Two World Series contenders meet under the lights Friday as the Yankees open a marquee interleague series against the Phillies at Citizens Bank Park.
Jul 22, 2026; Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA; Philadelphia Phillies third baseman Alec Bohm (28) hits a two RBI home run against the Los Angeles Dodgers during the first inning at Citizens Bank Park. Mandatory Credit: Bill Streicher-Imagn Images
Date: Friday, July 24, 2026
Time: 6:40 PM ET
Channel: Apple TV

#Friday #World

The Phillies have been plagued this season by lackluster production from their righty bats. As a whole, J.T. Realmuto (.648 OPS), Trea Turner (.684) and Alec Bohm (.657) have provided unsatisfactory offensive results.
While Turner's defense has been much maligned this season, he's turned his production around at the plate. Since June 15, Turner has posted an .886 OPS, picking up seven home runs and seven doubles. Realmuto has quietly been performing better recently as well, with an .818 OPS in July. And early-season trade acquisition Derek Hill has provided more value than expected, already worth 1.5 bWAR as a Phillie.
That leaves Alec Bohm out of the picture. While his numbers aren't as strong as his other right-handed teammates, there's strong evidence that a huge hot streak is inbound.
Bohm's numbers since June are lackluster, slashing just .244/.298/.421 in 42 games. Counting just July, Bohm is hitting .239/.311/.478, a little above league average by the measure of wRC+ (114). He avoids strikeouts well (16.9 K% since June) but doesn't walk much either (5.1 BB%). Most importantly, he's grounding out 50.4% of the time, limiting the amount of impact his swings can have.
That's significant, as his swings have had a relatively big amount of impact by measure of his batted ball statistics. During July, Bohm has been hitting the ball harder than he has all season:

#bohm #turner #lackluster #production

In the 1980s, Coca-Cola infamously introduced a reformulated version of their signature soda that ended up going by the name New **** e. It didn’t go over very well: sales slumped, chastened executives were forced to reintroduce the classic **** e, and conspiracy theories about the revamped recipe being a scheme to juice sales of the rescued original recipe spread. Tonight, Aaron Nola pitched in front of a Coca-Cola logo drawn into the mound dirt. Like that vaunted soft drink, Nola has two recipes: Nola Classic, a highly effective, if not quite ace-level, pitcher, and New Nola, the struggling hurler whose long-ball nemesis often gets the better of him. Will Coca-Nola Classic ever make a permanent return to the beverage aisle? We hope so. But tonight, we got the not-so-sweet taste of New Nola, as the Dodgers took the series.
Nola got the night started off right with a one-pitch out of Shohei Ohtani. Alec Bohm got it started off even more right with a two-run shot to left in the bottom first. In the second, Nola struck out Max Muncy on a classic knuckle curve, then put out the next two Angelenos down on fly **** . It was smooth sailing at first for the Louisianan hurler. And it continued that way through the first two outs of the third. Then, unfortunately, came the familiar refrain, the song of the summer that you wish the radio would stop playing: a homer, this one courtesy of Dalton Rushing, to narrow the lead to one.
He encountered more trouble in the fourth. Freddie Freeman doubled, then did the little dance, both arms up and waving buoyantly, that the Dodgers apparently do after hits. It is said that this dance actually traces its origins back to the Brooklyn days, when the early Dodgers used it to hone the reflexes that were necessary for the dodging of trolleys; it is still extant despite the loss of its purpose, rather like the appendix. Max Muncy singled to put two runners on, but Nola was able to wrap the inning up without further damage.
The same could not be said of the fifth. Nola allowed singles to Teoscar Hernández and Tommy Edman, then a two-bagger to Rushing to score two and give the visitors the lead. Ohtani was given an intentional walk. The move paid off, as Ohtani became part of a twin killing that ended the frame. But the damage was done, and the lead was lost.
Not for long. Bryan De La Cruz sent a fastball flying towards the greenery of the batter’s eye as the first batter in the Phillie fifth. Andy Pages stretched out his arm, and for a moment it looked as if he’d come down with it. Like a bank robber foiled by the dye packs in a sack of cash, his would-be burglary was foiled at the last second, with the ball glancing off his leather and landing safely over the fence to tie the game. Bryson Stott doubled, but was put out on a baserunning blunder; dredging up some bad memories from the not-so-distant past.

