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DETROIT — Jazz Chisholm Jr. took the lollipop out of his mouth and gave the Tigers something to suck on instead.

After creating some bad optics Monday night by sucking on a green apple Blow Pop for an inning while playing second base, which irked his manager, Chisholm was back in Aaron Boone’s good graces by Tuesday night because of his bat.

With the Yankees trailing by a run in the sixth inning, Chisholm popped a two-run homer to give them the lead and help snap a three-game losing streak with a 4-3 win over the Tigers at Comerica Park.

“The Lollipop Kid came through tonight in a big way, so that was good,” Boone said with a chuckle while Lil Wayne’s “Lollipop” blared over the speakers in the victorious clubhouse.

“He can have all the lollipops he wants now.”

“That’s funny, he didn’t say that [Monday],” Chisholm quipped. “No, I’m joking, I’m joking. We talked a little bit, but it wasn’t nothing crazy. Just safety hazards.”

Upon getting back to the dugout and high-fiving his teammates after his 12th home run of the year, off right-hander Casey Mize, Chisholm went right for the box of Blow Pops sitting on the bench, picked it up and showed it to the television cameras filming him.

Chisholm said he was egged on by his teammates, who were shouting to get him a lollipop. But it turns out the home run was preceded by fans near the Yankees on-deck circle, who were getting on Chisholm and asking him, “Where’s the lollipop at?”

“I think everything fuels him,” Boone said.

The dramatic turn of events in the latest chapter of Jazz being Jazz provided a sigh of relief for the Yankees (47-31), who had been in a rut of late and were not playing their best brand of baseball. But they delivered a closer version of it Tuesday, with some strong defense behind Carlos Rodón, Chisholm’s big swing followed by a key RBI double from Austin Wells for what proved to be the winning run, and a sturdy bullpen effort capped by David Bednar’s four-out save.

“Gosh, we played a good game tonight,” Boone said. “Obviously going through a stretch where we’ve lost a few in a row here, you kind of feel like, man, you really want to get this. … Some important things happened within that game to set us up.”

Among them were Rodón (5 ¹/₃ innings, three runs) catching a line drive back at him and doubling a runner off first in the second inning; Cody Bellinger throwing a runner out at the plate to end the fourth inning, keeping the deficit at 2-1; Fernando Cruz getting out of a jam in the sixth inning after the Tigers had crept within 4-3 against Rodón; and Jasson Domínguez making a shoestring catch on a sinking liner and then doubling off the runner at first to end the seventh.

But naturally, the night belonged to Chisholm, who provided a reminder of the talent that comes with his occasional antics.

Earlier in the day, on his weekly “Talkin’ Yanks” podcast appearance, Boone admitted that Chisholm playing the field while sucking on a lollipop “piss[ed] me off.” Then before the game, after addressing the issue with Chisholm, Boone tried to downplay the situation while acknowledging that it was not a good look.

“I don’t think that should be part of what we’re doing,” Boone said.

After Tuesday’s game, Chisholm insisted that he did not think it was a bad look but that the issue was more the physical risk of playing the field with a lollipop in his mouth.

“I’m playing a kid’s game and having fun,” said Chisholm, who also took an at-bat with a lollipop in his mouth during an April game at Fenway Park. “So I don’t think it’s a bad look, I just feel like [it was] safety issues.”

“I love lollipops. I like candy. I like something to distract me a little bit.”

For now, though, they will not be making their way to the field with him.

“You know what?” Boone said. “If that becomes a little bit of a thing, as long as he doesn’t take it out to second base with him, we’re good.”

When the Yankees lose, the dumbest narratives arise. There’s always a fair amount of finger-pointing after any loss, whether reasonable or not, but sometimes you just get some really odd declarative statements that are weird for one game out of 162.

You also get people getting mad at dumb things. Jazz Chisholm Jr. ran out of the dugout last night in the fifth inning with a blowpop in his mouth while the Yankees were trailing 4-1. Is this a bad look? Yeah, probably. It’s also probably a minor choking hazard for a game that requires quick reaction time.

Was it blown out of proportion? Of course. He got his expected postgame ridicule and condemnation, but at the end of the day, it doesn’t matter in the long haul. That was evidenced by his ultimate redemption on Tuesday night, when he jolted a slumbering offense with a long, go-ahead home run in the sixth inning to pick up Carlos Rodón and power a 4-3 victory.

Jazz even got to show off his stash afterwards.

