This one had everything. Troy Melton struggled and got knocked out early, but the bullpen managed to bend without breaking. Meanwhile, the young Tigers hitters were centre stage as they fought back repeatedly with good at-bats late in this one. Kenley Jansen picked up his 496th major league save to wrap up the victory.
Monday night's first of three at the Rogers Centre featured Melton against right-hander José Soriano. The Blue Jays have had almost as strange a season as the Tigers. Struggling through the first half, they moved long time top starter Kevin Gausman, but acquired Soriano at the deadline as well, and have kept themselves in the thick of the wild card race.
Things didn't start off too well as the Tigers quickly went 1-2-3 in the first, and Melton immediately dug himself a hole. Brett Bateman led off by slashing a single the opposite way past a diving Hao-Yu Lee for a leadoff single. Bateman appeared to be thrown out stealing second on a pitch that was called a ball and incorrectly challenged by Dillon Dingler to walk George Springer. So everyone was safe, and after Vladimir Guerrero Jr. grounded out to advance the runners, Alejandro Kirk singled home Bateman for a 1-0 lead.
Melton didn't help his cause against Nathan Lukes by yanking a wild pitch to score Springer, but he retired Lukes and Kazuma Okamoto flew out to Clark to end the first inning. 2-0 Blue Jays.
A Dingler strikeout started the second inning, and Max Clark and Brett Callahan grounded out.

#melton #soriano #brett

Kyle Tucker hit a crucial seventh-inning grand slam to power the Dodgers (90-57) to a 6-2 win over the Marlins (72-76) Friday night in Miami.
It was an exciting night in Miami with pregame buzz surrounding the MLB debut of Dodgers top prospect Josue De Paula. De Paula went 0-for-3 on the night. He flied out to right fielder Esteury Ruiz in his first major-league at-bat. In his second at-bat, with one out in the fourth, the 21-year old drew a walk. In his third at-bat, De Paula grounded out to first baseman Kyle Stowers.
Blake Snell put together another solid night on the mound, only allowing 1 run on 4 hits to the Fish. Otto Lopez singled against Snell in the first, but Smith gunned down Lopez at second on a steal attempt to end the inning. The Marlins got more base runners on in the second against Snell, but he was once again able to pitch around the traffic to get out of the inning unscathed.
Tucker has been getting hot at just the right time for the Dodgers after an abysmal year at the plate.
The Dodgers manufactured a run in the top of the third. Tommy Edman drew the leadoff walk, and Max Muncy singled. Kyle Tucker's sac fly gave Snell a 1-0 lead.

#Dodgers #paula #tucker

The Colorado Rockies entered Detroit hoping to snap a seven-game losing streak on the road. Despite a solid start from their rookie pitcher and an offense that out-hit the Tigers, the Rockies bullpen collapsed in the middle innings, leading to a 6-2 defeat. They are now just eight games away from losing 100 games for the fourth season in a row.
Making his fourth big-league start, Mason Adams continued to impress in a Rockies uniform with a fairly quick and efficient outing.
The night started promisingly as Adams struck out the side in the bottom of the first inning. In the second, he allowed a leadoff single to Riley Greene and a one-out walk to Max Clark but managed to escape with a ground ball double play. He then worked a quick 1-2-3 third inning followed by a quick fourth inning where he faced the minimum.
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Through the first four innings, Adams had thrown just 52 pitches with four groundouts and looked primed to go the deepest into the game than he had previously. Unfortunately, he had to labor in the fifth inning with 25 pitches.

#game

With 2.5 weeks remaining in the regular season, those in the fantasy baseball playoffs should be focused on adding players with favorable schedules in the coming days. The list this week includes hitters to stream this weekend (Henry Bolte, Jeff McNeil, Colt Keith) as well as those who should be added by Monday (Ty France, Mickey Moniak, Cole Carrigg).
The same can be said on the pitching side, as those who need a weekend streamer can skip to the bottom of this article.
Ty France, 1B, Padres, 31%: France has been one of baseball's best hitters in the second half, batting .324 with a .937 OPS. Unfortunately, he remains on waivers in many leagues, as managers opt to chase an influx of exciting rookies rather than adding a boring veteran. But that should change over the weekend, as France and his teammates will open next week with four games at Coors Field against a Rockies pitching staff that ranks last in baseball with a 5.50 ERA. Managers in deeper formats could also consider Jake Cronenworth (6%), who has hit second in the lineup of late, or catcher Luis Campusano (1%), who is working as a DH often enough to keep him in the regular lineup.
Mickey Moniak, OF, Rockies, 26%: Moniak has some similarities to France, as a boring veteran who is having his productive season overshadowed by a constant stream of youngsters on the waiver wire. The 28-year-old has been terrific at home (.957 OPS) and against right-handers (.835 OPS) this season, which makes him a potential league-winner next week when the Rockies play seven games at their hitter-friendly home park, including five versus right-handed starters. Those who cannot add Moniak can consider his teammate, Cole Carrigg (15%).
Henry Bolte, OF, Athletics, 30%: Bolte is the fastest runner in baseball and has a bit of pop, which has made him the Athletics regular leadoff hitter and one of baseball's most explosive players. He is batting .320 since the beginning of August, and during September he has already accumulated four homers and five steals. Like many Athletics hitters, Bolte has fared best at his offense-inducing home park, which is where he will play this weekend. It helps that the series will come against the Mariners, who surprising rank 28th in baseball with a 5.39 ERA since the All-Star break.

