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The Twins outrighted catcher Alex Jackson to Triple-A after he went unclaimed on waivers. Jackson had the right to reject the assignment, but that was never likely, as it would mean he would have to forfeit the remainder of his $1.35 million salary for the season. Jackson was originally acquired in an offseason trade with the Baltimore Orioles, and many thought he would serve as the backup catcher this season, but the Twins went on to sign Victor Caratini to a two-year deal, pushing Jackson to the third catcher on the depth chart. Jackson played at the major league level for a while this year after Ryan Jeffers went down with a hamate injury, which kept him out for quite some time. With Jeffers back and healthy, the Twins decided now was the time to no longer keep three catchers on the roster, so Jackson will likely be the first catcher called upon if Jeffers or Caratini is shelved due to an injury. Jackson played in 29 games with the Twins this season, hitting .303/.333/.409 in limited action. He had one home run and four doubles at the plate. He also got some time at first base, which was the first in his major league career as well. View the full article

With the Miami Marlins active roster set to expand in two weeks and a glaring hole already present at first base, here is a factor that I frankly had not been considering, via Barry Jackson of the Miami Herald: "If the Marlins do not believe that a prospect can significantly contribute to help them win this year, they’re not going to promote them to the majors simply for a few weeks of September at-bats if they’re not already on the 40-man roster. "The reason: "Players who are on the 40-man roster can have no contact with coaches or a team’s medical staff, or use team facilities, after an MLB lockout — which appears inevitable — begins Dec. 1. Conversely, players who aren’t on the 40-man roster can have that type of contact this winter — including working with coaches — and also can attend minor-league spring training and play in minor-league games next season." Non-40-man hitters who have performed well for Triple-A Jacksonville this season include Cam Cannarella, Kemp Alderman and recently acquired Jonathon Long. As Fish On First's Isaac Azout discussed during Sunday's livestream, Alderman's promotion to the majors was believed to be "imminent" prior to suffering an elbow injury on May 17. With only a small portion of the 2026 season remaining, it is now a more complicated decision—with less time for him to adjust to MLB competition, he might not provide any positive value down the stretch, and the trade-off is losing direct contact with him for what figures to be a months-long work stoppage. One correction to Jackson's reporting...He mentions that "the same thinking" applies to right-hander Jace Beck, but he will be selected to the 40-man roster prior to the lockout regardless. The 26-year-old is a pending minor league free agent who is eligible to leave in November if not selected. The Marlins will surely get out in front of that given Beck's 35% strikeout rate this season and intriguing upside. Here is a refresher on the current composition of Miami's 40-man: To be clear, most of the Marlins prospects in this predicament already have relationships with reputable third-party training facilities. They will still have access to professional-grade workout equipment and development tools during the 2026-27 offseason. On the other hand, the team does not want to temporarily lose oversight of their medicals and strength and conditioning regimen during the lockout. View the full article

On Sunday, the Twins had watched a five-run lead disappear, and they were staring at a two-run deficit in the bottom of the ninth inning. Waiting on the mound was All-Star and former Twin Jhoan Duran, making Minnesota’s path back into the game even more difficult. With one out, Victor Caratini coaxed a six-pitch walk to bring the tying run to the plate. Kaelen Culpepper was the next man up, and the rookie had at least a little recent history with Duran to draw from. Culpepper faced him in Thursday's Field of Dreams Game and lined a single into the outfield. Maybe that familiarity helped. Whatever the reason, Culpepper looked completely comfortable, in a spot where plenty of hitters would have been overwhelmed. This was not a quick at-bat. It was not a mistake from Duran that handed Culpepper an easy opportunity. In a full-fledged battle, the rookie refused to give in. Duran opened the at-bat with exactly what everyone expected: velocity. His first pitch was a 98.1-MPH splinker; Culpepper fouled it away. Duran then dropped a 90.3-MPH knuckle-curve into the dirt, but Culpepper did not chase, evening the count at 1-1. The third pitch was another splinker, this one at 97.7 