The Yankees threatened right off the bat in this one, as Jasson Domínguez lined a double to right field with one out and swiped third base. An errant throw by Dillon Dingler on the stolen base appeared to have given Domínguez a chance to scamper home, but he stayed put, likely not knowing where the ball was. Cody Bellinger and Paul Goldschmidt both failed to bring him in.

Rodón worked a quick, 1-2-3 first inning in the bottom half. After Casey Mize bounced back with a good second inning, Rodón retired the Tigers in order once again after erasing a leadoff walk to Riley Greene with a nifty 1-3 double play to the next hitter.

Anthony Volpe led off the third with a single and swiped second base, once again putting a runner in scoring position with nobody out. A shallow flyout by Ben Rice and a pair of strikeouts later, he was stranded.

But while the top of the Yankees’ order scuffled in a big spot, the bottom of the Tigers’ order came through. Zach McKinstry and the debuting Ben Malgeri both singled with one out to put runners on the corners. A lengthy at-bat by rookie sensation Kevin McGonigle eventually yielded a run-scoring wild pitch, and even though he popped out on the next pitch, Dingler picked him up with an RBI single to make it 2-0.

Mize would once again work himself into trouble in the fourth, allowing back-to-back singles to Chisholm and Spencer Jones. The Yankees would finally put a dent in the scoreboard, but would do so on a weak RBI groundout by José Caballero before Austin Wells stranded Jones on second base. Through four innings, they were 0-for-7 with runners in scoring position. Yeesh.

Detroit almost scraped across another run in the bottom half after a walk to Riley Greene and a soft groundout got him to second. Hao-Yu Lee lined a single to left field, prompting a curious send by Tigers’ third base coach Joey Cora. They learned you do not run on Cody Bellinger.

Volpe got yet another hit in the fifth, continuing a solid hot streak, but got thrown out on an absolute laser beam by Dingler while trying to steal second. Rodón had his best inning in a while, tossing a 1-2-3 inning against the same 8-9-1 that gave him fits in the third.

The lefty successfully bought enough time for the offense to get to Mize. Third time through the order, an excuse-me infield single by Goldschmidt set up Chisholm as the go-ahead run, who smashed a two-run homer 403 feet away to deep right-center field at pitcher-friendly Comerica Park for his 12th of the season to make it 3-2 Yankees.

A single by Caballero chased Mize after 5.2 innings, but he would have a fourth run slapped on his ledger after a first-pitch opposite-field RBI double by Wells off Tyler Holton made it 4-2 after five and a half.

This would’ve been a really good spot for a shutdown inning, but alas. Dingler and Matt Vierling both doubled to lead off the frame to cut the lead to 4-3. Rodón bounced back to strike out Greene, but Aaron Boone made the move to go to Fernando Cruz after 5.1 innings by the All-Star lefty.

It got shaky for the Yankees’ fireman, as he threw seven consecutive balls after getting the second out, but he eventually retired a pinch-hitting Colt Keith to strand the tying run on second. That’s now six consecutive starts by Rodón allowing three runs or fewer with at least five innings pitched.

Holton and Kyle Finnegan combined for a scoreless seventh for Detroit, working around a Bellinger walk. Brent Headrick came out of the bullpen after the seventh-inning stretch and gave up another hit to Malgeri, but he was helped out by a shoestring catch by Domínguez that resulted in a 9-3 double play. The cherry on top? Tigers skipper A.J. Hinch wasted his challenge on it.

Finnegan tore through the middle of the Yankees’ order in the eighth, while Headrick started the bottom half of the inning as the Yankees boldly tried to get the final nine outs between two relievers. Headrick allowed a leadoff single to Dingler, but retired the next two hitters to hand the ball to David Bednar, who induced an infield pop-out from Spencer Torkelson to end the inning.

Emmanuel De Jesus made quick work of the Yanks to start the ninth, setting up the one-run game drama in the bottom of the ninth. Fortunately for everyone watching, Bednar made it nice and easy with a low-stress 1-2-3 inning to lock down his 15th save of the season.

The Yankees will look for the series win tomorrow at 6:40 pm ET. They’ll try to do it against the reigning back-to-back AL Cy Young winner, as Tarik Skubal squares off with Ryan Weathers on Prime Video.

Box Score

On Tuesday night the Tigers tried to clinch at least a series victory against the best team in the American League, the New York Yankees. (The AL this year, as has been noted, is far behind the National League; to wit, the Yankees wouldn’t be leading any division in the NL.) They weren’t successful in that endeavour, as the Yankees came back with a trio of late runs to edge the Tigers 4-3.