#moniak #Rockies #athletics #week

Buffalo Bison 11, Charlotte Knights 4
The Charlotte Knights stumbled to an 11-4 loss to the Buffalo Bisons in a game that remained competitive for five innings before spiraling wildly out of control.
Adisyn Coffey took the mound as an opener for Charlotte, making just his third start of the season. It quickly became the Lenyn Sosa revenge game. The former White Sox infielder greeted Coffey with a leadoff solo shot in the top of the third. Coffey retired the next two hitters, but a single and an RBI double followed, giving Buffalo a 2-0 edge.
The Knights answered in the bottom half of the inning. Rikuu Nishida drew a two-out walk, and Riley Unroe brought him home with a triple to trim the deficit to one.
After Peyton Pallette got the final out of the third inning, Huascar Brazobán followed Coffey and turned in a successful inning of rehab work, surrendering only one hit in a scoreless fourth. Tanner McDougal took over in the fifth and faced the minimum, setting the stage for Charlotte to pull even in the bottom half when Junior Perez launched a solo shot to knot the score at 2-2.
Unfortunately, that was as good as the night would get for the Knights.

#buffalo #Third #inning #solo

WEST SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) — Jeff McNeil legged out an infield single to drive in the winning run in the bottom of the ninth inning and the Athletics beat the Toronto Blue Jays 6-5 on Monday night after blowing a four-run lead.
Henry Bolte homered and scored three times from the leadoff spot for the A's, who have won five of six following a five-game losing streak. The rookie drew three walks and stole three bases.
Andrés Giménez hit a tying solo homer in the ninth for the Blue Jays (72-73), who remained a game behind Cleveland for the last American League wild card. Alejandro Kirk also went deep but Toronto ace Dylan Cease gave up five runs — four earned — in five innings.
___
See AP's full MLB coverage here

#toronto #blue #game

The Athletics faced the Toronto Blue Jays in the opener of a three-game series on Labor Day at Sutter Health Park. The Green and Gold got out to an early lead before allowing the Blue Jays to claw back late, only for the A's to win 6-5 in walk-off fashion.
After A's starter Jacob Lopez tossed a scoreless first inning, the A's generated their first scoring chance against Blue Jays starter Dylan Cease in the bottom of that inning. Athletics center fielder Henry Bolte drew a leadoff walk and advanced to third with one out. Zack Gelof knocked Bolte in with an RBI ground-rule double, putting the hosts ahead 1-0.
With two outs, the A's scored a second run when Toronto misplayed a rundown, allowing Gelof to slide home safely.
The Blue Jays immediately answered back. Catcher Alejandro Kirk led off the second inning with his ninth home run of the season, a solo shot just over the right field wall. If he had taken a better route, A's right fielder Lawrence Butler would have had a chance to rob the home run.
Lopez followed that by allowing two straight baserunners before retiring the next three hitters to preserve his team's 2-1 lead.

#jays #inning #home

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — Shay Whitcomb chopped a single with one out in the 11th inning for his first career game-ending RBI, and the San Francisco Giants beat the St. Louis Cardinals 5-4 on Monday night.
Drew Cavanaugh's sacrifice bunt against George Soriano (6-4) advanced automatic runner Nate Furman and put him in position to score the deciding run.
Jason Foley (3-1) pitched two innings for the win.
Bryce Eldridge tied the game at 4 on a single in the bottom of the 10th after St. Louis went ahead in the top of the inning when Leo Bernal's fly ball dropped in front of diving center fielder Jung Hoo Lee for a base hit.
Pinch-hitter José Fermín hit a tying sacrifice fly in the ninth for St. Louis against Giants closer Dylan Smith, who allowed a leadoff single to Joshua Báez and another base hit to Thomas Saggese before a one-out walk by Bryan Torres loaded the bases for Fermín.

#Giants #sacrifice #base

If the St. Louis Cardinals are going to make a playoff push, it has to start in San Francisco. That's why Monday's game against the Giants was so vital. It didn't start well for Cardinals starter Michael McGreevy as the Giants grabbed an early lead. Cardinals bats would eventually claw their way all the way back by the 9th inning, but it wasn't quite enough to secure a crucial victory.
There are few batters in baseball more on a tear than Rafael Devers of the Giants. After Turner Hill walked to leadoff the bottom of the 1st inning, Devers turned on an 84 mph Michael McGreevy curve and drove it off the huge wall in right for a RBI double and a 1-0 San Francisco lead.
The Giants added to their lead in the bottom of the 3rd inning when Christian Koss reached on an infield single that glanced off of McGreevy's glove and then advanced to second after Michael flipped the ball over Burleson at first. Koss advanced to third on a groundout by Hill and then scored on a sacrifice fly by Bryce Eldredge to double the San Francisco lead to 2-0.
Rafael Devers would kickstart a two-out rally in the bottom of the 5th inning when he smoked another double. Bryce Eldredge followed that with a double that scored Devers giving the Giants a 3-0 lead.
The St. Louis Cardinals didn't get their first hit off of Giants starter Logan Webb until the top of the 3rd inning. They didn't get their first run of the game until the top of the 6th inning, but it was a dramatic one. Alec Burleson gave a 92 mph sinker a bath as he launched it 431 feet into the bay cutting into the San Francisco lead making it 3-1.

