense was just good enough to beat the San Diego Padres again at Busch Stadium Tuesday night.

One pre-game moment worth mentioning. JJ Wetherholt’s 5th grade teacher Mrs. Ingoldsby threw out the ceremonial first pitch to JJ. She was the teacher that famously shared Wetherholt’s grade school picture where he declared that he wanted to be a MLB player when he grew up. Spoiler Alert: that worked out well for the Cardinals. By the way, JJ Wetherholt had quite a night with 3 hits, a walk and a stolen base.

During the actual game, it didn’t take long before the Cardinals got on the scoreboard. In the bottom of the 2nd inning, Lars Nootbaar walked leading off. After Masyn Winn flied out to center, Jimmy Crooks grounded out to second, but Nootbaar advanced to second. With 2 outs, Blaze Jordan ripped a double to left-center scoring Nootbaar giving St. Louis an early 1-0 lead. Nathan Church followed that up with a single of his own scoring Jordan doubling the Cardinals lead to 2-0 after 2 innings.

Andre Pallante did not surrender a hit until the top of the 5th inning and even then, just barely. With two outs, Samad Taylor hit a ball up the middle that Pallante deflected before Masyn Winn made a barehanded grab and nearly threw out Taylor at first. The safe call was upheld after a challenge by manager Oli Marmol. Taylor then easily stole second after getting a huge jump that gave Ivan Herrera no chance. Ty France then singled to center scoring Taylor and giving San Diego their first run of the series cutting the Cardinals lead in half at 2-1 halfway through the game.

St. Louis would get the run back in the bottom of the 5th inning when Iván Herrera was hit by a pitch (again). Alec Burleson followed that with a single before Jordan Walker came within an eyelash of hitting a 3-run homer to deep center field, but his flyout did advance Herrera to third. Lars Nootbaar hit a sacrifice fly scoring Herrera upping the Cardinals lead to 3-1. They would need that run.

In the top of the 6th inning, San Diego would draw closer. Fernando Tatis Jr. singled to right with two outs. Jackson Merrill doubled Tatis in leaving St. Louis with a tiny 3-2 lead heading into the late innings. St. Louis threatened in the bottom of the 6th inning when JJ Wetherholt scorched a single up the middle and then stole second base. Iván Herrera was hit by a pitch (yes, AGAIN), but Alec Burleson’s laser shot down the right field line was unfortunately directly at Padres first baseman Ty France.

The Cardinals would attempt a 2-out rally in the bottom of the 7th inning also. After Jordan Walker grounded out and Lars Nootbaar struck out, Masyn Winn singled to center and Jimmy Crooks walked. That brought up Blaze Jordan who turned on an 80 mph changeup sending it down the 3rd base line which was unfortunately guarded by Manny Machado who made a great grab and threw out Jordan to end the St. Louis 7th. Dang.

Andre Pallante gave St. Louis 7 strong innings. His stat line for the night ended with 7 innings pitched, giving up only 4 hits and 2 earned runs while striking out 6 and walking no one. A really nice effort that got the Cardinals deep into the game before the bullpen would intervene.

Ryne Stanek was the designated St. Louis Cardinals 8th inning hall monitor. He did a fine job setting the Padres down in order. Honorable mention to the “Tarps Off” crew who chanted “Padres Suck” most of the top of the 8th inning. Second honorable mention to the Padres for proving them right.

The St. Louis Cardinals decided to send Riley O’Brien out to close out the Padres which gave many of us trepidation as we remember the beginning of a bad run for Riley that started in San Diego when he gave up a heartbreaking 2-out walkoff to Nick Castellanos. Riley fortunately allowed very little drama (other than a nervous 2-out walk to Manny Machado) to seal another St. Louis victory. More of this, please!

The St. Louis Cardinals wrap up their short homestand vs the San Diego Padres Wednesday afternoon as they try to sweep the series. Kyle Leahy will start for the Cardinals while the Padres don’t have a starter announced yet which may mean a bullpen game is planned. First pitch is scheduled for 1:15pm at Busch Stadium.