Casey Mize made his eleventh start of the year, his second since coming back from straining his groin at the end of May. His previous outing didn’t quite go five innings, and was also shortened by a ton of long at-bats by the Astros. He’s had an excellent year so far: coming into tonight (in 52 1/3 innings) he’d struck out 52, only given up three home runs, and had a WHIP just over 1.

Facing the Tigers tonight was lefty Carlos Rodón, who had a loose-body-removal surgery in the offseason, a little like Tarik Skubal’s but a bit more traditional, needing more healing time. His control has been eluding him at times, with 20 walks in 36 1/3 innings, but some of that is probably rust from his altered offseason regimen. Last year he was sensational, going 18-9 with an ERA a hair over 3.

Mize got into trouble in the top of the first: a one-out double by Jasson Domínguez was followed by a steal of third; Dillon “Marshall” Dingler’s throw got away from Kevin McGonigle, and if Domínguez was paying attention to his third-base coach he would’ve been able to crab-walk home easily. But instead he stayed on third and counted dandelions in the grass; Cody Bellinger then walked to put runners on the corners. Paul Goldschmidt hit a short fly ball to Ben Malgeri in right field, making his major-league debut, and his throw home kept Domínguez at third. Jazz Chisolm Jr. grounded out harmlessly to first and the threat was extinguished.

Mize squelched another minor threat in the third, as Anthony Volpe singled to lead off and stole second base. But then Mize got his splitter workin’ and managed to get a flyout and a pair of strikeouts, stranding Volpe at second base.

With one out in the bottom of the third, Zach McKinstry singled to centre, and the aforementioned Malgeri, in his first major-league at-bat, on the first pitch, sliced a single to right to push McKinstry up to third.

A wild pitch by Rodón allowed McKinstry to score, and Malgeri scored on a two-out Dingler single to make it a 2-0 game.

The Yankees got runners on the corners with one out again in the fourth, but this time they scored: a dribbler to third was too slow for McGonigle to get the speedy runner at home, so he took the sure out at first and the gap was narrowed to 2-1. A slow dribbler was fielded by Mize; he scooped it up and tagged the batter-runner himself for the third out.

Riley Greene led off the bottom of the fourth with a walk and took second on a groundout. He was at second with two outs when Hao-Yu Lee singled to left; Greene tried to score but was thrown out at home. Whoops.

In the sixth Paul Goldschmidt hit a dribbler, a perfect swinging bunt, that he beat out for an infield hit that Mize almost made a play on. That would be a big deal, as Chisolm, the next batter, hit a home run to right to put New York up 3-2. After a strikeout, José Caballero (no relation to Guy Caballero, as far as I know) singled to left and that was the end of Mize’s night. Tyler Holton took over and, on the first pitch, Austin Wells doubled to left to score Caballero to make it 4-2.

Dingler led off the bottom of the sixth with a double to centre, and Matt Vierling followed with a double of his own to close the cap to 4-3.

After Greene struck out, Rodón departed in favour of Fernando Cruz; Spencer Torkelson struck out for the second out, and Kerry Carpenter pinch-hit for Jahmai Jones (yes, you read that right) and walked. Colt Keith followed, and Cruz’s control continued to elude him as he went 3-0 on Keith, but he eventually coaxed a grounder to first out of him for the final out.

Holton got the first two outs of the top of the seventh, walked Bellinger, and then gave way to Kyle Finnegan, who struck out Goldschmidt on a slider for the third out.

Malgeri blasted another single into right for the second hit of his career with one out in the seventh, but McGonigle followed with a sinking liner to right that (a.) Domínguez took a really weird route on, and (b.) Malgeri assumed it’d get by him, but (c.) Domínguez caught it and (d.) doubled-off Malgeri at first. Oh well.

After Finnegan struck out the side in the top of the eighth, Dingler led off the bottom of the inning with a single, his third hit of the night. Vierling struck out, Greene hit a 109-mph straight at the centerfielder, and after a pitching change to closer David Bednar, Torkelson popped up to first for the third out.

Enmanuel De Jesus took over for Finnegan to start the ninth and he got a strikeout, a comebacker, and a flyout. That was his sixth straight scoreless appearance, which is nice.

What wasn’t quite so nice was the 1-2-3 ninth inning turned in by Bednar, snuffing out any hope for a comeback. Ah well, winning streaks have to end sometime, I suppose.