#classic

The Los Angeles Dodger put together a strong offensive display on Wednesday, with Max Muncy, Tommy Edman and Dalton Rushing all playing huge roles as the Dodgers claimed a series win.
The Dodgers lost the opening game of the series against the Philadelphia Phillies, but a two-run homer off of Muncy’s bat gave them the win in the second game of the set.
Muncy hit yet another two-run home run on Wednesday—passing Ron Cey in the Dodgers’ all-time leaderboard—with the game tied at three after two fantastic at-bats from Dalton Rushing, giving the Dodgers a 5-3 lead, and the rest of the offense did their job to extend the advantage late.
The Dodgers won the game by a score of 9-5.
Eric Lauer started the game for the Dodgers, throwing five innings as the starter. The Phillies struck early against the left-hander, as Alec Bohm jumped on a 1-0 changeup to hit his 13th homer of the season to make the score 2-0.

#homer #score

Casey Mize didn’t have his best outing, and the opposing pitcher was a tough test in this one. Cristopher Sanchez won that contest, and while the Tigers actually swung the bats reasonably well, they fumbled a few opportunities and the Phillies won 4-2 to even the series at a game apiece.
This was going to be a tough matchup no matter what as Casey Mize squared off against ace lefty Cristopher Sanchez. The Tigers did have some good news pre-game as Dillon Dingler was cleared to DH in this one. Eduardo Valencia was set to make his debut behind the plate as well.
Things started off auspiciously as Mize walked leadoff man Trea Turner, popped up Kyle Schwarber, and then allowed a double down the right field line from Bryce Harper. Mize dug in and got Brandon Marsh to ground out, and Alec Bohm popped out to Hao-Yu Lee at second. When Mize struggles through the first but escapes, typically things go well the rest of the way.
Matt Vierling immediately welcomed Sanchez to Comerica Park with a sharp single to center field, but then he was picked off by an outstanding move to first from the lefty. Kevin McGonigle flew out and Dillon Dingler struck out, and you hate to squander any chance against one of the top pitchers in the game this season.
Mize seemed to work well with Valencia, and while the latter’s arm strength and accuracy remain in some doubt, he looked pretty solid behind the plate. Mize whiffed Bryson Stott on a slurve and Gabriel Rincones Jr. on a splitter in the second.

Aaron Nola was serviceable again but Tim Mayza had one of the worst innings of his nine-year big league career as the Philadelphia Phillies (52-43) unraveled late in a 10-2 drubbing at the hands of the Detroit Tigers (44-50).
Derek Hill led off the third inning with his seventh home run of the year for the game's first run against Tigers' starter, Jack Flaherty.
Delco legend and Rookie of the Year hopeful, Kevin McGonigle, got the Tigers on the board and gave them the lead with a two-run homer off Nola in the bottom of the third to make it 2-1.
An Alec Bohm hit-by-pitch and a pair of walks issued to Bryce Harper and Bryson Stott loaded the bases for Hill, who singled home Harper to bring the score level.
Nola left after five innings and 84 pitches, striking out eight and gave way to Mayza for the sixth. Riley Greene and Matt Vierling walked to set the table for Eduardo Valencia who singled home Greene to retake the lead. Next Zach McKinstry dragged a bunt on the first base side that Mayza hesitated on, eventually throwing to first too late to get McKinstry and allowing Vierling to score from third. One pitch later, James Outman tripled to the gap in right-center to score both runners and extend the lead to four. Three pitches after that, Mayza balked home Outman to complete the damage. The five runs allowed tied Mayza's career high, which he previously surrendered to the Yankees on June 28, 2024 without recording an out.