Box Score

It was a big day for the Brewers. Cooper Pratt, the shiny new prospect, made his major league debut. While Pratt will surely have “better” days to look forward to from a baseball-playing standpoint, he’ll remember it forever. But tonight, the story for the Brewers was lefty Robert Gasser, who at times has looked like the odd man out amongst Milwaukee’s crop of young pitchers. Tonight, Gasser had his best big-league start since before Tommy John surgery ruined most of his last two seasons, and a couple of big Brewer hits were all they needed to squeak out a tight win.

Gasser got off to a clean start in the first. Leadoff hitter Travis Bazzana hit a ball pretty deep to center field, but Garrett Mitchell caught it while battling the sun. Brayan Rocchio also flew out to Mitchell, though this one was shallow, and a Rhys Hoskins strikeout ended the frame.

The Brewers were aggressive in the bottom of the first: Christian Yelich pounced on the first pitch from Cleveland’s Slade Cecconi and crushed it into right, but David Fry caught his 106-mph line drive for the first out. Jackson Chourio saw five pitches and also made solid contact, but flew out to the warning track in left. On the first pitch Brice Turang saw, he reached on an infield single, but William Contreras, who became the third Brewer of the inning to put the first pitch in play, grounded out to end the inning.

Gasser dug himself a hole in the second inning. He was unable to put away former Brewer minor leaguer David Fry, who fouled off five two-strike pitches before taking a walk on the 11th pitch of the at-bat. Kyle Manzardo followed with another full-count walk, and the Guardians had two on and nobody out. But Gasser struck out Stuart Fairchild, and Pratt got his first big-league chance when Steven Kwan hit a grounder to shortstop that Pratt flipped to second as he started a 6-4-3 double play. One wonders how many double plays Pratt and Turang might turn before all is said and done.

Jake Bauers started the second with a flyout to shallow left, and was quickly followed by groundouts from Andrew Vaughn and Mitchell. Gabriel Arias, in his first at-bat since April 6, led off the third with a base hit to right, but he was erased when a weak grounder from Austin Hedges turned into a 4-3 double play in which Turang tagged Arias and threw to first to get Hedges. A Bazzana fly ball to center ended a third scoreless inning for Gasser.

The bottom of the third started with Pratt’s first at-bat as a big leaguer. After taking a strike, he grounded out to shortstop. Get ‘em next time, kid. David Hamilton tried to sneak a bunt past Cecconi, but it was too straight, and Cecconi got him by a step. Yelich grounded out, too, and the Brewers went quietly in the third.

Rocchio gave Pratt his first tough defensive test to lead off the fourth, and Pratt’s throw to first sailed after his plant foot moved a little, so first double play, first groundout, and first error got out of the way early. Rocchio ended up at second, and Gasser got the first out shortly thereafter when Hoskins popped out in foul territory near the Brewers’ dugout. After seeing 11 pitches in his first at-bat, Fry needed only one to ground out to Hamilton at third in his second at-bat. After a Manzardo flyout to right ended the inning, Gasser had successfully picked up his young shortstop and gotten through a fourth scoreless inning.

Chourio struck out looking to start the bottom of the fourth, but Turang broke the scoreless tie when he followed with a blast to right center for a solo home run, his 11th of the season. Contreras reached on an error by Arias with one out, but Bauers grounded into a double play to end the inning.

Now working with a 1-0 lead, Gasser struck out Fairchild again, got Kwan to fly out to left, and struck out Arias for a 1-2-3 inning, and he was looking rather comfortable.

Vaughn grounded out to start the bottom of the fifth. Mitchell also hit a ground ball, but Hoskins couldn’t pick it on a tricky hop; it bounced to the second baseman, Bazzana, who was able to make a throw to first, but Mitchell beat it by a step. Pratt grounded into another out in his second career at-bat (100.3-mph exit velocity!), but at least advanced Mitchell to second. Hamilton struck out, though, and the inning ended with Mitchell on second.