Final score: Yankees 4, Tigers 3

Notes and Commemorations

• After his three-homer game, Colt Keith has gone 2-for-16.
• I played my daughter the Minor Threat song linked above. Her review? “No, dada. No.”
• On this day in 1713, French-speaking Acadians in eastern Canada were given one year to either pledge allegiance to the British crown or get out of the colony of Nova Scotia. The heat died off for a bit after that, but in the wake of the Seven Years’ War in 1763, a good number of them high-tailed it for Louisiana (which was a Spanish colony at that time, but still had, and has, a strong French-influenced culture). The word “Cajun” is an adaptation of “Acadian,” which phonetically in French sounds like “a-cad-djien“.

Jazz Chisholm Jr.'s two-run blast was the difference as the Yankees snapped their three-game losing streak after a 4-3 win over the Tigers on Tuesday night.

The Yankees picked up nine hits, but the hitters were not clutch in this one. New York went 0-for-8 with runners in scoring position and left six runners on base, but got enough runs to support another solid pitching performance. 

The Yankees (47-31) are now 3.0 games ahead of the Rays after Tampa Bay lost to the Royals earlier in the evening. 

Here are the takeaways...

-The Yankees had plenty of opportunities in this one, including the first inning, getting runners on the corners with one out, but Paul Goldschmidt flew out shallow enough for Jasson Dominguez, who reached on a double and stole third, not to score. Chisholm then grounded out to end the Yankees threat. 

Anthony Volpe led off the third with a single and swiped second but was stranded when Ben Rice flew out, and Dominguez and Cody Bellinger struck out. The Yankees would capitalize in the fourth. With runners on the corners and one out, Chisholm scored on a groundout from Jose Caballero. 

-In the sixth, the Yankees wouldn't need a hit with a runner in scoring position as Chisholm took Casey Mize deep for a two-run shot to give New York a 3-2 lead. After Caballero hit a two-out single, Mize was pulled for a lefty out of the pen. Austin Wells followed with a double that scored Caballero and put the Yankees up 4-2. It's Wells' first hit since coming off the IL. 

-Carlos Rodon, who was coming off two strong starts, started well, not allowing a hit through the first two innings. However, back-to-back one-out singles and a wild pitch allowed the Tigers to take a 1-0 lead. A two-out single from Dillon Dingler put Detroit ahead 2-0. The Yankees southpaw settled in, but back-to-back doubles to lead off the sixth allowed the Tigers' third run of the game. 

Rodon would toss 87 pitches (55 strikes) across 5.1 innings, having allowed three runs on six hits and two walks while striking out five. Rodon did leave with runners on base and the bullpen had to keep his lead.

-Fernando Cruz was first, walking one batter but getting the final two outs of the sixth to end the Tigers' threat. Brent Headrick walked around a hit in the seventh and allowed a hit in the eighth but picked up two outs before David Bednar was called on for the four-out save. After getting Spencer Torkelson to fly out to end the eighth, the Yankees closer retired the Tigers in order in the ninth to pick up his 15th save of the season.

-Ryan McMahon, a left-hander who would have started at third against Mize if he wasn't fighting an ear/throat infection, had Caballero play third in his stead. 

Caballero went 1-for-4 with an RBI and a run.

Volpe, who was originally scheduled to sit this game out, went 2-for-4 with a stolen base. Volpe is 15 for his last 34 in his last 11 games. 

Game MVP: Jazz Chisholm Jr.

The lollipop-loving shortstop put his stamp on this one, scoring the team's first run and delivering the big blast.

Highlights

Jazz Chisholm Jr. scores on a José Caballero ground out pic.twitter.com/Zin4LVZ7BX

— SNY Yankees (@snyyankees) June 23, 2026

Jazz Chisholm Jr. with the two-run homer to give the Yankees the lead! pic.twitter.com/sPQeN796x2

— SNY Yankees (@snyyankees) June 24, 2026

Austin Wells doubles and José Caballero scores! pic.twitter.com/ixAAuNCraP

— SNY Yankees (@snyyankees) June 24, 2026

What's next

The Yankees complete their three-game set against the Tigers on Wednesday evening. First pitch is set for 6:40 p.m.

Ryan Weathers (2-5, 4.13 ERA) will take the mound against Tarik Skubal (3-3, 3.02 ERA). 

The Texas Rangers scored four runs but the Miami Marlins scored six runs.

In a contest where the Rangers were essentially opting for a bullpen game where the second pitcher out had 1.2 career innings, getting off to a big lead early would have been beneficial.

The Rangers could have obliged as the first two hitters of the night reached but that was the extent of the rally as Texas was held off the board in the first inning. In the top of the second, the first three hitters reached for Texas for a bases loaded, no out opportunity.

The Marlins apparently know the secret hack. Just give the Rangers base runners and they’ll never score.

