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The St. Louis Cardinals needed a game like they had Wednesday night at Busch Stadium to turn around their recent downturn. Andre Pallante gave the Cardinals a great start and many bats in the lineup were productive including Alec Burleson, Jordan Walker and Nelson Velázquez as St. Louis beat Texas.

The Cardinals did not waste any time getting the offense going as Masyn Winn walked to open up the Cardinals bottom of the 1st. After Ivan Herrera popped out, Jordan Walker hit into a fielder’s choice, but St. Louis managed to put together a 2-out rally anyway. Nelson Velázquez walked and then Alec Burleson turned on a 97 mph four-seam fastball and drove it into right field giving the Cardinals an early 1-0 lead.

The Texas Rangers would pull even (temporarily) in the top of the 3rd inning as Kyle Higashioka singled to center and then advanced to second on a wild pitch by Pallante. Two batters later, Josh Jung singled him in tying the game 1-1.

The Cardinals would retake the lead in the bottom of the 3rd inning after Jordan Walker singled and then Nelson Velázquez crushed a double giving St. Louis runners at second and third with no one out. Alec Burleson added his own double giving the Cardinals their lead back at 3-1. It could have been more, though, as Alec Burleson was stranded at third base after a fielder’s choice from Jose Fermin and strikeouts by Nolan Gorman and Thomas Saggese. Saggese would redeem himself just two innings later.

The Cardinals offense would put more runs on the board in both the bottom of the 5th and 6th innings. After Jose Fermin doubled in the Cardinals 5th, Thomas Saggese did him one better by cracking a triple to right giving St. Louis a 4-1 lead. In the bottom of the 6th, the Cardinals would start another two-out rally when Jordan Walker singled and then stole second. Nelson Velázquez would strike again singling to right and scoring Walker giving the Cardinals a somewhat secure 5-1 lead. Or, so they thought.

Andre Pallante had his best stuff working Wednesday night as he tossed 5 2/3 allowing only 1 earned run while striking out 5 and walking 2. He would be relieved by JoJo Romero who got the final out of the 6th inning getting out of a jam created by Andre, but would run into trouble himself in the top of the 7th inning. Pinch-hitter Justin Foscue doubled and then JoJo walked Higashioka. Joc Pederson made him regret it by driving a triple into the right-center field gap scoring both runners making it just 5-3 Cardinals. Fortunately, Ryne Stanek would come into the game and strikeout Josh Jung and get Brandon Nimmo to pop out stranding Pederson at third base. Stanek would stay in the game and pitch a solid top of the 8th inning that was refreshingly almost drama-free with just one single allowed.

Riley O’Brien came in to close out the top of the 9th inning in an effort to post a positive bounce-back from the disastrous Tuesday night effort. He unfortunately struggled with his control again walking the first batter he faced, Kyle Higashioka. The Rangers made the interesting choice to have Michael Helman lay down a sacrifice bunt to move Higashioka to second base. That brought up Joc Pedersen as the potential tying run. He made all of us hold our breath as he flew out to very deep left-center for the second out. Whew. The final Rangers hope, Josh Jung, popped out on the first pitch he saw to lock up a Cardinals victory at 5-3.

The Cardinals have a much-needed day off Thursday to rest up before starting a weekend homestand against the Cincinnati Reds at Busch Stadium. Kyle Leahy is the scheduled starter Friday night with Brady Singer the expected starter for the Reds. First pitch scheduled for 7:15pm central time with the TV broadcast available on Cardinals.tv.

The streak is over.

After 50 2/3 innings, Phillies ace Cristopher Sanchez finally surrendered a run in Wednesday’s 3-2 win.

Sanchez, 8 1/3 innings away from Orel Hershiser’s MLB record of 59 scoreless frames set, gave up a two-out, seventh-inning single to the Padres’ Jackson Merrill, which brought home Ty France.

When the run crossed home, the Philly faithful gave their hurler a standing ovation.

Sanchez kept his composure and completed the inning, ending his night.

Sanchez’s scoreless streak began in the second inning of the April 30 matchup with the Giants, a span of five starts.

The crazy run is the longest ever by a left-handed pitcher and the fourth longest of all time, behind Hershiser (1988), Don Drysdale (58 innings, 1968), Walter Johnson (55 2/3 inning, 1913) and Jack Coombs (53 innings, 1910).