Gasser allowed a single to Hedges to start the sixth, just the second hit of the game for the Guardians. Bazzana followed with a hard line drive to center, but Mitchell didn’t need to move far to catch it. Rocchio struck out on three pitches, and with Gasser at 92 pitches and the right-handed Hoskins coming up for the third time, the Brewers decided to make a move to the bullpen. Joel Kuhnel was the choice to face Hoskins, and on a 3-2 pitch, Hoskins hooked a 3-2 curveball over Hamilton’s head at third base for a double. Hedges, the runner, is not exactly fleet of foot, and Chourio got to the ball fast enough to prevent Hedges from trying to score. With runners on second and third and two out, Daniel Schneemann came on to pinch-hit in place of Fry, and he grounded out to second to end the inning.

That closed the book on Gasser, who had his best outing since before he had Tommy John surgery in 2024 and a good bounce-back performance from his tough start in Las Vegas. He finished with just two singles and two walks allowed in 5 2/3 innings, while striking out five and not allowing a run.

With one out in the bottom of the sixth, Chourio drew a really nice walk to give Milwaukee a one-out baserunner. Turang walked, too (after a very close call on a 2-2 pitch that might’ve been overturned if it had been challenged), and Milwaukee had two on with one out. Contreras hit a grounder up the middle that could’ve been a hit and could’ve been a double play, but ended up as neither; Rocchio made a nice sliding grab and flipped to Bazzana for one out, but Contreras beat the throw to first. With runners on the corners and two out, the Guardians moved to Colin Holderman (a righty?) to face Bauers. On a 2-2 pitch, Holderman hit Bauers in the front foot with a curveball, and that loaded the bases with two outs. Pat Murphy moved to Sal Frelick over Vaughn to get a favorable platoon matchup, but Frelick hit a groundball to second that ended the inning.

Aaron Ashby replaced Kuhnel, and with one out, he walked Fairchild in a pretty non-competitive at-bat. He struck out Kwan for the second out, but threw a wild pitch during the at-bat that allowed Fairchild to reach second, and Arias came through with a two-out RBI single that tied the game at one. The Brewers got out of the inning when Hedges grounded out — but not until Bauers made a really tough pick when Hamilton spiked his throw to first.

Cleveland had tied the game, but that didn’t last long. Hunter Gaddis came in for Holderman, and on his fourth pitch, Mitchell hit an absolute bomb to right field, a 112-mph, 440-foot shot that put the Brewers back on top 2-1. Gaddis recovered by getting Pratt, Hamilton, and Yelich to all ground out, but Mitchell’s shot gave the Brewers a late lead.

Ashby continued in the eighth, but walked Bazzana to start the inning, after which he was removed in favor of Abner Uribe. Rocchio, Uribe’s first hitter, flew out lazily to left. With Hoskins batting, Uribe yanked a slider into the dirt and past Contreras, and for the second straight inning, a batter who reached on a walk moved to second on a wild pitch. Uribe struck out Hoskins on a fastball right down the middle at 100 mph, but another wild pitch with Schneemann at the plate advanced Bazzana to third. Uribe walked Schneemann to put runners on the corners with two out for Manzardo, but Uribe’s stuff suddenly clicked, and he looked great in striking out Manzardo to strand both runners and preserve the Brewers’ lead.

Matt Festa entered for the Guardians and made quick work of the heart of the Brewers’ order in the eighth, as he got Chourio, Turang, and Contreras on two groundouts and a strikeout. That set the stage for Trevor Megill, who entered in the top of the ninth with a one-run lead. Pinch-hitter Petey Halpin was first, and he struck out on three pitches. Kwan harmlessly rolled a grounder to second base for the second out. Arias, who had a nice night in his return from a two-month layoff, wasn’t able to add a storybook ending: he struck out on a check swing, and the game was over.

There wasn’t much offense for the Brewers tonight — they managed only four hits, and eight of the 10 batters who appeared in the game for Milwaukee went hitless. But two solo homers (from Turang and Mitchell) were enough tonight, as Gasser and four relievers held the Guardians to just four hits as well, and Cleveland’s only extra-base hit was Hoskins’ double. Ashby wasn’t very good tonight and was the only Brewer to allow a run, but in doing so, he vultured another win to become the first player in the majors to 10 wins.