The Rangers did actual plate the game’s first run in the top of the second on a ground out but that was all that came from the bases loaded chance. Five base runners without an out in the first two innings and the Rangers got one run.

In the bottom of the second, the Marlins tied the game on one pitch when former Rangers farmhand Heriberto Hernandez took Cal Quantrill deep. All that effort from Texas to score a run and the game was tied on one swing.

The Marlins took the lead in the the bottom of the fourth on another solo home run but saved the back-breaking dinger for an inning later when Owen Caissie hit a three-run home run off Jose Corniell, who was making his second ever big league appearance.

Another run off Corniell in the fifth and that was pretty much that. Despite scoring twice with two outs in the ninth, the Rangers had zero run-scoring hits with RISP in their early rallies and the Marlins capitalized on Texas’ thinning rotation with the long ball.

Player of the Game: Brandon Nimmo hit a dinger, his first in the month of June, and also tripled in a run in the ninth.

Up Next: It’ll be brunch with the Rangers tomorrow morning as RHP Jacob deGrom is set to make the start for Texas against RHP Eury Perez for Miami in the series finale.

The Wednesday first pitch from loanDepot park is scheduled for 11:10 am CDT and you can watch it on the Rangers Sports Network.

Just when it couldn’t get any worse for the Mets, Juan Soto was removed from Tuesday’s game against the Cubs to start the top of the fifth at Citi Field with what the team later called left side back tightness.

After the Mets’ 9-6 loss, manager Carlos Mendoza said Soto is considered day-to-day.

Jared Young moved from first base to take Soto’s spot in left, while Mark Vientos entered at first base.

It comes as Francisco Lindor was playing perhaps his final minor league rehab game with Triple-A Syracuse after being sidelined since April with a strained calf.

Soto also missed time early in the second with a calf injury.

Tonight, the Kansas City Royals dismantled the Tampa Bay Rays in a cathartic 12-5 victory. It was a full-team showing, with Carter Jensen extending his hit streak to 14 games, Nick Loftin swatting a home run on a four-hit night, and Luinder Avila navigating his way through five tough innings of one-run ball in front of some of some incredibly bad infield defense. 

But you’re here for Jac Caglianone, who ended the day with three hits and a pair of home runs. Here’s his first, which came immediately after Loftin’s home run in the first frame of the game and sounded like a thunderclap.

And here’s the other one, an arguably more impressive center-left shot to the deepest part of the ballpark.

To say that Caglianone has been on fire would not be accurate, because he is fire right now. Tonight’s gigantic dongs were his eighth and ninth of the month of June; they extended his hitting streak to five games and his home run streak to four games. 

This was one of those games were so much happened that, paradoxically, nothing much happened, because each successive hit meant less and less as the score ballooned and ballooned. I mentioned the infield defense–Salvador Perez lost two popups, and the rest of the infield didn’t see them, either. That required Avila to essentially get five outs in one inning. It was really quite comical in hindsight, but groan-worthy in the moment for sure. 

Pretty much everyone got involved in the offense. Lane Thomas and Starling Marte were the only two batters without a hit. Michael Massey, Perez, and Kameron Misner recorded doubles, which in addition to the home runs made six extra base hits. The Royals did a nice job totally putting the game away in the eighth inning against Steven Matz, who was just tossing batting practice out there. 

Kansas City’s bullpen also did a nice job (mostly). It helps to have such a big lead, but Stephen Cruz and Matt Strahm pitched before the lead was quite as big as it was, and you know what? They both turned in clean innings! So, too, did Beck Way. Someone named “Connor Seabold” came in to pitch the ninth, and the Royals might as well have sent Tyler Tolbert out there. Seabold gave up a trio of runs, but the Royals closed it out. 

At 34-46, the Royals are still closer to the American League basement than they are the penthouse. But have you looked at the AL right now? The current owners of the third Wild Card slot, the Toronto Blue Jays, don’t even have a .500 record. What a weird year. 

An ugly Royals season has taken yet another ugly turn.

Royals manager Matt Quatraro announced Tuesday that pitcher Cole Ragans likley will need surgery to repair a left elbow impingement that’s kept him sidelined since May 6.

The Royals skipper isn’t sure what type of surgery Ragans will need or whether he will return this season, but more will be known when the lefty sees another doctor soon.

“It’s awful,” Quatraro told reporters about the news. “We talk about it all the time when guys get hurt. These guys grind and work; and do it year-round to put themselves in the best position to go out there and compete.”

“Clearly, it’s a blow for him and for us. I mean, it’s our Opening Day starter the last few years. That’s a really tough one to swallow for him and his family,” Quatraro added.

