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Aaron Boone didn’t have the same outburst as Willson Contreras, but he didn’t shy away from calling out the Red Sox first baseman for his reaction to an inside pitch that led to the benches clearing Friday night.

“I think that’s what he does a lot,’’ Boone said of Contreras’ reaction after the 6-1 Yankees’ loss, their second straight to begin this four-game set at Fenway Park. “His arms hang over the plate, so I don’t know where we’re supposed to go. I think there’s probably a method to what he’s doing, probably wants that. Obviously, nothing’s going on. We probably needed to do a better job of getting the ball in on him tonight and didn’t. The warnings and the barking seemed kind of ridiculous.” 

The throwback moment to the heated days of the Yankees-Red Sox rivalry happened in the top of the fifth inning with the Red Sox leading, 4-0.

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Contreras had already tagged Warren for an RBI single and a solo homer when Warren fired a 1-0 pitch high and inside, before a 3-2 pitch again came close to Contreras.

The Red Sox first baseman flipped his bat and then began jawing at Warren, who said he responded, and the benches eventually cleared.

No punches were thrown nor were any players ejected.

Contreras downplayed the event, saying it’s “part of the game,” but the Yankees’ starting pitcher indicated some frustration, saying “no comment” when asked if he was surprised to hear remarks from Contreras.

“I’m making a pitch, being competitive,’’ Warren said. “He said something, so I said something back. I’m just trying to make a pitch.”

He added: “I’m trying to get in the zone, he’s playing games in the box.”

Both teams received a warning from home plate umpire Tyler Jones, with Boone unsure if the benches meant that a warning had to be issued.

Either way, he indicated he clearly disagreed with the ruling.

“I don’t know if it’s automatic, I kind of understand. I don’t know, 2026,” Boone said with a laugh. “I mean, honestly. Geez.”

Boone eventually shut down the line of questioning about Contreras when asked for a third time.

“I think we all see how ridiculous it was,” a then-testy Boone said, “let’s just leave it alone. Seriously.”

The Yankees have not played well to start this four-game set in Boston, losing the first two games against southpaws before facing a third straight Red Sox lefty Saturday afternoon in Jake Bennett.

Gerrit Cole looks to rebound after a bad start last time out against Detroit.

The Detroit Tigers evened up their four-game home series with the Houston Astros on Friday night with an 8-0 blowout victory over the visitors. Keider Montero tossed seven innings of shutout ball and the offense rallied behind home runs by Kerry Carpenter and Colt Keith.

Climbing the mound for the Motor City Kitties on Saturday afternoon looking to take the series lead is left-hander Framber Valdez, who has had a strong June after a rough May. The 32-year-old has allowed just one run in three of his four starts this month and posted a 2.45 ERA and a 4.01 FIP over that stretch with two wins and a loss to show for.

One of those gems he threw came against the Astros the last time he saw them, surrendering an unearned run on six hits and three walks while striking out six in a no-decision at Daikin Park that Detroit ultimately lost, 4-2.

For Houston, right-hander Kai-Wei Teng will make his 10th start of the season as he comes off his second-best outing so far. The 27-year-old held the Cleveland Guardians to just one run over six innings of work on four hits and a walk while striking out four to earn his fourth win in a 4-2 final at home.

However, his prior start against the Tigers was not a pretty one. The native of Taiwan coughed up five runs on six hits (three home runs) and three walks while striking out a whopping nine — and hitting a pair of batters — to earn his sixth loss in a 9-3 final in Houston.

Here is a look at how the two match up on Saturday afternoon at Comerica Park.

Detroit Tigers (35-47) vs. Houston Astros (40-44)

Time (ET): 1:10 p.m.
Place: Comerica Park, Detroit, Michigan
SB Nation Site:The Crawfish Boxes
Media: Detroit SportsNet, MLB.TV, Tigers Radio Network

Game 83: LHP Framber Valdez (4-5, 3.91 ERA) vs. RHP Kai-Wei Teng (4-6, 4.03 ERA)

VALDEZ

TENG

Yesterday was quite the bust day, wasn’t it? Lots of news, lots of great baseball being played. It was a great day for baseball. Right?

On to the links.

Phillies news:

• Sam Fuld is going to be at the forefront of the Phillies in some capacity or another. The TV deal is likely his biggest piece of business ($).
• You won’t believe one of the names Jon Heyman mentions in this piece as a possible trade target for the Phillies.