#inning #cardinals #devers #michael

Call it a winning streak!
Not for the White Sox. Taking two of three from an AL Central rival in what wound up being emphatic 10-1 fashion is always satisfying, but it wasn't two in a row. No, folks, I'm celebrating me and my absolute heater of 10 wins in 11 recap tries. Put me in every day, Brett!
The box score does betray the tension that underlined the majority of this one. Hosting their first Sunday Night Baseball broadcast as a first place team since 2008, the tone of the game was lively early, though the bulk of the early action was a straightforward redux of the frustrating offensive play the Sox have produced since the All-Star break. They rank near the bottom of the league with a .240 batting average with RISP since then, and it feels like that average should be a lot lower, because getting runners in from the basepaths without the longball has been like pulling teeth lately.
The theme continued with verve for what I'd call the majority of the game — though ultimately, and fortunately, not the entirety of it. Sam Antonacci led off the first and fifth innings with a double, sandwiching back-to-back free bases from the non-brothers Montgomery to open the second frame and preceding Tristan Peters' own leadoff double an inning later. They even queued up a rally in the third inning, when Miguel Vargas and Andrew Benintendi reached base before Colson Montgomery's second punchout of the game ended the threat. Colson finished with a golden sombrero, bringing him to 197 on the season. When he presumably reaches the ignominious 200-K milestone, he'll make the White Sox the only team to have three separate players break the 200 strikeout threshold in a season. Yoán Moncada did it most recently, and I don't think I need to type the name of the one who did it first.
If you've been following the team as of late, it won't be surprising that almost none of those White Sox rallies resulted in any runs, as Twins starter Bailey Ober labored through 4 1/3 innings with highly-diminished stuff. Still, when the Minnesota pen got the call, only one Sox run had been stuck on the board, as Antonacci did make his way around in the fifth, after Murakami shot a single through the right side:

#white #call #since #majority

White Sox manager Will Venable jokingly lamented on Saturday that it seems as though the Cleveland Guardians are always winning. True to form, they walked off the Detroit Tigers a couple of hours before first pitch between the Sox and Twins Sunday night. Winners of three out of four in Detroit, the Guardians are the biggest threat to Sox' hopes of winning the division at just 2.5 games back.
They'll face each other three times in Cleveland in a little over a week, but in the meantime, the White Sox have to make sure they're winning at least as often as the Guardians are.
The White Sox did just that against the Twins on Sunday, winning 10-1 while showcasing much of why they are the American League Central frontrunners and why they will be a dangerous team to face in the postseason. In a planned bullpen game, the group of Bryan Hudson, Jordan Hicks, Hagen Smith, Grant Taylor, and Tyler Davis combined to allow just one run while striking out 15 Minnesota batters and walking only one.
"The plan worked," Venable said. "Everyone did a great job. They came out, they executed, got the outs we needed. The line for the bullpen speaks for itself."
There was really only one hiccup, when Grant Taylor gave up a leadoff homer to Brooks Lee and then walked Ryan Jeffers in the seventh inning, but even he went on to **** ert his dominance. After those two batters, he retired the next three in the seventh and struck out the side in the eighth inning.

#Guardians #detroit

SAN DIEGO (AP) — Fernando Tatis Jr., Jake Cronenworth and Manny Machado hit consecutive home runs off Gerrit Cole to open the bottom of the first inning, and the San Diego Padres held off the New York Yankees 4-3 to take two of three games in their series.
San Diego starter Michael King pitched six shutout innings against his former team. Luis Campusano added a leadoff homer against Cole in the seventh for the Padres, who remained a half-game behind Arizona for the third National League wild card.
The Yankees rallied for three runs off reliever Adrian Morejon in the eighth, highlighted by an RBI double from rookie Spencer Jones, who is from northern San Diego County.
Mason Miller pitched the ninth for his 33rd save, striking out Ben Rice with a runner on first to end it.
The Yankees (81-62) need one more victory to clinch their 34th consecutive winning season. They hold the American League's top wild-card spot by 2 1/2 games over rival Boston and trail first-place Tampa Bay by four games in the AL East.