Pratt, for his part, didn’t exactly have a debut for the ages — he went 0-for-3 with three groundouts at the plate and committed an error in the field — but he got number one out of the way, and hey, he didn’t strike out, and his team won the game.

The series continues tomorrow night at 6:40 p.m., when we expect to see Brandon Sproat face off with Cleveland’s ace, Gavin Williams.

After a surprise off-day and a scheduled off-day, the Cleveland Guardians traveled to Milwaukee to face the Brewers in a 3-game series.

Slade Cecconi and Robert Gasser faced off as the starting pitchers for this evening’s game. Cecconi had another decent start, holding the Brewers to one run in 5.2 innings of work. The run came off a solo home run by Brice Turang and was one of three hits that Cecconi allowed. Cecconi gave up two walks, both in the sixth inning and was pulled having only thrown 82 pitches.

Brayan Rocchio backed up his pitcher with a nice play turned at second to get the runner out. Colin Holderman retired the side to finish out the sixth inning.

The 0-1 score held until the top of the seventh. Stuart Fairchild drew a one-out walk and advanced to second on a wild pitch. Gabriel Arias, fresh off of a rehab assignment, singled to right field to score Fairchild and tie the game.

Hunter Gaddis came on in the bottom of the seventh with a tie game. Gaddis gave up a lead off home run to Garrett Mitchell, giving the Brewers the lead once more.

The curse of the runner in scoring position struck the Guards again in the top of the eighth. Travis Bazzana drew a lead off walk and forced the Brewers to go to Abner Uribe. Brayan Rocchio flied out, but Bazzana reached second base on a wild pitch. Rhys Hoskins struck out swinging, but Bazzana reached third based on a wild pitch. Daniel Schneemann, who pinch hit for David Fry in the sixth, drew a walk to put runners on the corners. Kyle Manzardo struck out swinging, retiring the side without a run crossing home.

Matt Festa pitched the eighth and was graced with stellar defense to turn two quick ground outs to start the inning. William Contreras struck out swinging to retire the side for a clean 11 pitch inning from Festa.

The Brewers held onto their lead, taking game one of the series from the Guardians by a score of Cleveland 1 – Brewers 2. Both teams had four hits and one error on the night.

The Mets lost for the second straight night in Cincinnati, dropping Tuesday's game by a score of 5-3.

Here are the key takeaways...

-- In his first start since re-joining the team after nearly two months on the injured list, Kodai Senga had a difficult first inning. After walking the first two batters he faced, with some pitches not even close, the right-hander served up a three-run homer to Sal Stewart that opened up the scoring. Three batters later, Spencer Steer, who was stuck in a 1-for-29 slump, launched a solo shot to give the Reds a 4-0 advantage.

-- Following Monday night’s 12-0 loss, it looked like things might get out of hand for New York once again. However, Senga managed to keep Cincinnati hitless for the next three innings and even showed some swing-and-miss stuff by striking out five in four innings. 

-- Senga’s command was off for most of the night and he had trouble getting his secondary stuff over the plate, but the velocity on his fastball sat around 96-97 mph, which is always a good sign for the right-hander who threw 82 pitches (46 strikes) before getting pulled. The start wasn’t great, but it was good enough because of how Senga ended it to likely get him another one his next time through with the Mets desperate for starting pitchers at the moment.

-- Offensively, New York’s only run off Reds starter Brady Singer came in the third inning when Bo Bichette singled with runners on first and second to get the Mets on the board for the first time in the series. Bichette continued his incredible hot streak by finishing 2-for-5 at the plate for his fifth consecutive multi-hit game. 

-- After Bichette’s run-scoring single, Juan Soto walked to load the bases, but just like in Monday’s game, where New York left the bases loaded three separate times without scoring a single run, the Mets were unable to cash in after Jared Young’s flyout ended the inning. 