It beat out Hall of Famer Grover Alexander’s Phillies mark of 41 innings set in 1911. 

“It was incredible,” Sánchez said after breaking Grove’s record. “It’s really special what we have here as a group, as an organization as a whole — the players, the staff, the medical staff. So it’s just really special to share things like this with this tremendous group that we have here.”

The streak has coincided with the Phillies’ resurgence from last place in the NL East. Since that April 30 start, the Phillies have gone 21-11 and sit in second place after Wednesday’s win. 

They will look for the series sweep of San Diego on Thursday as they try to claw back into the playoff picture. 

It is a the second coming of Simeon Woods Richardson. You will likely remember that the Jays picked him (along with Anthony Kay) up from the Mets for Marcus Stroman back in 2019. I remember it mostly because I was in Toronto at the time and was at a game with Matt W and we discussed the trade (my memory says were were fairly pleased with the return).

Then we trade SWR to the Twins (with Austin Martin) for José Berríos. Woods Richardson never did pitch for us.

After getting in a game in each of 2022 and 2023, for the Twins, he made 50 starts (and one relief appearance) over 2024 and 2025 with a 12-9 record and a 4.11 record. This year hasn’t go so well, he pitched in 12 games with a 7.74 ERA in 47.2 innings. Batters hit .330/.409/.543 against him. And so the Twin DFAed him.

The Jays are sending cash back.

I’m thinking Richardson has been picked up to start instead of us doing two bullpen days every five games. SWR might not be great, but he can go more than 3 innings (I hope) and might allow us to save some bullpen arms.

I’m thinking that, when some of our injured starters are ready to come back, Woods Richardson will either move into our bullpen or get DFAed again, depending on how he does.

Welcome back, Simeon. Just a tip, if you want a win, don’t give up more than a run.

For the first time since his return, Gerrit Cole looked human. For the first time since completing his comeback from Tommy John surgery, Cole surrendered a run — four of them — and was hurt by the long ball.

And against an Aaron Judge-less lineup, that was more than enough for the Guardians.

The Yankees lost to Cleveland 5-4 on Wednesday for their second consecutive defeat with Judge sidelined as they awaited a final diagnosis on the bone bruise near his right rib. Cole, after opening his 2026 ledger with 12 ²/₃ shutout innings, allowed the four runs across 5 ¹/₃ frames, with Cleveland’s three home runs accounting for most of the damage.

He still flashed his vintage, pre-surgery form, an encouraging sign for a banged-up Yankees team clinging to its remaining healthy stars.

But their offense managed just five hits — two of those solo homers — and didn’t come close to cobbling together nearly enough production with Judge’s status looming.

“I thought he threw the ball well,” manager Aaron Boone said. “I thought located pretty well. They pressured him. They were aggressive with him, put the ball in play on him. … But obviously, the long ball was the difference tonight.”

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Even after eight innings of inconsistency, the Yankees had a chance in the ninth while trailing by two. Paul Goldschmidt doubled to lead off the inning and scored on Cody Bellinger’s deep sacrifice fly to pull them within a run. Jazz Chisholm Jr. struck out and José Caballero flew out, though, to end the comeback attempt.

Cole breezed through the first inning with just eight pitches, but Kyle Manzardo sent a ball over the right-field fence on what Boone and Cole both described as an “impressive swing” on a knuckle curve to lead off the second — giving the Guardians a 1-0 lead.

Rhys Hoskins crushed a slider over the left-field fence two frames later, giving Cleveland the advantage back after Chisholm evened the game with a solo homer of his own. And to lead off the fifth, José Ramírez added the Guardians’ third homer of the night.

The pitch to Hoskins was a mechanical mistake, Cole said, and outside of those swings, he mostly gave the Yankees a chance to win. He kept them within striking distance. He only struck out two batters after recording 10 in his last outing, but he was still mostly efficient.

“Clearly, they’re good pitches,” Cole said, “but they’re better swings. Sometimes, that’s baseball.”

Cole’s offense left him little margin for error, though. As the Yankees braced for the final diagnosis on Judge, a process dragging from imaging Monday all the way into Thursday, they issued a reminder of just how much they need their superstar. Chisholm’s homer was a promising sign from the infielder who has struggled during a contract year, and Caballero — starting in right field in place of Judge — kept making a case to remain in the Yankees lineup with a solo homer off Gavin Williams and a single in the second.