When the city of Cincinnati was founded, the Passenger Pigeon was so numerous that a passing flock could blot out the sun. By 1907, the entire species was reduced to a single bird, residing at the Cincinnati Zoo. Tonight, offense faced a similar extinction, felled by merciless pitching.
Brady Singer, the Cincy starter, sent his foes down in order in the first on just 12 pitches; Jesús Luzardo, not to be outdone, did it in five. Singer allowed a hit (double, Bryson Stott) in the second, but incurred no further damage. Jesús Luzardo, again not to be outdone, allowed a less damaging hit (single, Tyler Stephenson), and incurred no further damage.
The pitchers’ duel remained in full effect through the fourth, neither team plating a runner. Those who like offense were briefly teased in the bottom of the fifth as a runner advanced as far as third via walk, groundout, and single— but it came to naught. Three hits, two from the Redlegs and one from the Phillies, were all that the game produced through five. And the Phillies had no more through six. The Phillies were getting sent back to the dugout faster than a Cincinnati chili parlor can dish up a bowl.
Speaking of dishing, Luzardo kept dishing out Ks. He had ten through six, and the Reds batters were left as bereft as a Bengals fan after any season in their recorded history.
Kyle Schwarber opened up the seventh with a hit, singling to center. The spirits of the Philadelphia faithful began to stir. Schwarber on base, Bryce Harper coming up next. Those names spell doom for pitchers as sure as the Ohio River flows to the southwest. But it was not so tonight; Harper grounded into a double play. The fans, perhaps getting a bit stir crazy, began to chant “take it off”, that “tarps off” thing in action. The fans must’ve decided to wear as many shirts as the two teams had runs. In a ***** le attempt to get some shirts back on, Brandon Marsh singled, and Alec Bohm got hit by a pitch, and the Phillies had something going with two away. But it soon ended with a fly out.

In Sam Raimi’s 2009 horror flick Drag Me To ****** , a woman makes a mistake at work and is eventually condemned to eternal ****** ation for it. This is highly relatable for the Nationals’ bullpen arms, wh0 made a mistake at work and were sentenced to ****** for it. Well, surrendering a pinch-hit go-ahead homer to a team down to their final strike isn’t quite ****** , but it’s close enough; I’m fairly certain Dante mentioned it somewhere in his Inferno, somewhere between the guy who’s eternally having his head bitten and the guys who are eternally trees.
But before the drama of a last-ditch comeback repeated, a less appealing narrative recurred: Aaron Nola’s struggles with the long ball continued, as Luis García Jr. took a sinker that hung up in the middle of the zone to center for a 1-0 Washington lead in the first. An inning later, Jorbit Vivas took a curveball that did the same and did the same. 2-0, Nationals. Meanwhile, the Phillies struggled through three against opener Carson Palmquist, putting only one baserunner aboard in the form of Brandon Marsh, who promptly got picked off.
Marsh was also the Phillies’ second baserunner, singling up the middle to lead off the fourth. Afterwards, Palmquist’s opening job was over, and Miles Mikolas took his turn. He quickly found trouble. Alec Bohm reached safely on a grounder when Nasim Nuñez booted it, and Bryson Stott hit a fly ball that found its way over James Wood’s head in right for a double. The Phillies had their first run of the night. They had their second on a sacrifice fly from J.T. Realmuto, and their third on a single from Gabriel Rincones Jr. Nola kept the good vibes going with a three up, three down fourth. Only a potential injury to Bohm, who came up limping while running the bases on the fourth, still needled the Phillies, and given that he remained in the game, this turned out not to be a big issue. The Nationals seemed like they might have a big issue though: the pitching of Mikolas, who gave up singles to Trea Turner and Marsh in the fifth. He fought his way through it without further damage, but the tilt of the game still seemed to favor the Phillies.
Kyle Backhus took over in the sixth, with Nola’s final line standing at 5 IP, 3 H, 2 R, 2 BB, 5 K. Backhus faced the minimum of three, getting two out and allowing a baserunner, and was pulled for Jonathan Bowlan as Don Mattingly played the matchup game, pitting righty against righty. It did not go as planned. The first pitch to Curtis Mead went flying into deep left, towards the foul pole, remaining fair and ending the Phillies’ lead.
José Alvarado took the seventh. He got the first two batters out, but faced trouble with José Tena, who hit a shallow fly to left that Marsh dove for and missed. The result was a triple. CJ Abrams was up next; the duel between him and Alvarado saw a quartet of fouled off 3-2 pitches , and finally a walk. But Alvarado got the next batter out to keep the deficit at one.