#first #runs #pitched

Gwinnett Stripers 5, Charlotte Knights 3
Not only did the Stripers (69-67) outhit the Knights (74-63), 8-6, but a bullpen implosion in the eighth allowed Gwinnett to take the lead and ultimately win the game, 5-3. The good news is that Charlotte is still hanging in second place, on the cusp of a playoff berth. The bad news is that righthander Shane Smith really struggled with his command, unable to complete the eighth inning, surrendering three runs on two hits with three walks — one intentional — and two wild pitches.
Charlotte's offense mashed half of their hits (three) for extra bases, and went 2-for-5 with runners in scoring position, and the top of the lineup mostly carried the team. The Good Guys scored all of their runs in the third inning, igniting a two-out rally in the top of the third once the batting order flipped back to the top. Caden Connor set the tone with a leadoff base hit — his first of two — and Rikuu Nishida kept the inning rolling with a base hit of his own to bring up the power bats. Riley Unroe blasted a two-run triple to take the lead, and Ryan Galanie brought him right in on a two-out double to give the Knights a three-run lead.
Smith got off to a rough start as the Stripers tied the game with the first three batters the righty faced, and continued to fall off the rails, handing Gwinnett a two-run lead from a pair of wild pitches. The entire sequence of events before the Knights were able to get an out was … out of control: leadoff walk, bunt base hit, game-tying RBI double (3-3), walk, first wild pitch to giveaway the lead (4-3), intentional walk to load the bases, second wild pitch (5-3), ground out. Despite this being just his first blown save, Smith now owns a 6.06 ERA while receiving his second loss of the year. In his three previous innings of relief, Shane hadn't allowed a single hit, but he just wasn't on his game. It's still possible that Smith will be able to lean into a relief role, but there's definitely still some red flags about his performance his season.
MVP
Riley Unroe (3B): 1-for-4, R, 2 RBI, 3 K, 3B
Runners-Up
Rikuu Nishida (2B): 1-for-4, R, 2 K
Ryan Galanie (DH): 1-for-4, RBI, 2B
Caden Connor (LF): 2-for-4, R, K
Shane Murphy (LHSP): 5 1/3 IP, 5 H, 2 R, BB, 3 K, PO, WP, HB
Huascar Brazobán (RHRP): 1 1/3 IP, H, 2 K, Hold

#knights #game

Ethan Pecko entered his fifth inning Saturday unscored upon but with a reliever warming behind him in the Houston Astros' bullpen. Three batters later, his outing ended. Tim Tawa cued an infield hit into an open right side. Pecko pounced on a Ryan Waldschmidt tapper before Lars Nootbaar lined a clean single.
Nootbaar occupied the leadoff spot in the Diamondbacks' lineup and was facing Pecko for a third time in the game. His single put the potential tying run on base, brought manager Joe Espada out to remove his starter and reinforced an issue within Houston's rotation with 19 games left in a postseason race.
Two of five starters the Astros are deploying - Cristian Javier and Pecko, the right-handed prospect - are under tighter reins, with Houston hesitant to have them face opposing lineups a third time. Javier hasn't faced more than 19 batters in any of his past four outings, one of which he pitched in bulk relief.
Having three starters who will work deeper - Hunter Brown, Peter Lambert and Hayden Wesneski - can mitigate that usage somewhat. But it puts added pressure on those starters to cover innings and protect the bullpen, and on the bullpen to shoulder a significant workload at least two out of five (or six) days.
How sustainable that is down the stretch, for a club with a three-game division lead and 19 games left in the regular season, is a question. The bullpen has been arguably the Astros' biggest strength, yet it's also at less than full capacity, even with expanded rosters offering an extra spot on the pitching staff.

#starters #javier #right

DENVER (AP) — Cole Carrigg had two hits, including a leadoff single to spark a six-run fifth inning, and the Colorado Rockies beat the St. Louis Cardinals 10-7 on Saturday night.
The Rockies, who managed just a walk through the first four innings, finished with 11 hits.
Colorado starter Mason Adams, making his third start since his major league debut Aug. 25, failed to make it out of the fifth and was denied his first career win. Brennan Bernardino (4-3) got the win and Jordan Romano got the final two outs for his 15th save.
Cardinals starter Matthew Liberatore (5-14) lost his eighth straight decision and has not won in his last nine starts. He set down the first 10 batters before walking Connor Norby, then got the next two batters before Colorado broke through in the fifth.
With one out, the Rockies had three straight singles to score two, and Liberatore threw two wild pitches during Jake McCarthy's at-bat to bring home another run. McCarthy and Tovar pulled off a double steal, McCarthy scored on a single and TJ Rumfield capped the inning with an RBI double.

#Colorado #fifth #first #inning

SAN DIEGO (AP) — Spencer Jones hit a two-out RBI double against his hometown team to start a four-run rally in the second inning, and the New York Yankees beat the San Diego Padres 5-1 on Saturday.
Carlos Rodón and four relievers held the Padres to three hits as the Yankees (81-61) pulled within a victory of clinching their 34th straight winning season. They've won five of seven games and 13 of 19, and are in control of the American League's top wild-card spot.
The Padres, who have lost six of eight, came into the day a half-game ahead of Arizona for the third National League wild card.
The Yankees drew seven walks, with three of those players scoring, and loaded the bases in three different innings.
Jones, a rookie who attended La Costa Canyon High in Carlsbad, doubled into the right-field corner off left-hander Robbie Ray in the second to bring in Ben Rice, who hit a leadoff single and advanced on George Lombard Jr.'s grounder.