But only Ben Rice and Goldschmidt managed extra-base hits outside of that. There were harmless grounders and fly outs that strung together. The Guardians added a run in the eighth inning when Hoskins drove in a run with a single off Paul Blackburn, who inherited a pair of runners as Tim Hill’s struggles continued.

And when the Yankees needed a response in the eighth, Anthony Volpe, Trent Grisham and Rice all flew out against Hunter Gaddis.

If the Yankees needed another reminder of just how much they needed Judge, and just how much they might struggle without him, that captured it perfectly.

“It sucks not to have him here,” Chisholm said, “but at the same time, we’re still a team. I feel like we have really great players on this team, you know what I mean. Judge is great and everything, but he couldn’t do it by himself.”

MILWAUKEE — Everything, down to the littlest detail, was working in the Giants’ favor.

Even the jug of orange Gatorade in the dugout.

“Sometimes they mix it too strong or too weak,” remarked Ron Washington, who’s been in the game long enough to be a connoisseur of the sports drink. “Today, it’s just right.”

You could say it was perfect.

And you could say the same about Logan Webb. Almost.

In a 1-0 over the Brewers, the Giants ace didn’t allow a base runner until issuing a walk to start the sixth inning and took a no-hitter into the seventh, when a flare off the bat Brice Turang snuck inches over the glove of a diving Matt Chapman, who extended as far to his left as he could. 

“Around the fifth inning, there were a lot of voices going on in my head,” Webb said. “It was like, ‘You have a no-hitter, you have a no-hitter.’ I know there’s like a jinx thing, but I was already saying that anyway.

“But I’m going to blame [manager Tony Vitello] because he did call down right before I gave up the hit and said have someone ready, so I’m going to blame him for that.”

Webb had to settle for one of the most sterling showings of his career — by far his best of the season — and a much-needed performance to flip the Giants’ fortunes after dropping seven of their past eight to enter the game with the worst record in the majors.

“I think even by his incredibly high standards, it was just a tremendous outing,” Vitello said. “Just the one [walk] probably got away from just because of fatigue, but he was relentless in the zone.”

It didn’t end without drama: Christian Yelich doubled to lead off the bottom of the ninth and reached third with one out, but Keaton Winn got Turang to swing through a fastball above the letters for the second out and stranded the tying run 90 feet away with a groundout of William Contreras to preserve the spectacular effort by Webb.

He finished seven shutout innings, surrendering just the one walk and one hit while striking out four and using his sinker to induce a dozen mostly soft ground-ball outs.

The no-hit bid risked overshadowing another feel-good moment that ended up being just as decisive in determining the outcome. 

Up until the seventh, the only activity in the Giants’ bullpen came when they were at the plate in the top of the fifth, as rookie outfielder Victor Bericoto’s first home run landed among the group of relievers and bounced into the stands, providing the only run San Francisco would need.

Bericoto became the first Giants player to have his first home run be the difference-maker in a 1-0 win since Darren Lewis in 1991.

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What it means

Webb’s season, like the Giants as a whole, has been a frustrating one to this point. His 4.82 ERA is the highest since he established himself in the majors in 2021. The Giants were just 2-7 behind him in his first nine starts, and a knee issue forced him to the IL for the first time.

Turns out, the time off was a good thing. Really good. Just what Webb needed. Almost perfect.

Who’s hot

Webb, perhaps, was extra motivated by watching his close friend and former teammate, Kyle Harrison, dominate the Giants the previous night. Or maybe he looked at the 4.94 ERA the Giants’ rotation took into the game and decided something needed to be done about it.

He could just like facing the Brewers.

In seven previous starts against them, Webb was 4-0 with a 2.08 ERA. The only team he’s had more success against in as many starts is the Reds, who happened to be the victims of the Giants’ last no-hitter, thrown by Blake Snell at Great American Ballpark in 2023.

Who’s not

Webb was back to normal form in his second start back from the first stint on the injured list of his career. Unfortunately for the Giants, so was their lineup.