MLB news:

• The biggest news of the day is the Mets doing away with Carlos Mendoza as their manager, hiring Andy Green on an interim basis.
• The Angels tried to one up them by firing their general manager and hiring an old one from the Cardinals on a consulting basis.
• The Player’s Association offered up a proposal to ban player prop bets to help with threats against the players.

When it comes to stolen bases, José Caballero ranks among the best in the business. In each of the past two seasons, the speedy shortstop/utilityman led the American League in steals, with 44 with Tampa Bay in 2024 and 49 between the Rays and Yankees last season. He accomplished this feat despite playing in only 265 games across the two seasons (roughly 80 percent of the available games).

To start this season, Caballero played the role of “elite basestealer” perfectly, successfully advancing on his first ten stolen base attempts to start the season. In the third inning on April 24th, however, Cabby was thrown out trying to steal third after successfully stealing second; since that play, he’s been downright bad, having been thrown out eight times in his last 15 attempts.

Now, the fact that Caballero is getting thrown out isn’t all that unusual. While he is fast, he lacks the overwhelming speed of players like Bobby Witt Jr. and Jorge Matteo, as his 28.3 ft/sec sprint speed ranks 105th in the league (the 76th percentile). Between that and his aggressiveness on the basepaths, he typically finds himself near the top of the caught stealing leaderboards. His 16 failed attempts in 2024 topped baseball (tied with Elly De La Cruz, who led baseball with 67 stolen bases), and his 11 failed attempts last year trailed only Tampa Bay’s Chandler Simpson.

What is strange this time around, though, is how streaky Cabby has been. After his first 10 successful attempts, he was nabbed in four of his next five attempts. Since then, he’s pretty much gone one-for-one, never going more than two successes or two failures in a row. For someone whose career stolen base percentage heading into the season was almost 80 percent, this seemed a little unusual, so I dove into the MLB Film Room to look at each of Caballero’s recent stolen base attempts. From this, I was able to categorize Caballero’s failed stolen base attempts.

Twice this season, Cabby successfully beat the throw, only to overslide the bag and get tagged out after he came off.

Caballero tends to slide to the center field side of the second base bag, as it increases the distance the ball needs to travel by a foot or two, and thus makes it more difficult for him to be thrown out. The flip side of this, though, is that only friction from the ground is slowing him down; if he starts his slide too late, or the dirt is particularly slick, his momentum will carry him past the bag, because let’s be honest, one hand covered in an oven mitt will not be able to latch onto a flat slab all that easily.

Unfortunately, this is going to happen. Elite base stealers do this to varying degrees. See, for example, this stolen base by Jazz Chisholm Jr. from back in April:

Even though Chisholm goes more directly at the bag than Caballero does – perhaps the result of his slightly faster sprint speed (28.5 ft/sec) – he still leans to the center field side of second base. Maybe Cabby could find a little bit more success if he does this more often, but at this point, if that extra few feet on the throw makes up for a handful of overslid bags during the season, you’ll take it.

Four attempts, meanwhile, required perfect throws from the catcher, and in three of them, for the play to be challenged by the defense. Two of them, furthermore, were in the same game, on April 25th against the Astros.

About these four, there’s not much that I can say with the footage we have. Maybe he got a bad jump? At this point, I wouldn’t know. All I can say is, sometimes, the defense makes a great play, and you tip your cap to them.

There is, in truth, only one play here that I am overly concerned about, and it’s this one:

The MLB Film Room labels it “Nick Martinez Pitchout to Ryan McMahon.” It’s not a traditional pitchout, which typically sees the ball thrown in the opposing batter’s box and the catcher jumping out to get clear of potential obstruction from the batter. But it is clear that the Rays knew Caballero was going to be running on the play. The catcher starts in a position to pop up and is moving well before the ball reaches home plate. Now the Yankees did acquire Caballero from the Rays, so they’re certainly familiar with his thinking, but honestly, I find Cabby predictable at times – and if I can find him predictable, I’m sure other teams can, too. This is, of course, anecdotal evidence, and I don’t like to make conclusions off anecdotal evidence, but in the absence of an easy way to reliably look at teams’ scouting reports, there’s not much else to do.

But is Caballero’s possible predictability a reason for concern? Honestly, not really. Of these seven times he was caught stealing, he was successful but fell off the bag twice, and was close enough three other times that, had the other team been out of challenges, he would have notched a stolen base. Based on what we can tell from our living rooms, it seems to me that Cabby is primarily a victim of sequencing: had all seven of his failed attempts been scattered among all 18 of his successful attempts, rather than bunched up within the last eight, then this wouldn’t be a story.

Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre RailRiders:W, 8-3 at Indianapolis Indians

2B Marco Luciano 2-4, 2B, 2 RBI, BB, 2 K
RF Yanquiel Fernández 1-5, RBI, 2 K
CF Garrett Martin 1-5, K
1B Tyler Hardman 1-3, RBI, 2 BB, SB
DH Ernesto Martinez Jr. 2-5, 2B, 4 RBI, K – five-run seventh cinched the game, highlighted by his three-run double
3B Jonathan Ornelas 1-4, K
C Payton Henry 2-4, K
LF Duke Ellis 2-4, 2 K SB – make that 33 stolen bases already this year
SS Owen Cobb 1-4, K, two throwing errors

Elmer Rodríguez 4 IP, 1 H, 1 R (0 ER), 6 BB, 4 K – whew, 90 pitches and just 46 strikes, Rodríguez’s control has seemed pretty off this year
Zach Messinger 2 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 3 K
Yordanny Cruz 1 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 0 K – good to see back-to-back solid outings from Cruz
Bradley Hanner 1 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 0 K
Carson Coleman 1 IP, 3 H, 2 R, 1 BB, 2 K

Double-A Somerset Patriots: Postponed at New Hampshire Fisher Cats, makeup scheduled part of doubleheader today

High-A Hudson Valley Renegades:W, 13-3 at Bowling Green Hot Rods

3B Kaeden Kent 3-5, 2B, 2 RBI, 2 SB
SS Core Jackson 2-5, HR, 3 RBI, 2 K
C Eric Genther 2-5, 2B, RBI, 2 K
1B Kyle West 2-5, K
LF Wilson Rodriguez 1-4, HR, 3 RBI, 3 K, SF
2B Roderick Arias 4-5, 2B, HR, 2 RBI, K, CS – sweet, sweet swing on the homer
DH Enmanuel Tejeda 1-5, 2B, RBI, 2 K
CF Camden Troyer 0-5, 3 K
RF Robbie Burnett 2-4

Rory Fox 8 IP, 5 H, 3 R, 1 BB, 7 K, 1 HR (win) – one of the best pro outings from the 2025 sixth-rounder
Hansel Rincon 1 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 2 K

Low-A Tampa Tarpons:W, 6-2 at Dunedin Blue Jays

CF Brando Mayea 1-4, RBI, 2 K
3B Hans Montero 0-4, RBI, BB, 2 K
LF Luis Puello 1-4, 2B, 3 RBI, 2 K
SS Bryce Martin-Grudzielanek 0-3, BB, K
DH Engelth Urena 0-3, BB
2B Luis Escudero 0-2, 2 BB, K
1B David McCann 2-4, 2B, K
C Ediel Rivera 1-4, 2 SB
RF Gabriel Lara 0-3, BB, K

Henry Lalane 7 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 12 K (win) – the huge left-hander has had a couple lost years, but maybe at last he’s putting it back together. Very good look at him below from Baseball America
Jose Martinez 1.2 IP, 4 H, 2 R, 2 BB, 2 K
Pedro Rodriguez 0.1 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 0 K (save)

Florida Complex League Yankees:L, 7-5 vs. FCL Phillies

3B Richard Matic 1-4, BB, CS, fielding error
CF Wilberson De Pena 0-5
DH Queni Pineda 1-3, HR, RBI, BB, 2 K
2B Leni Done 1-4, 2 K
LF Jose Castro 0-1, BB, K, SB
RF Francisco Vilorio 1-4, 2 RBI, K
SS Dexters Peralta 2-4, 3B, RBI, K
C Justin Capellan 1-3, K
1B Christofer Reyes 0-4, 3 K

Omar Gonzalez 3 IP, 4 H, 4 R, 4 BB, 0 K, 1 HR (loss)
Marco Manzano 0.2 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 1 K
Enixon Sanchez 2.2 IP, 2 H, 3 R, 3 BB, 3 K
Austin Breedlove 2.2 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 2 BB, 2 K