Ragans exited a May 6 start against the Guardians with the injury, and though he made a rehab start for Triple-A Omaha in late May, he didn’t respond well and was shut down.

The elbow injury is just one of multiple injuries Ragans has suffered throughout his career, as he underwent Tommy John Surgery in 2018 and 2019 while with the Rangers.

The Royals acquired Ragans in 2023 in exchange for Aroldis Chapman, and the righty’s Royals tenure got off to a hot start.

Ragans posted a 2.64 ERA in 2023 and 3.14 ERA in 2024 while playing a pivotal role on the Royals 2024 squad that made the playoffs for the first time in nine years.

Since then, however, it’s been downhill for Ragans, as he recorded just a 4.67 ERA in 2025 and pitched to a 4.84 mark through eight starts in 2026.

The Royals entered 2026 hell-bent on competing for their first AL Central title in 11 years, but their season has turned into a disaster.

They are just 34-46 and last in the division entering Wednesday.

The San Francisco Giants welcome the Athletics to Oracle Park tonight to begin a three-game series.

Taking the mound for the Giants will be left-hander Robbie Ray, who enters tonight’s game with a 4.07 ERA, 4.96 FIP, with 74 strikeouts to 38 walks in 79.2 innings pitched. His last start was in the Giants’ 7-2 win over the Atlanta Braves last Tuesday, in which he allowed just two hits and two walks with eight strikeouts in six and a third innings.

He’ll be facing off against A’s right-hander Aaron Civale, who enters tonight’s game with a 4.91 ERA, 5.38 FIP, with 41 strikeouts to 19 walks in 58.2 innings pitched. His last start was in the Athletics’ 12-4 loss to the Pittsburgh Pirates last Wednesday, in which he allowed six runs on nine hits with two strikeouts and two walks in three innings.

Game #78

Who: San Francisco Giants (31-46) vs. Athletics (38-40)

Where: Oracle Park, San Francisco, California

When: 6:45 p.m. PT

Regional broadcast: NBC Sports Bay Area (Giants), NBC Sports California (A’s)

National broadcast: n/a

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

Manager Craig Stammen announced in his pre-game media session on Tuesday, the promotion of LHP JP Sears to make his season debut with the San Diego Padres after the team placed starter Lucas Giolito on the 10-day injured list with right elbow inflammation.

Stammen reported that Giolito spoke up about the soreness in his elbow after his last appearance against the Texas Rangers. It is reportedly similar to the soreness he felt last season before missing the rest of the year on the injured list. The Padres will push Randy Vásquez back a day, and Sears will start tomorrow against the Atlanta Braves, with Vásquez going the first game against the Los Angeles Dodgers.

Giolito joins Germán Márquez, Matt Waldron, Nick Pivetta, and Jhony Brito as starters on the injured list. Both Márquez and Brito are completing their work to return from injuries, with Brito pitching two days ago and Márquez nearing the end of his rehab assignment. Waldron just began his rehab assignment with El Paso this past week.

Giolito signed with the organization on April 22, making his season debut May 17 after an abbreviated ramp-up to the season. His velocity, diminished this season, sits 2-3 mph below his norm, and he has been hit frequently, pitching in 29.2 innings over seven games with a 5.16 ERA. The team has used an opener for him in his last two games.

Sears, acquired at the trade deadline last season, has a history as an innings-eater in his MLB career. His previous ERA, before pitching for the Padres, sat between 3.50 and 4.50 from 2022 to 2024. He finished last year with a 5.04 ERA overall, 4.95 with the Athletics before the trade and 5.47 in his five starts with the Padres.

For 2026, Sears has started for El Paso in Triple-A and leads the team with 62 strikeouts, but also has a 7.92 ERA in his 14 starts and 63.2 innings. The dry air and elevation in the Pacific Coast League are not conducive to the effectiveness of pitchers. He could be more successful at Petco Park, with the damp air and being at sea level. Sears features a seven-pitch mix with a four-seam fastball that sits in the low 90’s. His command and movement might look very different in MLB parks.

With Giolito to the IL, both Márquez and Brito could get opportunities to push their way onto the roster. Sears and the two returning pitchers give the team some depth and options as they decide what their moves will be at the trade deadline. With a starting pitching staff ranked 28th in MLB, the Padres need to improve the starting rotation if they are to remain in contention for the playoffs.

The Athletics are back on the road this week, beginning a three-game series against the San Francisco Giants tonight. This past weekend, the A’s lost the final two games of a four-game series against the Los Angeles Angels, ending their seven-game West Sacramento homestand with a 3-4 record. Their most recent game on Father’s Day was especially brutal, as the A’s bullpen gave up a game-tying home run in the eighth and then the game-winning blast the next inning.