Robert Gasser, a left-hander called up from Triple-A before the game, matched zeros in the run column — if not the hit column — for the first four innings, and the Giants weren’t able to provide any insurance following Bericoto’s home run in the fifth.

They were held to three or fewer runs for the sixth time in their past nine games, stranding at least eight men on base for the fourth time during that stretch.

Up next

Adrian Houser will look to build on Webb’s effort in the series finale as the Giants try to salvage a split in the four-game series against the NL Central leaders before finishing their road trip with three games against the Cubs at Wrigley Field.

Right-hander Erian Rodriguez was promoted to Double-A Knoxville from the rookie ball ACL Cubs

Right-hander Sam Mettert was promoted to Low-A Myrtle Beach from the ACL Cubs.

Iowa Cubs

The Iowa Cubs were swarmed by the Toledo Mud Hen (Tigers), 10-2.

Javier Assad started this game and pitched just one inning. He retired the side in order, striking out one. He threw just six pitches and all six of them were strikes.

Zac Leigh came on to pitch the second inning and got the loss after he gave up a solo home run in the third inning. Leigh allowed one run on one hit over two innings. He walked two and struck out one.

Gavin Hollowell, whom I was touting for a major league look, came on to pitch the eighth inning, faced six batters and retired none of them. Hollowell allowed three hits and walked three. Five of those six baserunners came around to score.

The I-Cubs avoided a shutout when left fielder Chas McCormick hit a two-run home run in the bottom of the ninth. It was his sixth home run of the year. McCormick was 1 for 3 with a walk.

Matt Shaw played the entire game at DH and was 2 for 4.

A hit by Shaw.

McCormick’s home run.

Knoxville Smokies

The Knoxville Smokies were subjugated by the Birmingham Barons (White Sox), 2-0.

Grant Kipp gave the Smokies four good innings, but not good enough to not take the loss. Kipp allowed two runs, one earned, on four hits over the four innings. One of the four hits was a solo home run Kipp struck out four and walked three.

Tyler Ras had three scoreless innings of relief, allowing just one hit. Ras struck out three and walked no one.

The Smokies managed just five hits, which is actually the same number they allowed. Second baseman Hayden Cantrelle went 2 for 3.

Left fielder Carter Trice was 1 for 4 with a triple.

South Bend Cubs

The South Bend Cubs brought the Quad Cities River Bandits (Royals) to justice, 4-3.

Kevin Valdez pitched the first five innings and had a solid start by allowing just one run on six hits. The one run came on a solo home run in the fourth. He struck out five and walked one.

Grayson Moore pitched the ninth inning and got the save. He walked a batter with one out, but otherwise gave up nothing. Moore struck out two.

South Bend scored all four runs in the first inning and hung on the rest of the way.

Left fielder Jose Escobar hit a two-run single in the first. He was 1 for 4.

Center fielder Josiah Hartshorn went 1 for 3 with a walk. He scored once.

A great outfield assist by Escobar.

Myrtle Beach Pelicans

The Myrtle Beach Pelicans were hunted down by the Charleston RiverDogs (Rays), 9-5.

Good start for Kaleb Wing, who went 3.1 innings and allowed one run on three hits. He still got the loss. Wing struck out six and walked just one.

Sam Mettert’s Pelicans debut didn’t go as well. Mettert gave up three runs, two earned, on one hit and three walks over 1.2 innings.

The Pelicans scored all five runs in the top of the eighth inning. The big blow was a three-run double by third baseman Yahil Melendez. Melendez was 1 for 5.

Catcher Logan Poteet got the Birds on the board with an RBI double earlier in the fifth. Poteet went 2 for 4 with a walk and a double. He scored on Melendez’s double.

Second baseman Darlyn De Leon was 2 for 5.

Melendez’s double.

ACL Cubs

Off day.

With the 2026 season now wrapped up for Mizzou Baseball, Kerrick Jackson & Co. currently find themselves navigating a heavy wave of departures. To date, a dozen Tigers have officially entered the portal.

The list of talent includes five pitchers and seven position players, featuring several notable names who saw extensive action this season. Names like Blaize Ward and Kaden Peer, alongside key players such as Chris Patterson and Sam Parker. For a detailed, player-by-player look at everyone who entered the portal, check out our complete offseason post here.