Dominican Summer League Yankees:L, 13-10 vs. DSL Rockies

LF Isaias Castillo 3-6, 2B, RBI, K, SB, CS
SS Stiven Marinez 1-4, RBI, SB
CF Yostin Pena 1-5, RBI, BB, 3 SB, throwing error
2B Juan Torres 2-5, 2 2B, 3 RBI, K
C Juan Martinez 3-5, BB, SB
DH Cesar Lopez 3-4, 2 RBI, SF
3B Alfred Ciriaco 1-3, RBI, BB
RF Eliezer Adames 0-4, BB, K, three fielding errors
1B Jose Peralta 1-3, RBI, 2 BB

Victor De Leon 1.2 IP, 2 H, 3 R (2 ER), 4 BB, 2 K (loss)
Freddy Lopez 1.2 IP, 7 H, 6 R, 2 BB, 1 K
Brandon Rodriguez 1.2 IP, 2 H, 3 R (2 ER), 2 BB, 1 K, 1 HR
Jose Vargas 2 IP, 2 H, 1 R (0 ER), 0 BB, 4 K
Emanuel Vargas 2 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 3 K

Dominican Summer League Bombers:W, 6-1 (7) at DSL Marlins

DH Mani Cedeno 0-4, 2 K
SS Germayhoni Beltre 0-2, 2 RBI, BB, SF
2B Carlos Bello 1-4, 2B, K
RF David Carrera 1-4, 2B, RBI, K
1B Poly Ojeda 1-3, RBI, BB, SB
C Jesus Guerrero 0-2, 2 BB, K
CF Alfiery Matos 1-4, RBI
LF Sebastian Pinto 1-2, BB, CS
3B Adrian Feliz 1-2, RBI, SB

Jose Sanchez 4 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 2 BB, 2 K
Higor Requena 3 IP, 2 H, 1 R, 1 BB, 4 K (win)

The Atlanta Braves bullpen took another hit as right-hander Robert Suarez has been placed on the 15-day injured list with elbow inflammation. The move is retroactive to June 23. In addition, fellow righty Hurston Waldrep was recalled to Atlanta, and Carlos Carrasco has elected free agency. 

Suarez has been a huge asset to the bullpen this season. Through 31 games, he’s posted a 0.56 ERA and recorded 26 strikeouts. 

Waldrep appeared in Friday night’s contest, and though not his best stuff, he was able to work out of a jam. He ended the night with two scoreless innings, recording four walks and three strikeouts. 

With Suarez sidelined, the Braves will look to the rest of the bullpen to pick up the slack until one of their most dependable relievers returns.

More Braves News:

The four-game losing streak has been snapped after Friday’s 3-1 defeat of the San Francisco Giants. 

Briggs McKenzie and Alex Lodise each had productive days on the farm. More in the minor league recap. 

Grant McAuley caught up with prospect Eric Hartman to discuss his season in the minors.

MLB News:

The Boston Red Sox have placed shortstop Marcelo Mayer on the 10-day injured list with a bone stress reaction. Mayer has reportedly been dealing with the issue for two months. 

The Cincinnati Reds placed right-hander Tony Santillan on the 15-day injured list with an oblique strain. The move is retroactive to June 23.

After a 34-47 start, the New York Mets have fired manager Carlos Mendoza. Andy Green will serve as the interim manager for the remainder of the season.

From the Feed:

With the trade deadline approaching, should Alex Anthopoulos go all in?

Toledo Mud Hens 13, Worcester Red Sox 1 (box)

The Hens continue to beat up on the Red Sox, thumping them for their fourth straight and a series vicotry on Friday night. Carl Edwards Jr. handled a bulk role with ease, and the big bats did damage in this one.

Max Anderson sparked a two-out rally in the top of the first with an opposite field double. Eduardo Valencia singled him in, and Gage Workman and Corey Julks followed with a single and a walk, loading the bases for Jace Jung. Jung unloaded them with a grand slam to right center field.

Brenan Hanifee was the opener, and he allowed a run in the first. Edwards then dealt five innings of socreless ball, allowing just two hits and a walk.

Valencia cracked a solo shot in the third for his 13th on the year. In the top of the fifth, Max Clark singled and then stole second base. A wild pitch got him to third, and after Anderson walked, Valencia plated Clark with a sacrifice fly. Workman doubled in Anderson, and it was 8-1 Hens.

Matt Seelinger spun two good innings out of the pen, while Tanner Rainey closed it out.

The Hens tacked on five more runs in the top of the eighth to complete the rout. Two-out walks to Andrew Navigato and then Clark set the stage, and Trei Cruz singled in Navigato. Anderson singled in Clark, and Valencia crushed a three-run shot to left center field to make it 13-1.