The Giants, led by rookie manager Tony Vitello, have been one of the most disappointing teams in baseball as their 31-46 record is amongst the league’s worst. Veteran stars Matt Chapman, Willy Adames and Rafael Devers are not living up to their massive contracts, while the team recently faced extensive backlash over the actions of several pitchers during the organization’s Pride Night game.

Having lost two of three when these teams met in California’s capital city earlier this season, the A’s will be looking for revenge. Handing the Giants their fourth straight loss this evening would be a great start to this best-of-three road series.

Athletics’ right-hander Aaron Civale will make his 13th start of the season today. The 31-year-old enters this outing with a 5-3 record, a 4.91 ERA, a 1.59 WHIP and 41 strikeouts across 58 2/3 innings. Civale got off to a good start in his first year with the A’s.

However, his ERA has ballooned over his last seven starts, reflecting a noticeable decline in performance. After missing a couple of weeks with shoulder tendonitis, the A’s activated Civale to start last Wednesday’s final game against the Pittsburgh Pirates. It did not go well. The veteran gave up six runs on nine hits in only three innings of work, ruining any chance his team had of winning that series rubber game.

In his second start since returning from injury, Civale will look to be more efficient and work deeper into the game. He should benefit from the pitcher-friendly environment at Oracle Park, after making his last two appearances in a rehab outing at Las Vegas Ballpark and a start at hitter-friendly Sutter Health Park.

Here’s the A’s lineup for this matchup:

The Athletics are deploying a right-handed-heavy starting nine, with first baseman Nick Kurtz and left fielder Tyler Soderstrom the only left-handed hitters in the lineup. Second baseman Zack Gelof will look to extend his league-leading hitting streak, with his speed and contact ability making him an ideal leadoff option —capable of getting on base, stealing second, and scoring on a single from Kurtz or Shea Langeliers.

Colby Thomas, fresh off a spectacular catch in right field on Sunday, will start there again. Designated hitter Joey Meneses is also back in the lineup for a second straight game, aiming to extend the hot streak that earned him Pacific Coast Player of the Week honors.

The A’s offense will face Giants left-hander Robbie Ray, who enters his 15th start with a 5-6 record, a 4.07 ERA, a 1.33 WHIP and 74 strikeouts across 79 2/3 innings. The 34-year-old earned the win in his last outing, tossing 6 1/3 scoreless innings with eight strikeouts against the Atlanta Braves. In the start prior, he allowed five runs in 5 2/3 innings, reflecting the up and down nature of Ray’s season to date.

The A’s will hope to see the vulnerable version of Ray this evening. If he is on, the southpaw with over 1800 career strikeouts could make it a long night for A’s hitters. Ray often struggles with command, so the Athletics will need to work counts, stay patient and capitalize when he leaves pitches over the plate.

And the Giants’ lineup for the series-opener:

Entering the season, no one expected Luis Arraez to become a dramatically improved defender at second base or Casey Schmitt to be arguably the Giants’ best hitter. Yet both have happened, serving as two bright spots in what has otherwise been a miserable first half of the 2026 season for San Francisco.

Additionally, the team’s top prospect, Bryce Eldridge, is finally getting everyday playing time and taking full advantage of the opportunity. Civale cannot afford to leave a pitch over the plate to Eldridge, whose prodigious power can send it quickly into McCovey Cove.

The “Green and Gold” look to snap a two-game losing streak tonight against the Giants. Let’s go A’s!

David Stearns might be right. The 2026 New York Mets he built might be capable of better. They might even still be capable of being a playoff team, even though the beat-up, underperforming bunch that was nine games under .500 as Stearns spoke on June 23 certainly has not looked the part.

At the very least, Stearns is going to wait until the last possible minute to admit the roster he retooled after last year’s disappointment is still somehow wrong.

“The cutoff is August 3rd. The cutoff is the deadline. Clearly, you have to have a strategic direction at that point,” Stearns said. “We can prepare along parallel paths as we go through this, and we know we have to play better than what we’ve played right now. And we’re going to give this team a chance to do that.”

No one would argue Stearns is being particularly stubborn. Though the San Francisco Giants, for one, have already made known their willingness to trade from a disappointing roster, good teams and bad teams elsewhere are choosing to wait and see. No points are awarded for giving up first.

But where Stearns remains steadfast – if “stubborn” is too harsh – is in his insistence that this roster was built well from the start, and that it has failed to add up because of temporary inconveniences, not structural deficiencies.