New Talent Arises

With that being said, the focus in Columbia is already shifting to the wave of exciting new talent coming in to play for the Tigers.

Leading the charge for the incoming transfers is Florida Gulf Coast University shortstop Wilfred Gonzalez, who officially became Mizzou’s first portal commitment on Wednesday, June 3. The Miami, Fla., Gonzalez brings an elite bat to the Tigers’ lineup after putting together a stellar season for the Eagles.

He managed to bat an impressive .323 while racking up 74 hits, 11 doubles, 2 home runs and 30 RBIs. As an incoming senior, Gonzalez provides Mizzou with a a heavy approach that will hopefully translate well against elite SEC arms.

Securing a capable infielder will be the first vital step in rebuilding from what has been lost. This ultimately proves that the Tigers are moving in the right direction to reload just as fast as they lose talent.

We’ll be using this landing page to provide all the additions to the Tigers’ roster.

Yankees manager Aaron Boone revealed that team captain and star outfielder Aaron Judge is set to undergo further imaging on his injured ribs as well as his chest.

Yesterday, Boone said that Judge was dealing with a bone bruise in his upper right ribcage. The skipper called Judge's injury, which had been lingering for a couple of weeks, a "day-to-day situation."

The three-time (and currently reigning) American League MVP has not featured in their current home series against the Cleveland Guardians. In his absence, the team has begun to falter, losing 9-4 on Tuesday and 5-4 on Wednesday. His status for the weekend's three-game tilt against the Boston Red Sox remains uncertain, but few would be surprised to see him miss out on that crucial rivalry matchup entirely.

Following Wednesday's loss, Boone told the media that he expects to learn more about Judge's condition "later tonight or tomorrow," explaining that because the organization doesn't yet know "what exactly [Judge is] dealing with", there is still no timeline or expectation for Judge's return to the lineup.

To this point, Judge's slash line reads .248/.375/.533 with 17 home runs and 38 RBI. It speaks to Judge's greatness that a .907 OPS is the mark of a "down year."

The last time Judge missed significant time was 2023, when he missed 52 games due to torn ligaments in his right big toe and a hip strain.

The Diamondbacks won’t be getting Corbin Burnes back any time soon.

The Arizona ace, who is working his way back from Tommy John surgery, suffered a shoulder strain during his rehab and will pause his throwing program, manager Torey Lovullo said, according to The Arizona Republic.

Burnes, 31, underwent surgery last June and had been attempting to return by August, but will now likely have to wait until September, per Lovullo. 

“It’s a blow,” Lovullo said. “It’s something that we’re going to have to deal with. It’s just what we do in this game. We’ve got very qualified players in that clubhouse that are going to get some opportunities. We’ve got five really good starting pitchers right now and they’re doing a good job. I want that to continue.”

Lovullo said Burnes felt “something was a little tight” in his throwing shoulder and underwent an MRI on Monday that showed a strain.

He added that it will be “weeks, not days,” until Burnes can begin throwing again. 

The latest setback is a major blow for the D’backs and Burnes, who signed a six-year, $210 million deal before last season. 

Burnes was one of the top starting pitchers in baseball before coming to Arizona, making four All-Star teams and posting a 2.94 ERA from 2021-24. It was the fifth-lowest ERA in baseball among pitchers with at least 400 innings on the mound over that stretch.

He looked the part during his brief stint with the Diamondbacks in 2025, posting a 2.66 across 11 outings before going down.

Despite Burnes’ absence, Arizona is sitting at 32-28, which is tied with the Padres for second place in the National League West heading into Wednesday’s action.

Tonight, the Yankees were a cat that couldn’t catch the mouse. To be fair, the mouse in question was capable of dealing mighty blows to the cat. The Guardians grabbed their well-earned series win in the Bronx by flexing their muscles, clubbing three home runs off Gerrit Cole and always finding the timely hit to keep the tardy Yankee offense from responding with enough pop of their own. Gavin Williams was far from terrific on the mound for Cleveland, but the bullpen was able to stifle the Bombers just enough for a 5-4 final.

Cole’s scoreless streak to begin his season was snapped by a single swing in the second. Kyle Manzardo scooped a tumbling curveball — far from the worst offering of the game from Cole — and elevated it high and far to the facing of the second deck for a 1-0 Cleveland lead. We saw that power from him a few postseasons ago; his seventh long ball of the year gave the Guards the initiative.