Valencia: 4-4, 3 R, 6 RBI, 2 HR

Anderson: 3-4, 3 R, RBI, 2B, BB

Clark: 1-4, 2 R, BB, SB

Edwards Jr. (W, 3-6): 5.0 IP, 0 R, 2 H, BB, 3 K

Coming Up Next: It’s a 4:05 p.m. ET start on Saturday as the Hens push toward a sweep.

Erie SeaWolves 6, Binghamton Rumble Ponies 0 (box)

Kenny Serwa was sharp, and Andrew Jenkins landed the big blow in this one as the SeaWolves bullied the Ponies on Friday.

The SeaWolves also stole six bases in this one, three of them by Peyton Graham, who now has a hilarious 42 stolen bases on the year. Right from the jump, Seth Stphenson walked and Graham singled. Graham stole second, and a balk scored Stephenson. A ground out from Thayron Liranzo brought in Graham for a 2-0 lead.

In the second, Max Burt led off with a walk and stole second base. He eventually scored on a ground out to make it 3-0 SeaWolves.

Serwa had it from there. The right-hander walked three over 5.2 innings of work, but Binghamton couldn’t square him up, notching just two hits while striking out four times.

Yoniel Curet and Tanner Kohlhepp took over from Serwa and were solid, with Kohlhepp earning his fourth save. Andrew Jenkins bashed a three-run shot in the eighth off former Tigers’ relief prospect Max Green to end Binghamton’s hopes of a comeback.

Graham: 2-3, R, BB, 4 SB

Stephenson: 1-3, R, BB, SB, CS

Jenkins: 1-4, R, 3 RBI, HR

Serwa (W, 3-6): 5.2 IP, 0 R, 2 H, 3 BB, 4 K

Coming Up Next: It’s a 6:05 p.m. ET start in Erie on Saturday with the SeaWolves up 3-1 in the series.

West Michigan Whitecaps at Dayton Dragons (postponed)

They’ll look to play two in Dayton on Saturday, starting at 6:00 p.m. ET after they were rained out on Friday.

Daytona Tortugas 5, Lakeland Flying Tigers 3 (box)

Cale Wetwiska got a nice rehab outing in on Friday, but with Edian Espinal and Jordan Yost getting a day off, the offense didn’t quite have the juice to overcome a messy fourth inning.

Wetwiska is still building up his innings, but he gave the Flying Tigers 2.1 scoreless frames in this one. He only punched out one, but he looked at full strength and came out firing 97 mph repeatedly in the first inning.

The Flying Tigers opened the scoring when Jude Warwick and Beau Ankeney singled with Jesus Pinto already on first. He scored on Ankeney’s knock for a 1-0 lead.

Unfortunately, Antonio Florida walked three of the first four hitters in the bottom of the fourth. A Jude Warwick throwing error at shortstop prolonged the inning, and the Tortugas put up four runs to take a lead they wouldn’t relinquish.

In the top of the sixth, the Flying Tigers did make a little push. Ankeney singled with one out, and after Carson Rucker struck out, Zach MacDonald walked, and a swinging bunt from Nick Dumesnil was thrown away by the Tortugas catcher, scoring two runs to make it 4-3 Daytona.

That was as close as they’d get, as Pedro Garcia allowed a solo shot in the eighth.

Ankeney: 2-4, R, RBI, K

Dumesnil: 2-4, RBI, K

Warwick: 2-5, 2 K, SB

Wetwiska: 2.1 IP, 0 R, H, 0 BB, K

Coming Up Next: Daytona leads 3-1 in the series. It’s a 6:35 p.m. ET start on Saturday night.

FCL Blue Jays 5, FCL Tigers 4 (box)

The Tigers struck first with three runs in the first, as Steven Madero had a sacrifice fly and then Jose Dickson came through with a two-run double. Unfortunately, Paul Wilson leaked two runs in the second inning. Martin Tamara singled in Josue Quinonez in the third to make it a 4-2 Tigers lead, but they couldn’t tack on more runs.

Ryan Hall fired 1.2 innings of scoreless ball as he builds up after spending the first half on the injured list. Frenny Grant allowed three runs in the bottom of the seventh as the Blue Jays walked this one off.

Dickson: 1-3, 2 RBI, 2B, BB, K

Madero: 1-2, RBI, BB

Wilson: 3.0 IP, 2 ER, 2 H, 2 BB, 3 K

Hall: 1.2 IP, 0 R, 0 H, 2 BB, 2 K