#second #seven #card

The Athletics played spoiler with a 7-4 victory over the Seattle Mariners in a nearly three-and-a-half-hour series opener. The A's pitching staff overcame eight walks with 18 strikeouts, while the offense scored early and late in the team's 55th victory of the season.
The A's took the lead immediately against Mariners starter Kade Anderson. The second batter of the game, left fielder Zack Gelof, hit his 16th home run of the season, a solo shot to right-center field, putting the A's up 1-0 before the Mariners came to bat.
The Mariners answered right back. A's starter Jack Perkins walked Seattle's leadoff hitter Randy Arozarena, who proceeded to score on Julio Rodríguez's RBI single. The next batter, Cal Raleigh, hit an RBI single, putting the Mariners up 2-1. With two outs, Lazaro Montes hit an RBI single, bringing home the Mariners' third run of the first inning.
Seattle sent all nine batters to the plate in the first inning, forcing Perkins to throw 40 pitches to complete one frame. The inning could have been worse had A's catcher Brian Serven not made a smart play to record the third out at home after a wild pitch.
Seeking a response of their own, the A's first three batters reached in the bottom of the second, setting up a bases-loaded no-out opportunity.

#first

Shohei Ohtani is not in the Los Angeles Dodgers' lineup on Thursday, as injury worries continue to mount around the star's health.
It is Ohtani's first day off in more than a month. The Dodgers have Tommy Edman in his usual leadoff spot and fourth outfielder Alex Call serving as designated hitter.
Tonight's #Dodgers lineup vs. Cardinals: pic.twitter.com/77gpgH4iyi
The decision to sit Ohtani comes a day after a four-strikeout performance against the St. Louis Cardinals, during which his swing was visibly compromised.
There is just no way he's healthy. pic.twitter.com/o9uz4APY8S

#twitter #shohei #thursday

After a 5 run first inning, Kansas City had a multi-run lead for over half the game. The Marlins kept chipping away inning after inning to eventually win 9-6.
It was a very exciting beginning to the game tonight, though it was both the good and bad type of exciting. Noah Cameron had a breaking ball hit the back foot of the leadoff hitter to start the game. Then Otto Lopez hit a hard groundball down the third baseline and into the corner that John Rave misplayed into a triple and an RBI. Kyle Stowers was up third and the infield was in. He immediately hit a little single up the middle to make the game 2-0. Cameron started to settle in after that and got out of the first. In the bottom half the Royals decided to show Miami that anything they could do KC could do better. Carter Jensen led the game off by pulling a solo home run and cutting the lead in half. Bobby Witt managed to reach base with a single before Jac Caglianone mirrored the triple in the top half of the inning only down the first baseline and into the corner for a double. It was enough with Witt's speed to tie the game up 2-2. That was not enough for Salvador Perez however, so he also turned on a ball and hit his 18th bomb of the year to score two and give the Royals the lead. After which Vinnie Pasquantino flew out, Nick Loftin worked a walk, and the newly returned Michael Massey drove a double to right center for a 5-2 lead.
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That was a long inning for Eury Perez ending with 34 pitches thrown, and the Marlins even got the bullpen moving a bit before the end of the initial frame. It was a great start after the last two games where the Royals got blown out, but the crazy first was a long way from the end of this one. Cameron, after those first three batters, took down the next 8 in a row before Miami got to him in the 3rd. With two outs and no one on, Stowers got his second RBI knock of the night by hitting a solo homer to left center. It looked like he may have struck out on a check swing the pitch before the home run, but it was called no swing on appeal.
In the bottom of the 4th, with Eury still hanging in there, Carter Jensen tagged another mistake and lined it 110mph into the Royals bullpen. It was his second multi-homer game of his career and brought him to and then above the 20 homer mark. Not bad for your first full season in the bigs. Royals lead 6-3.

#lead #homer

The Dodgers offense showed up finally on Tuesday night, but eight runs were not enough to overcome the terrible pitching performances by Eric Lauer and those that followed him. If the Dodgers muster even half of that on Wednesday, they should be in pretty good position as Yoshinobu Yamamoto takes the mound.
In his last outing, Yamamoto went 6 1/3 innings, allowing only a leadoff homer to Braves catcher Drake Baldwin, and then nothing else as he went toe-to-toe with Chris Sale. Sale of course completely shut down the Dodgers going for the complete game shutout, as the Dodgers couldn't muster anything against him.
It was indicative of what has happened to Yamamoto throughout most of his career and especially this August, as he had a 1.95 ERA and only a 1-2 record to show for it. L.A. has scored three or more runs behind him only twice in his past six starts, and five of those games were decided by one run, giving him little margin for error while he's on the mound.
This time the Dodgers will be facing the Cardinals bullpen. Ryan Fernandez went 1.2 innings in Tuesday night's game, but every other arm in the 'pen hasn't seen much usage in the last few days and should be fresh and ready to go.
Yamamoto has faced the Cardinals twice before, and has yet to allow a run in 11 innings pitched.