New York left the bases loaded again in the fourth inning and went 2-for-11 with RISP for the game.

-- Facing Cincinnati’s bereft bullpen in the sixth inning, the Mets were finally able to strike. With a runner on second and two outs, pinch-hitter Mark Vientos homered against the left-hander Sam Moll to get New York back in the game. The home run was Vientos’ first pinch-hit home run of his career and eighth of the season.

-- The Mets had another golden opportunity to get closer in the eighth after back-to-back walks by Marcus Semien and Brett Baty led off the frame, but strikeouts by Vientos and Francisco Alvarez and a groundout by Carson Benge ended the threat.

-- Soto singled in the ninth inning to get the tying run to the plate, but Eric Wagaman struck out and A.J. Ewing grounded out to end the game.

-- New York’s bullpen was once again awesome, giving up just a run in four innings. Austin Warren, Huascar Brazoban and Luke Weaver, who struck out the side in the eighth, were particularly great.

Game MVP: Sal Stewart

Stewart went 2-for-3 with a walk and four RBI.

Highlights

A.J. Ewing makes the diving catch! pic.twitter.com/1hsRPtlxI1

— SNY (@SNYtv) June 16, 2026

Bo Bichette's fourth hit of the series!

He gets the Mets on the board pic.twitter.com/D437G7TyiJ

— SNY (@SNYtv) June 16, 2026

A pinch-hit two-run homer for Mark Vientos! pic.twitter.com/GlNcC63gWZ

— SNY (@SNYtv) June 17, 2026

What's next

The Mets and Reds finish their three-game series with a Wednesday matinee at 12:40 p.m. on SNY.

RHP Nolan McLean (3-4, 4.01 ERA) goes up against LHP Nick Lodolo (2-1, 5.21 ERA).

The Mets came into Tuesday’s game looking to recover from Monday’s demoralizing blowout loss. Kodai Senga was returning from the injured list and coming off his best rehab start yet, where he gave up just one run and struck out five batters in six innings. With how decimated and inconsistent the Mets rotation has become over the past few weeks, even half of a return to form by Senga would be a welcome addition in a time of great need.

Kodai Senga’s first inning back from the injured list went about almost as poorly as one could imagine. He gave up two consecutive walks to start the bottom of the first, then gave up a three run home run to Sal Stewart to immediately dig a hole for the offense to try and climb out of. He got two outs, seemingly pulling it together, but he didn’t get out of the inning without giving up another run, this time on a solo home run courtesy of Spencer Steer. He finally got out of it with a strikeout, but not before facing seven batters and throwing over thirty pitches.

It took until the third inning for the Mets lineup to put up any fight. Brett Baty was hit by a pitch (though he was replaced at first by MJ Melendez on a fielder’s choice) and Francisco Alvarez hit a one-out single to put two runners on. Bo Bichette followed two batters later with a two-out single to drive in the Mets first run of the game. They then loaded the bases but were unable to drive any more runs in. Which, in a continuing theme of the series, they did again in the fourth inning. 

Kodai Senga was pulled after four innings, having allowed four runs on two hits and four walks, while striking out five. All of his runs were given up in that first inning, which also prevented him from going longer with the high pitch count from the first inning alone. Cionel Pérez was brought in the fifth, and gave up a double and two singles which allowed for another Reds run to score, digging the hole a little deeper to dig out of.

In the top of the sixth the Mets fought back a little more. Brady Singer was taken out of the game in favor of Sam Moll. He gave up a one-out single to Marcus Semien, who was able to advance to second on a fielding error by Steer. And two batters later, Mark Vientos (who was brought in to pinch-hit for Melendez), hit a two-run home run to put the Mets back by only two runs.

Austin Warren, Huascar Brazobán, and Luke Weaver combined to pitch three scoreless innings to end the game for the Mets. But that didn’t matter. The Mets were unable to score any runs. They had multiple base runners in the final three innings that were stranded, leaving eleven runners on base over the course of the whole game. In a game with such a slim run differential, even being slightly less inept with runners in scoring positions could lead to a Mets win. And instead, it was yet another loss started by a struggling starter and carried through by an offense that can’t finish the job.