MPH. Culpepper swung through it, putting himself in a difficult 1-2 hole. Against most pitchers, that might have been the beginning of the end. Against Duran, it is an especially dangerous position. Opponents are 7-for-49 with 34 strikeouts after falling behind 1-2 against Duran this season. Culpepper, however, had no interest in making the at-bat easy. Duran went back to his splinker on pitch No. 4, throwing it 99.1 MPH. Culpepper got a piece of it and fouled it away. Duran tried the same pitch again on pitch No. 5, this time at 98. Another foul ball. Pitch No. 6 was another splinker at 98.8, and once again, Culpepper spoiled it. Three straight pitches. Three straight fouls. At that point, Culpepper had turned a 1-2 count into a battle of attrition. Duran was throwing some of the hardest pitches any hitter will see, and the rookie was simply staying alive. The burly righty finally changed speeds. The seventh pitch was a 90.9-MPH sweeper, well below the velocity Culpepper had just been battling. But it also strayed outside the strike zone, and Culpepper correctly laid off. The count was now even at 2-2. Duran went right back to the splinker on pitch No. 8, this one at 99.2 MPH. Culpepper fouled it off again. That was four consecutive foul balls after falling behind 1-2, and five foul balls overall in the at-bat. Duran had thrown everything at him. Culpepper kept finding a way to stay in the box. By the ninth pitch, there was little mystery about what Duran was going to try to do. He went back to his splinker and unleashed it at 99.7 MPH. Culpepper finally won the battle. He got the barrel on the pitch, but the result was hardly clean. The rookie broke his bat, but the resulting ground ball snuck through the infield, giving Culpepper a hard-earned single and putting two runners on base. The Twins suddenly had a legitimate chance to tie the game. It was an impressive conclusion to perhaps the best at-bat of Culpepper's young career. The rookie didn't beat Duran on a glaring mistake. He just pulled the hands in and got enough lumber on a two-strike pitch to stir some trouble. Short of learning about the speed of the game defensively during his Aug. 7 debut, Culpepper has not looked out of place since being promoted to Minnesota. There will undoubtedly be adjustments ahead, particularly with his 31.0% strikeout rate, but he continues to show flashes of why the Twins viewed him as an important part of their future. Culpepper reached base twice more Sunday and is now batting .250/.345/.417. The ninth-inning at-bat against Duran was particularly encouraging because of how much was required from him, and because of the stakes. According to win probability, the at-bat raised Minnesota's chances of winning by 10%. It also put two runners on base for Ryan Jeffers and Byron Buxton. Neither could finish the comeback, as both hitters struck out to end the game. Still, Culpepper's at-bat provided something the Twins desperately needed in that moment: a reason to believe. After watching a five-run lead disappear and then facing one of baseball's most overpowering relievers, the rookie kept battling until he finally found a way to reach base. "We're just kind of looking for that spark right now," Josh Bell said after the loss, in a dejected clubhouse in which Bell and others nonetheless insisted that the vibes remain good. For the Twins, Culpepper's fight against Duran could be the kind of moment that sparks something better moving forward. What stood out about Culpepper’s at-bat? What are realistic expectations for him during the remainder of the season? Leave a comment and start the discussion. View the full article

The Dodgers sent the best left-handed starting pitcher in baseball to the mound Sunday. For most of his career, Jake Bauers could plan on being on the bench on days like that. Instead, he was not only in the lineup, but on base all day, notching four hits in a convincing Brewers win. By the end of the contest, he was batting .275/.384/.500 for the season. He's already come to bat 448 times, hit 21 homers and drawn 65 walks, which are all career-highs. At age 30, he's hurtling toward a significant free-agent payday, just two years after being a castoff who had to limp back to the Brewers on a minor-league deal. Because Bauers has never been an in-demand free agent before, though, the Brewers will have one more chance to realize some value even when his contract expires at the end of this year's World Series. He's eligible to receive a qualifying offer, which is likely to be worth around $23 million for 2027. If the Brewers issue one (and if Bauers declines it), they could receive a significant draft pick as compensation when he signs elsewhere. It's rare that the Brewers elect to extend a qualifying offer to a departing free agent. Historically, they only