#muster

Spencer Jones was, is, and will always be an enigma. He's an incredibly divisive player, one who dazzles with his pure athleticism at his hulking size, with true light-tower power, all with an Achilles heel of struggling mightily to make contact. He's a true four-tool player and will test the absolute limits of just how good a player with those tools can be, with arguably the most important tool completely missing from his toolshed.
Jones has had his highs and lows this season, but the reality is that he's steadily improved over the course of the season, particularly after each promotion. He's getting by with his clear weaknesses, while not looking overmatched against velocity or left-handed pitching, two things that always were his bugaboos in the minors. Tonight in Anaheim, as September 1st bled into September 2nd, he was the catalyst in a 7-3 Yankees win that washed the bad taste of Monday night out of everyone's mouths.
The Yankees were abhorrent in the first inning in August. As a team, they slashed .138/.214/.202 with just two total runs across 27 games, both on August 26th against Houston. Well, on the first day of September, they put up three in the first inning against Grayson Rodriguez on a pair of home runs by Jones and Jazz Chisholm Jr. The former hit his second ****** anic shot to right-center field in as many nights, while the latter snuck an excuse-me liner inside the left-field foul pole for one of the more fascinating home runs you'll ever see.
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Gerrit Cole took the ****** p and looked like he might give some runs back after a leadoff double by Zach Neto, but he worked around it with strikeouts of Mike Trout and Moises Ballesteros to strand him. After Rodriguez settled down for the Angels, Cole worked around a two-out walk by Josh Lowe to put up another zero in the second.

#player

Mantua, Cuba, is a small fishing village on the northwestern coast of the island; legend says it was founded by shipwrecked Italian sailors in the early 1600s. Los Arroyos, the neighborhood where Randy Arozarena grew up, is a tiny tip of the island, about as close to Cancún as it is to the capital Havana, where Lazaro Montes was born. Maybe their respective hometowns account for their personality differences: Randy is quieter, more removed, shying away from media appearances, while Laz is as big and boisterous as the bustling capital city itself, eager to try out his English with whoever wants to talk. Making his big-league debut tonight, "Big Laz" had an appropriately splashy welcome to the big leagues that will guarantee his megawatt smile will light up highlight reels tonight both in Seattle and beyond, accounting for two of the Mariners' nine runs tonight. But Randy Arozarena also continued doing what he's done all season, leading the team offensively and providing an early separating blow that helped the Mariners outlast the Red Sox in a grueling 9-6 win at Fenway.
The Mariners got on the board right away when Dominic Canzone absolutely obliterated this hanging changeup from Red Sox starter Jedixson Paez:
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Unfortunately, the Red Sox took that run right back with a blast of their own, a four-seamer from Bryan Woo that didn't quite get top rail enough that Mickey Gasper hammered for a matching blow.
But the Mariners offense picked up their starter in the top of the second, pouncing on Paez for five runs of both the small and large ball variety. Josh Naylor got things going with a leadoff double, followed by a line-drive single from Cole Young – not super hard hit, but any contact in the air is good from young Cole, who's been really struggling lately with pounding the ball into the ground. That brought up Lazaro Montes for his very first big-league at-bat in an RBI situation. Facing a flagging pitcher on a bullpen day, Montes took a studied, disciplined at-bat, getting ahead 2-0, whiffing at a changeup on the plate, and then declining to chase two more changeups to earn his way on base. J.P. Crawford put the Mariners ahead on a sacrifice fly, and then Brock Rodden checked in with an infield hit of his own, hustling down the line to allow Cole Young to score. That also turned the lineup over for Randy Arozarena, who continued his audition to Get Real Paid by the Red Sox next season by crushing a sinker middle-middle that would have wound up on Lansdowne Street if not for an inconveniently located billboard.

#Mariners #randy #paez

Luke Keaschall was a much-needed spark plug, Walker Jenkins doinked his first MLB homer off the right field pole, Jeffers added two bombs of his own, his first since the last day of July, and Taj Bradley delivered one of his best starts of the season when the Twins most needed it. It was a fun night at the ballpark when the Twins really needed a win!
Let's start on the offensive side. Facing Jackson Jobe, the former top pitching prospect in all of baseball, the Twins struck in the first inning, as they are wont to do of late, with a leadoff double from Keaschall eventually coming around on Kody Clemens sac fly. And then things went eerily quiet for Minnesota's hitters, also as they are wont to do of late.
They had chances to add on before the game exploded, but still didn't hit well with runners in scoring position despite the big number on the scoreboard. They went 2-9 with RISP against actual pitchers, with an added hit off of position player Zach McKinstry in the eighth to juice the stats. A leadoff double from Kaelen Culpepper in the third gave them a good run scoring opportunity, but a Jenkins pop out and Brooks Lee GIDP after a Keaschall single kept the game at 1-0 after three innings.
Clemens came back around and added a run on his own in the fourth inning, a no-doubt solo shot over the dock in right field to put the Twins up 2-0. They had another great opportunity to add on that inning with the bases loaded and just one out, but the rookies Culpepper and Jenkins both popped out to end the threat.
Then came the fifth inning when things finally broke open. Keaschall reached first base on an error by the Tigers' third baseman. Hao-Yu Lee couldn't get the grip on a soft grounder hit his way, trying to get it quickly to nab a hustling Keaschall. Keaschall then stole second easily off one of the best defensive catchers in baseball, Dillon Dingler. Keaschall had third easily in the same at-bat as well, but Clemens fouled off a pitch to send Luke back to second. Clemens eventually walked before Ryan Jeffers hit a three run blast to give the Twins their first comfortable lead of the night.