The Mets play their final game against the Reds tomorrow afternoon. Hopefully with Nolan McLean on the mound the Mets can find their way, provided McLean doesn’t struggle the way Tobias Myers and Senga did. Then they head to Philadelphia, and they really can’t afford to give up any games to not only a divisional rival but a team they need to ostensibly catch up to in the Wild Card chase. Unfortunately, they just gave up two games to a team just one spot ahead of them in that race.

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Win Probability Added

What’s WPA?

Big Mets winner: Brett Baty, +15% WPA
Big Mets loser: Carson Benge, -24% WPA
Mets pitchers: -16% WPA
Mets hitters: -34% WPA
Teh aw3s0mest play: Brett Baty’s eighth inning walk (god that’s sad), +10.5% WPA
Teh sux0rest play: Sal Stewart’s three run home run in the first inning, -16.2% WPA

These Nats are just a series winning machine. They have now won 11 of the last 12 series and improved to 39-35 on the season. The Nationals now have sole possession of a Wild Card spot, which is pretty crazy if you ask me. I say it all the time, but man has this season been fun.

Like most great teams, it feels like there are different heroes every night. Tonight there were three main stars. The first one was Foster Griffin, who was excellent again. He threw 6 innings of one run ball, striking out six. At this point, this kind of outing from Griffin feels like the expectation rather than something to be excited about.

For the season, Griffin now has a 3.32 ERA. He had two rough starts in May, but has gotten back to rolling since then. Griffin has been such an astute signing by this front office. You have to wonder what is next for him. I tended to think he was a near lock to be traded. While that still might be the case, what would the Nats do if they remain in a playoff race in six weeks?

Griffin’s deep arsenal was fooling Royals hitters most of the night. He scattered a few hits here and there, but unlike some of his recent starts, the home run ball was not a factor. When Griffin needed to find another gear with runners on base, he got a couple of clutch strikeouts on the night.

The next big star in this one was Nasim Nunez, whose bat has really heated up lately. Nunez is hitting .333 with an .857 OPS in his last 15 games. It feels like Nunez is relaxing in the batters box more and trying to hit line drives. For much of the season, Nunez has been trying to lift the ball, which is just not his game. Now, he is back to his bread and butter.

Tonight, Nunez hit two triples, something you do not see too often. The first one drove in Drew Millas to open the scoring in the third. Then, the speedster got another three-bagger in the 5th to start the inning. James Wood would drive him in right afterwards.

It was not just the offense where Nunez was a threat though. He made a couple really nice plays on defense, including a clutch double play turn in the 9th when things looked to be getting dicey for Gus Varland. Nunez also walked twice and used his speed to steal his league-leading 26th base. Tonight shows you why the Nats have stuck with Nasim through the struggles. When he is giving you something with the bat, he can be such a spark plug.

The last hero of the night was a player who has been clutch all season long. Curtis Mead had been in a mini-slump the past week, but he changed that with one swing of the bat. After the bullpen gave away the 3-1 lead in the top of the 7th, the Nats ferocious offense responded in a big way in the bottom half.

The normally reliable Daniel Lynch’s control escaped him tonight. He walked Nunez and Andres Chaparro to bring up the Aussie. Mead absolutely leaned into a laser beam of a homer on a Lynch hanging slider. That made the game 6-3, a lead that would stick.

Picked up in a waiver wire trade, Mead has been an invaluable piece for this team. He has played all over the infield, and gives his team such good at bats. Mead was considered a failed prospect heading into the new season, but like so many of these Nats, he has found new life this year.

The fans have also found new life here in DC. The yard was packed tonight, and fans were ready to explode in the 9th. They went nuts when Gus Varland struck out Isaac Collins to end the game. That feeling is starting to come back in DC. If you have not already been paying attention to the Nats, there are a few more seats on the bandwagon. Take them before it is too late!