do so with premium players whom they would earnestly love to keep, albeit only on terms the player is likely to exceed by shopping their services to the highest bidder. They issued QOs to Willy Adames after the 2024 campaign and to Brandon Woodruff last fall. Whenever there's a real question of whether to do so, though, they default to not doing it, because their budget makes a player earning that much a bit of a burden. For anyone other than a beloved cornerstone, it's hard to justify giving out over $20 million a year when the whole team will make less than $150 million. Bauers, then, will be an interesting test case. His production this season is as good or better than that of Pete Alonso last year, before he signed a lucrative five-year deal with the Orioles this winter—though Alonso didn't have the QO attached to him then, after having circled back to the Mets on a short-term deal with opt-outs included in the 2024-25 offseason when he did have that encumbrance. It's also better than that of Nick Castellanos, who signed a five-year deal with the Phillies after declining the Reds' QO in late 2021. Bauers is a better athlete than either Castellanos or Alonso, and isn't significantly older than they were when hitting free agency in those years. However, he doesn't have the same lengthy track record that both Alonso and Castellanos boasted at those times. From the player's perspective, this is a first (and likely only) chance to cash in at a high salary on a multi-year deal. Even if they produce the way Bauers has this year, few first basemen garner big offers or long-term commitments as they head toward their mid-30s. If the Brewers did extend Bauers a QO, he would face a dilemma. Taking the deal would probably mean eschewing a larger one. The Brewers, however, face their own dilemma. As much as they might trust and like Bauers, and as valuable as he has been this season, he'd have to be similarly brilliant next year to be worth $23 million in the context of their payroll. Should they gamble on either getting that great a return or having him turn down the offer, or should they simply wish him well and wave goodbye after the World Series? The big, lurking variable in that problem might be Andrew Vaughn—but not in the way you'd expect. Although his season has been rendered strange and frustrating by the broken hamate bone he suffered on Opening Day and Bauers usurping him in his absence, Vaughn is playing superbly again this year. He looks like a solid option at first base for 2027, should Bauers leave, and the Brewers do have one more year of club control over him. However, Vaughn is also making $7.65 million already this year, and despite the missed time, he figures to get near $10 million via arbitration if the team doesn't first trade or non-tender him in the second half of November. In Vaughn and Bauers, Milwaukee has two players who profile as great first basemen for 2027. Either would be an expensive solution, though, and keeping both probably isn't an option. That, oddly, frees the team up in its decision-making, because Bauers will hit free agency just after the World Series and they'll have to decide about the QO within days. Bauers himself will then have to decide whether to accept the offer over the ensuring fortnight, and all of that has to happen before the decision point comes on Vaughn's arbitration eligibility. The Brewers can (and should, barring some development between now and then that alters the state of play) extend a QO to Bauers, and then wait to see whether he accepts it or not. If he does, they can save whatever money they need to save by trading or non-tendering Vaughn. If he rejects the offer, they'll be in position to gain a draft pick when he signs elsewhere, and they can simply keep Vaughn. This fall will bring one last wave of value rippling out for the team, from the great achievements that were their trade for Vaughn and their work to help Bauers blossom this way. They just need the courage to extend the offer to Bauers, in order to redeem that final voucher. View the full article

Boston Red Sox Weekly Snapshot Record Last Week: 2-5 Runs Scored Last Week: 26 Runs Surrendered Last Week: 29 Standings 3rd in AL East 8.5 GB First Place 2nd in AL Wild Card 3 GB First Place Transactions 08/11/26: Boston Red Sox transferred 2B Isiah Kiner-Falefa from the 10-day injured list to the 60-day injured list. 08/11/26: Boston Red Sox activated C Adley Rutschman from the 10-day injured list. 08/11/26: Boston Red Sox signed free agent RHP Aaron Nixon to a minor league contract 08/11/26: Boston Red Sox designated C Jake Rogers for assignment. 08/12/26: Boston Red Sox recalled LHP Alec Gamboa from Worcester Red Sox. 08/12/26: Boston Red Sox traded CF Harold Rivas to Baltimore Orioles. Player to be named later from the 8/3 Adley Rutschman trade. 