#jenkins #inning

Tonight's game at Fenway Park was capital-B Baseball. Yesterday the Red Sox lost 16-1 to the Yankees in ways that were humiliating in line wit what losing to the Yankees naturally implies, especially around Labor Day. Just over a day later, they won as good a regular season game as you'll ever seen. It was a 9-8 extra innings walk-off after several comebacks against the Mariners generally but specifically Randy Arozarena, who had a Randy Arozarena Game, and overtook all of Boston's leads but the last one. The last one came on a Trevor Story single in the bottom of the 10th to end it. Before that, they played the hits: Mickey Gasper went deep again, because of course. Jarren Duran did too, because why not? Payton Tolle hugged a dude!
And yet all these feats were repeatedly and rudely refuted by the M's, not just Randy but Cal Raleigh, whose sleeves are too short and seemed to have put it out of reach at 8-5 in the 7th:
But no. The Sox would and could not be denied. Story didn't just have the hit to end it, he had the critical slap in the 8th to bring it within a run. After Aroldis did his thing in the top of the ninth (scare the ******* out of us while being objectively impressive but [redacted]) Roman Anthony came out and hit a leadoff triple and scored on a sac to left to tie it. Once the Sox dispatched the top of the 10th and came back up, they moved the fake runner to 3d and the M's walked 'em loaded and went to a 3-1 count before this happened:
"Nine-eight in 10." That's great stuff, Obie. I can't lie.

#went

Happy Saturday, folks! Hope you're having a nice weekend. If you decide to spend it watching late-night West Coast baseball, I hope the Orioles grace you with a series win tonight. They ******* ed a win in Game One last night with a 4-3 victory in ten innings. Although Brandon Young pitched a strong seven innings, the bullpen couldn't hold onto a meager 2-0 lead, and it took extras to sort things out: two clutch base hits by Coby Mayo and Christian Encarnacion-Strand gave the birds the winning margin of victory.
Let's hope the Orioles make Game Two worth staying up for. Tonight, taking the mound at Sacramento's Sutter Health Park for the Athletics is Jack Perkins, a 26-year-old righty who debuted for the A's in 2025, and has been used mostly as a swingman. In 11 starts and 20 relief appearances in 2026, he has an ugly 6.68 ERA, although it seems he's been the victim of bad defense, to judge by his FIP (4.79) and xERA (3.96). He's still been much more effective as a reliever, going by his ERA splits (4.76 ERA in relief/8.17 ERA as a starter). His best pitch is the sweeper, which generates a 36.1% whiff rate, followed by a decent changeup and cutter. The soft spot in Perkins' ******* nal is his mid-90s four-seamer: it's been his most hittable pitch by far (.318 average, .664 slugging against, Run Value -14), and he still throws it nearly a third of the time. Perkins is also ******* e to the long ball (1.69 HR/9) and to putting runners on via the walk (3.79 BB/9) or hit-by-pitch (9 on the year).
As for the O's starter, I don't know if it's crazy or reasonable to hope for a win, given that it's unlucky Shane Baz who takes his turn on the mound tonight. Despite the fact that Baz (4.04 ERA, 3.34 FIP) has allowed three or fewer runs in 19 of his 26 starts, he doesn't have a win in his last twelve starts (which is incredible to process). And he's been pretty good! He had a 3.68 ERA in June, a 3.00 one in July, and August, while slightly worse, shows him at a 4.30 mark. Poor Baz. Can the schneid please end tonight?
Tonight's lineup features a surplus of lefties. Jackson Holliday back in the leadoff spot, and Henderson, hopefully rested after his day off, hitting third. Dylan Beavers, hot lately, is back in, and so is Cowser playing center field. The newly activated Blaze Alexander is sitting today. However, Coby Mayo, slayer of lefties, is getting a start against the right-handed Perkins anyway, hitting seventh. And Pete Alonso, lately called our team's "iron man," is still out there, hitting, even with a sore calf.
Last night saw these Orioles ******* a game back from Cleveland's lead to put them just two games back of the third and final Wild Card spot. Earlier today, the lowly Royals did the Orioles a huge favor, pummeling the Guardians 8-3, which gives the team chance to make up yet another game! The next four games against the A's and the Rockies, whom the O's visit next, represent a best chance to make score some easy wins in the wild card race

CHICAGO (AP) — Chicago Cubs star Pete Crow-Armstrong is adding to his case for the NL MVP award.
Crow-Armstrong homered in each of the first two innings on Saturday against the Cincinnati Reds. The All-Star center fielder also singled and scored in the fourth.
Crow-Armstrong is making a bid to unseat Los Angeles Dodgers star Shohei Ohtani as NL MVP after the ***** anese slugger took home the honor each of the previous two years. Ohtani hasn't been able to pitch since July 3 because of left knee soreness and a right biceps injury.
While Ohtani has been limited to designated hitter with Los Angeles, Crow-Armstrong is one of baseball's top defensive players. And he has turned into a consistent threat at the plate as well.
The 24-year-old Crow-Armstrong hit a 435-foot drive to right-center in the first for his eighth career leadoff homer — all this season. He went deep again in the second, sending a two-run shot off the foul pole in right for his 35th homer.