I've never been a pitcher— unless we count a few Be a Pro save files in various editions of MLB: The Show —, but I have to imagine it's something of a relief to throw a fastball. You don't have to torture your arm with some tendon-twisting, movement-generating motion, you don't have to worry that your offspeed pitch will get sniffed out and given one-way airfare out of the park. You just get to rear back, and throw it as hard as you can. Just like you did when you were first messing around in the backyard.
Pitchers who face the Phillies don't always have the opportunity to do so. They first have to work their way past Kyle Schwarber and Bryce Harper, whose faces appear annually on the "WARNING: Do Not Throw These Men a Fastball" list thoughtfully distributed to pitchers league-wide. After that, though, they probably want to toss a bunch of heaters to whoever's up next. Alec Bohm? He's got a pretty slow bat. Yes, why not toss him some fastballs? It must be tempting to do so, because he's seeing a greater percentage of fastballs than any Phillie besides Justin Crawford.
Opposing pitchers reading this, please read the following carefully: do not throw fastballs to Alec Bohm. I know he ranks in the 28th percentile for bat speed. I know he was really bad against fastballs in the first month of the season. He is not bad at hitting them anymore. By telling you this, I have done my due diligence. If you ignore me, I can't be held responsible.
I really hope they didn't read that, though. Because I would like pitchers to keep throwing fastballs to Bohm. And so would he, I'd imagine. (All stats prior to Tuesday's game). His tremendous struggles at the plate in March and April were a result of his dismal performance against fastballs (wOBA of .177) and breaking ****** (.191). And so it came as no surprise when he kept seeing a steady diet of the same in May. But as the weather heated up, so did his bat. His performance against both fastballs and breaking ****** improved in the fifth month, but much more so for the former: his wOBA against the fastball leapt up to .347, nearly double what it had been. His wOBA against the moving stuff went up from .191 to .260; notable, but comparatively modest. In June, his wOBA against breaking ****** dropped, but his performance against fastballs just kept rising: wOBA of .423. And yet, he's seeing a slightly greater percentage of fastballs in June than he did in May, which in turn was a slightly greater percentage than he saw in April. Hence the warning above.
But how's Bohm doing it? His BABIP against fastballs just keeps rising: it was a dismal .113 across March and April, more than doubled in May, and now sits at a whopping .395 in June. That only gets us part of the way there, though. What's behind the change in BABIP? Some luck, surely, both good and bad: he underperformed his expected stats against the fastball in April, and he's overperforming against them in June. But there's something real there, too. He's

Phillies 5 Blue Jays 2
We knew this was going to be a tough one. Cristopher Sánchez came into the game with a 1.46 ERA and he’s allowed just 1 run in his last 5 starts, covering 38 innings. The most earned runs he’s given up in a game was 2 and, well, we got 2 off him. He went 7 innings allowed 4 hits, 2 earned, 1 walk with 10 strikeouts.
We scored one in the third. Myles Straw doubled and ground outs by Tyler Heineman and Yohendrick Piñango scored him. And in the fifth, Ernie Clement homered.
We had chances. In the sixth, Piñango led off with a double and got to third on an error. But George Springer, Nathan Lukes and Vladimir Guerrero all struck out. And we got two on in the eighth. Ernie Clement singled with one out and Miles Straw walked with two outs. Brandon Valenzuela (pinch hitting) ground one deep into the hole at short, for the third out.
Patrick Corbin had a rough night. 3 innings, 4 hits, 5 earned, 4 walks and 3 strikeouts. He game up two in the second. Bryson Stott doubled and Adolis Garcia homered. And three in the third. Two walks and a hit batter loaded the bases. Alex Bohm singled home one. J.T. Realmuto singled home another. And Bryson Stott walked in the third. They would have had another run but Kazuma Okamoto made a nice play on a grounder and threw home to get the runnner.