Thankfully, the Bombers bashed back. Jazz Chisholm Jr. probably wasn’t consciously trying to clock a ball further than Manzardo did, but that’s what he did to lead off the second against Williams. Jazz turned on a belt-high heater from the tall right-hander and launched it 409 feet to reach the second deck. Of course, with nobody aboard, the homers counted the same; we were back to even.

The Cleveland offense which was in a groove last night found their stride again in the top of the fourth inning. It started with a hot line drive off the wall from José Ramírez that a strong throw in from José Caballero limited to a single. Ramírez would be able to trot home thanks to a two-out thunderstrike from veteran power bat Rhys Hoskins. Hoskins seized on a hanging slider from Cole and kept his blast fair down the left field line to make it 3-1 Cleveland.

Once again, the Yankees were able to respond quickly, albeit not with a two run shot. Still, a homer is a homer, and Caballero was more than willing to provide with a skyscraping fly ball to left that eluded the Guardians’ Angel Martínez and nestled into the glove of a Yankee fan and brought the Bombers within one.

Martínez lobbied for fan interference, but let’s face it; he’d have to be Victor Wembanyama’s height to snare that one. Or perhaps Mitchell Robinson’s — this is Knicks country, after all.

Unfortunately, Cole continued to struggle to keep the ball in the ballpark. The Guardians are not known for their proficiency against velocity, but it’s still unwise to give a center-cut offering of any speed to José Ramírez. The superstar third baseman continued his excellent career performance against Gerrit with a solo shot to right, restoring the two-run advantage at 4-2.

Manzardo continued the extra-base hit parade by smacking a double to the gap, then a walk to Hoskins spelled the end of Cole’s night. It wasn’t entirely fair to say Cole didn’t have his stuff per se, but every mistake he made was punished in a timely fashion. His breaking pitches routinely caught too much plate for a lineup that was suddenly geared to do damage, especially down the foul lines. Gerrit departed in line for the loss, replaced by Fernando Cruz.

Cruz did his job to strand the duo on base, but the Yankees had work to do against Williams, who was operating on cruise control aside from those solo homers. Ben Rice jostled him a bit with a leadoff double to start the home sixth, then advanced to third on a productive out from Paul Goldschmidt. That was sufficient to chase Williams from the mound.

Steven Vogt brought in lefty Tim Herrin to face Cody Bellinger, but the left-on-left matchup never daunts Cody. He made quality contact to center field for a lineout, and Steven Kwan airmailed the throw home to allow Rice to score easily on the sac fly. Herrin, who was in the game just as much to face Jazz as he was to face Bellinger, retired the Yankee second baseman to hold the lead at 4-3.

But the scuffling Yankee bullpen backpedaled. Tim Hill’s recent funk continued: he surrendered some more loud noises as Ramírez collected his third hit, and Manzardo nearly scored him on a booming double off the center field wall. Ramírez’s helmet flew off and obstructed him in a rare twist of good fortune, forcing him to retreat to third. Naturally Paul Blackburn entered and promptly wasted the lucky break by serving up a perfect batting practice ball to Hoskins, who scored Ramírez on a simple single to left. Once again, the Guards led by a pair.

Like last night, the Yankees bats were unable to solve Hunter Gaddis, who put up a zero in the bottom of the eighth, then a clean ninth from Blackburn brought this irritating game of cat-and-mouse to its final frame.

Goldschmidt came to the dish ready to hit against closer Cade Smith, rapping a double into the left field corner to immediately bring up Bellinger as the tying run. A lawn dart from Smith immediately moved Goldschmidt up 90 feet, Cody repeated his sixth-iunning act by grabbing a sac fly, but it seemed to have ultimately done Smith a favor. He roared back to strike out Chisholm, then got Caballero to pop out to end the night.

The Bombers continually played from behind tonight, and never found the big hit they needed to flip the script. They fell 5-4.

The Yankees will seek to salvage the final game and ward off a sweep at the hands of the AL Central leaders. Carlos Rodón will toe the slab, giving this Cleveland lineup which has found success against the Yankees’ righties a different look. Slade Cecconi will oppose Rodón, with the Thursday matinée kicking off at 1:35 PM on YES.