#ohtani #center

This Sunday features an MLB tripleheader across NBC, NBCSN, and Peacock. First, at 12:00 PM ET, the Miami Marlins face the Washington Nationals in the MLB Sunday Leadoff game. Then, at 3:00 PM, the Houston Astros take on the New York Mets at Citi Field. Later, at 7:00 PM, Sunday Night Baseball heads to Wrigley Field as the Cincinnati Reds go head-to-head with the Chicago Cubs. See below for additional information on how to watch each game.
NBC Sports Philadelphia play-by-play voice Tom McCarthy makes his MLB Sunday Leadoff debut alongside four-time World Series champion Jeff Nelson, former Washington infielder Kevin Frandsen, and reporter Jordan Cornette for Sunday's Marlins vs Nationals game
Click here to sign up for Peacock!
Where: Nationals Park, Washington, DC
When: Sunday, August 30

#nationals #leadoff #field #play

Félix Bautista delivered a clean inning in his second rehab appearance (first at Triple-A). Bautista shook off the rust from his first outing and generated a ground out, strikeout, and fly out. His sinker topped out at 97 MPH.
Bautista entered after starter Trey Gibson threw four innings of two-run ball. Gibson allowed four hits, struck out four, and did not hand out a free pass.
Albert Suárez returned to Norfolk with a fresh minor league deal. Big Al tossed 2.1 innings of bulk relief. He allowed an unearned run and struck out three.
Norfolk trailed 3-2 before scoring in the seventh, eighth, and ninth innings. Enrique Bradfield Jr. tied the game with a single in the seventh, José Barrero gave the Tides the lead with a solo homer in the eighth, and Jeremiah Jackson drove in a crucial insurance run with a base hit in the ninth. Bradfield Jr. finished 3-for-4 from the leadoff spot, and Jackson went 2-for-5 with a double and two RBIs.
Heston Kjerstad doubled and took a walk. Aaron Noda walked twice and launched a solo home run in the top of the second. Creed Willems ended the day 0-for-5 with three strikeouts.

#gibson #second

GREENVILLE, S.C. – Dylan Brown and the Drive's explosive offense paved the way to a 7-1 win against the Rome Emperors, regaining a series lead 2-1. The Drive improves to 28-29, while the Emperors falls to 25-31 in the second-half standings.
A slow-building Drive offense finally saw a homer in game three, courtesy of Isaiah Jackson's 20th long-ball of the year. His two runs driven in gave Greenville an early advantage in the first inning.
Brown set the tone with a 1-2-3 first inning, but Luis Guanipa jumped on a pitch in the second to hit a leadoff homer, cutting the lead to 2-1.
Nazzan Zanetello answered right back with a home run in the bottom of the frame. Greenville kept rolling in the third, adding two more runs on an Antonio Anderson sac-fly and a Ronny Hernandez RBI double to extend the lead. Anderson singled in Jackson in the fifth, making it 6-1.
Meanwhile, Brown dominated the mound, giving up just one run on two hits through six strong innings. He ended his night with a well-deserved standing ovation from the Fluor Field crowd, finishing with five strikeouts for 103 on the season, leading all Drive pitchers.

#second #homer

ATLANTA (AP) — Chris Sale struck out 11 in a five-hit shutout, Drake Baldwin launched a leadoff homer against Yoshinobu Yamamoto, and the Atlanta Braves edged the Los Angeles Dodgers 1-0 on Thursday night to complete a three-game sweep.
Sale (13-9) did not walk a batter. The left-hander posted his fourth double-digit strikeout game this season and the 95th of his career, which ranks seventh all-time.
Fans in the sellout crowd of 39,650 cheered when Sale strolled out to the mound for the ninth inning even though relievers were ready in the Atlanta bullpen. Braves manager Walt Weiss stuck with his ace after Freddie Freeman singled leading off the ninth.
Teoscar Hernández popped out, pinch-runner Alek Thomas was out at second on Miguel Rojas' fielder's-choice grounder and Sale struck out Alex Call for his 17th complete game and first since 2019 with Boston.
Baldwin lined the first pitch from Yamamoto (12-8) into the right-field Chop House restaurant. It was Baldwin's fourth leadoff shot this season and 22nd homer overall. Yamamoto allowed only four hits with eight strikeouts in 6 1/3 innings.

#sale #yamamoto #baldwin #homer