TORONTO (AP) — Cristopher Sánchez struck out 10 and allowed two runs in seven innings to win for the sixth time in seven starts, Adolis García hit a two-run homer and the Philadelphia Phillies beat the Toronto Blue Jays 5-2 on Monday night.
Alec Bohm reached base twice and drove in a run as the Phillies won for the sixth time in seven games.
Sánchez's shutout streak ended at 50 2/3 innings in his previous start, a win over San Diego. The left-hander didn’t permit a run in five May starts.
This time, Sánchez (8-2) walked one and gave up four hits, including two doubles and a homer. He is 4-0 with a 2.12 ERA in five career starts against the Blue Jays.
Jhoan Duran finished for his 16th save in 16 chances.

Some years ago, I learned that Canada has a fast food chain known as New York Fries. I am from New York, and I do not know of any particular connection between that fair city (state? I ***** ume it’s named for the city?) and fries. I have always been somewhat baffled by this. Sort of like how the Blue Jays were baffled by Cristopher Sánchez tonight.
The game started when Kyle Schwarber and Trea Turner struck out and grounded out respectively. Turner wasn’t sent down on a force out, but rather on a tag, as an errant throw pulled Vladimir Guerrero Jr. off the bag. Bryce Harper made it to first when Toronto left fielder Yohendrick Piñango misjudged a fly’s trajectory just enough, with the ball bouncing off his glove for an error. Harper would’ve had more than one base, but he missed the bag as he rounded first, and had to turn back. Everyone was just a little off, a tad confused, like I was when I discovered that Canadian Smarties aren’t the same as American Smarties (they’re like M&Ms, but with a slightly thicker shell. Highly recommended, if you can find them). The bottom of the first, happily, was quite ordinary, as Sánchez handled the Jays with his usual efficiency.
The fireworks in the top of the second were of a more favorable sort. With two outs, Bryson Stott worked a double, and Adolis García sent a slider soaring swiftly into the SkyDome seats (Disclaimer: I am aware it is now the Rogers Center. For the sake of alliteration, I choose to ignore this). The third inning saw the Phillies load the bases without a hit: two walks and a hit by pitch. They got their first hit of the inning via Alec Bohm, who sent one through the gap on the left side of the infield to score one. Realmuto sent his pitch right up the middle to score another. Stott’s patience at the plate must make him frustrating for any pitcher; even more so when the bases are loaded for the third consecutive batter. Stott walked, and the Phillies had more baserunners in the inning than Saskatchewan has lentils (Saskatchewan is a leading producer of lentils). The Jays put Phillies out at home on the next two ***** in play, and the Phillies ended the inning up 5-0, having thoroughly tortured the passerine pitcher.

The Jays put their first runner on via Myles Straw double to lead off the third, advanced him via groundout, then scored him via another. That was a good development for the Jays; but it was not accompanied by more. Cristopher Sánchez continued to stymie the Jays, who lost their hitting coach when he objected to a call a little too vociferously.
Corbin departed after the fourth, with Simeon Woods Richardson, winner of the prestigious “Pitcher With A Name That Absolutely Sounds Like A Character from Jeeves and Wooster” award five years running, putting the Phillies down in order. No doubt the Drones Club will be buzzing about that.
They’ll buzz even more about Ernie Clement’s solo shot against Sánchez in the bottom fifth, which narrowed the Philadelphia lead to three.