Box Score

Both starters were dealing tonight. Despite that, the Royals were able to get on the board early. Vinnie Pasquantino turned on a fastball in the first inning and drove it out of the park down the right field line. Bobby Witt Jr. had walked on four pitches right before that, so the Royals had a 2-0 lead just three batters into the game.

After that, Chase Burns only allowed a few Royals on base and when he did, he would just strike everyone out to prevent them from coming around to score. He struck out 9 Royals across his six innings before turning it over to the bullpen.

Stephen Kolek also felt like striking out a lot of batters today. Through four innings he was straight up dominant before it seemed his command started to wane a bit. In the 5th inning this got him into a little trouble. Will Benson led off that inning with a bunt single because the defense was back and shaded to pull leaving the third base line a long way from any defenders. That ended up not mattering because Kolek rolled up a double play and looked like he was going to get through five without any runs, but Matt McLain had a seeing eye single to keep the inning going and get it back to the top of the lineup. Blake Dunn then saw a slider break into the middle of the zone and drove it out to tie up the game. Kolek still managed to get through 7 innings and struck out 8 for the second time in his career. The final line was 7IP, 6H, 2BB, 2ER, 8K. He had 7 Ks through three innings though, so his slider that was dominant early lost some of its power the 2nd and 3rd time through Cincinnati’s order.

In a year that has mostly gone wrong, Stephen Kolek has been a bright a spot. He now has a 3.32 ERA and four of his six starts have been quality starts. Not bad for a guy who was 7th on the depth chart for the rotation.

With the starters out, it was a new game all tied up. Daniel Lynch was the first out of the pen for the Royals. Other than a load double off the wall from pinch hitter Dane Myers, Lynch looked in control. The Reds’ relievers only allowed a single to Pasquantino in the 7th and 8th. The Royals then got something going in the 9th. Jac Caglianone led off the inning with his second single of the night, which brought in Tyler Tolbert as a pinch runner. Isaac Collins then sac bunted him to get a runner in scoring position with Michael Massey coming up. Tony Santillan was having his attention divided watching Tolbert on base and trying to pitch to Massey until finally, on the 8th pitch of the plate appearance, Michael singled to right and got the Royals back ahead 3-2. There was still only one out and a runner on. Nick Loftin came up to try and get some insurance runs. Ryan Lefebvre then said, “Loftin has not hit a home run yet this year”. Two seconds later he did just that and the Royals’ lead was extended to 3.

Lane Thomas, who pinch hit for Kyle Isbel in the 7th, walked and that ended Santillan’s night. Zachary McCambley was next up and had his major league debut. He struck out Carter Jensen and started heading for the dugout, which his teammates are going to have some fun with I am sure given that there were only 2 outs. And the Royals kept making things interesting with a Bobby Witt single and then an intentional walk to Vinnie after Bobby took second on defensive indifference. Bases loaded, Salvador Perez coming to the plate, but it was not to be as he struck out and the lead stayed 5-2.

The Royals have blown multiple saves through this bad stretch of baseball. Lucas Erceg was not given the opportunity to have a fourth consecutive blown save and Alex Lange came in to try and close it out. Spencer Steer immediately doubled into the left field corner and that sinking feeling started to creep in. The Reds did have their 7, 8, and 9 hitters coming though. Benson struck out on a check swing and Cincy decided to pinch hit with Edwin Arroyo and his 1 career hit after making his debut on Monday. He was called out on a slider that hit the top of the zone for strike three. Noelvi Marte was up and things got a little weird. He checked his swing on the first pitch for a ball, but then said it hit his arm, so the Reds decided to challenge. They did not win the challenge and Marte returned to the batter’s box. The next pitch was called a strike and Marte challenged that turning it into a ball and eventually leading to a walk. Dunn was back up with a chance to hit a second game-tying home run of the day, but then he bunted the first pitch foul? Bunting with 2 outs and runners on first and second was a strange choice. He then hit a fly ball to center than Lane Thomes caught ending the threat, giving the Royals a win for the game and the series.

That was an uncomfortable ninth inning, but the bullpen did its job tonight. Thanks to Kolek they only needed to take care of two innings and they did. Next it is off to Minnesota for four games against a division rival who is not very good, though their record is still quite a bit better than Kansas City’s.