For example, if the Mets are going to play their way back into contention, they will need better from their starting rotation, which entered Tuesday night’s game with the fourth-highest ERA in baseball this season and a 5.92 ERA in June. Clay Holmes breaking his leg is an unforeseeable outcome, but the idea of rookie Nolan McLean struggling for a period while growing into an ace is not.

Even under the pressure of his free agent year, Freddy Peralta falling into the worst slump of his major league career is surprising. But given their lack of year-over-year history, none of Sean Manaea, David Peterson, or Kodai Senga not pitching like the best versions of themselves is not.

“We’ve clearly been inconsistent in that facet of the game. We’ve been inconsistent at various times around all segments of our team, which is why we have the record we have right now,” Stearns said. “From a starting pitching perspective, injury is part of it. That is real. We also haven’t gotten the level of consistent performances from most of our rotations that we expected and that our players expected coming into the season.”

Recently, Manaea has modeled a path to recovery for Mets starting pitchers who once looked like a lost cause. The lefty rebuilt his velocity, clawed his way out of bulk relief duty, and has allowed two runs and pitched into the sixth in two starts since rejoining the rotation. Certainly, the same should be possible for Peterson and Senga.

But so far, he and Senga have shown no signs of much-needed recovery. Senga left the Mets trailing 5-0 after two innings Tuesday, still unable to maintain command and velocity from one batter to the next.

Christian Scott, who was increasingly reliable before suffering a hip injury, is tentatively scheduled to return from the injured list Saturday. That is one more day each time through the rotation that the Mets can feel confident about. McLean has steadied himself after some late-spring stumbles. That day is another.

Stearns admitted Peralta is working through things mechanically, and fixing them is so crucial to the Mets that Carlos Mendoza went out of his way to watch him throw on flat ground before Tuesday night’s game. Fixing things takes time, but the righty has never been as bad as he was in his last outing. History says he will be better. If he is, and Manaea remains consistent, the Mets have one last day to worry about. And at some point in August, if all goes well, Holmes will be back to fill it.

Speaking of Holmes, his injury is also a point in defense of Stearns’s argument that the Mets roster was not broken from the start, just because it is broken now. Indeed, the lineup is built around Francisco Lindor and Juan Soto, two of the most durable players in baseball over the last half decade. That both happened to miss significant amounts of time in the first three months of this season is not a foreseeable problem.

But it was not unforeseeable that Jorge Polanco, who has a history of leg injuries, would miss most of the first three months of the season with a nagging leg injury. That Luis Robert Jr., who has a history of lengthy absences and is a month-plus into another one, is not surprising. Stearns said Tuesday he and the Mets “have to evaluate injury risk as it relates to the entirety of our roster.”

“Whenever you bring in a player with injury history, we are aware there is heightened injury risk,” Stearns said. “In many cases, we thought we were insulated by that risk in certain areas of our roster with other players. And we haven’t been.”

Maybe, in keeping with Stearns’ original view of their depth, they will be more insulated against injuries from now on. After all, while Lindor’s return from a calf injury is imminent, he isn’t the only Met close to returning.

Tyrone Taylor is a strong fourth outfielder and will improve the Mets’ bench immediately when he returns. He is currently on a rehab assignment. So is infielder Ronny Mauricio, whose major league track record is unimpressive but whose ceiling is higher than any of the backup infielders the Mets have tried in Lindor’s absence. Even just adding Lindor will give the Mets a significantly more troublesome lineup for opponents. If Polanco comes back – and despite the fact that he is hitting and doing baseball activities, no one seems certain when or if that will happen – the lineup could look even deeper.

So heading into the last week of June, it is still possible Stearns is right about the 2026 New York Mets. It is still possible their struggles are temporary, not inevitable. It is still possible they will play their way back into contention and be buyers six weeks from now. 

For better or worse, all they have to do is be better than they have been at any point this year, despite having provided little on-field evidence that they can be.

After another lifeless offensive performance in Monday’s series opener at San Diego, the Braves look to level the series and force a Wednesday rubber match in Tuesday night’s 9:40 p.m. EDT game at Petco Park.

Atlanta turns to rookie JR Ritchie on the mound, while the Padres are expected to counter with Wandy Peralta as the opener followed by Griffin Canning.

The good news is that after tonight, there are only two more games that start after 9 p.m. on the East Coast.

The better news is the Braves commentary crew is back on the call tonight after whatever that ESPN broadcast was on Monday.

The weird news is certainly this Braves lineup loaded with changes. Bold move, Walt. Let’s see how it plays out.

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