08/12/26: Boston Red Sox designated RHP Seth Martinez for assignment. 08/12/26: Boston Red Sox signed free agent RHP Morgan McSweeney to a minor league contract. 08/13/26: Boston Red Sox recalled RHP Greg Weissert from Worcester Red Sox. 08/13/26: Boston Red Sox placed RHP Garrett Whitlock on the 15-day injured list retroactive to August 10, 2026. Right elbow inflammation. 08/14/26: Boston Red Sox sent RHP Seth Martinez outright to Worcester Red Sox. 08/14/26: Chicago White Sox claimed C Jake Rogers off waivers from Boston Red Sox. 08/16/26: Boston Red Sox recalled LHP Raymond Burgos from Worcester Red Sox. 08/16/26: Boston Red Sox recalled C Mickey Gasper from Worcester Red Sox. 08/16/26: Boston Red Sox placed RHP Justin Slaten on the 15-day injured list retroactive to August 13, 2026. Right elbow inflammation. 08/16/26: Boston Red Sox placed DH Masataka Yoshida on the 10-day injured list. Left hamstring strain Scores Game 118: BOS 1, TOR 2 Game 119: BOS 3, TOR 5 Game 120: BOS 4, TOR 6 Game 121: BOS 7, TOR 0 Game 122: BOS 4, PIT 8 Game 123: BOS 4, PIT 0 Game 124: BOS 3, PIT 8 Series Breakdown/Highlights Blue Jays Series: The Red Sox looked to reverse their season-long misfortune against the Blue Jays but they just couldn’t get it going. In game one, Sonny Gray tossed six innings of two-run baseball while striking out four and walking one. He was charged with the loss while Jovani Moran appeared in relief and threw two shutout innings. The lone RBI on the night came off the bat of Ceddanne Rafaela, who is still producing but starting to show worrying signs of swinging at everything that’s thrown at him. Game two was started by Patrick Sandoval, who tossed six innings while allowing two earned runs and striking out four. Tyron Guerrero and Seth Martinez both came in out of the bullpen. Guerrero worked a clean inning while Martinez allowed two hits and one earned run. On offense, Wilyer Abreu socked a solo home run while Rafaela hit a two-run dinger over the wall for all the offense the team could produce. What’s most frustrating about this game is the team played really well against Cy Young favorite Dylan Cease after he had just pitched a complete, one-hit game against them last time out. In game three, Ranger Suarez pitched through five complete innings for the first time since returning from the injured list. He allowed six hits, one earned run, and struck out two on the night. Justin Slaten, Erik Miller, and Alec Gamboa all worked clean innings, combining for three strikeouts. The leak in the bullpen for this game came through Guerrero who allowed four earned runs on two walks and three hits. Offensively, Willson Contreras got going with a home run while Caleb Durbin, Andruw Monasterio, and Jarren Duran all contributed one RBI each. The finale was the time the bats began to wake up, but the story of the game belonged to Payton Tolle again. While he only struck out four during this start, he was utterly dominant. He tossed eight innings while only allowing two hits and zero earned runs. He’s turning into an ace right before our eyes. Offensively, this was the Caleb Durbin show. He hit his second grand slam this season while driving in five total runs while Contreras and Masataka Yoshida also contributed one RBI each. Pirates Series: The Red Sox looked to stop their series losing skid but the Pirates had something to say about that. In game one, Jake Bennett turned in another start that left quite a bit to be desired. He turned in four innings of five-hit, four-earned-run baseball while striking out six. Moran allowed three more earned runs out of the bullpen while Gamboa stopped the bleeding over the final three innings. Offensively, Monasterio, Yoshida, and Nick Sogard contributed the four RBIs. In game two, Sonny Gray turned in another incredible start by tossing seven shutout innings while striking out seven. Miller and Aroldis Chapman both threw scoreless innings out of the bullpen. Wilyer Abreu tagged Jared Jones for a home run in the second inning while Monasterio and Jahmai Jones also drove in runs to spark the offense late and secure the win for the Sox. Game three went horribly for Patrick Sandoval, who struggled from the first pitch of the game. He allowed nine hits and seven earned runs over just four innings of work. He did manage to strike out six, but the damage was already done. Recently recalled Burgos worked two innings of relief before the skies opened up and delayed the game for two and a half hours. Impressively, he returned to the mound after the delay. While he won’t stick on the roster, he was given his flowers by Chad Tracy afterwards for his gutsy performances every time the Sox have needed him. Offensively, Connor Wong was the star of the game with his three-run home run. The Red Sox look to turn the page as two National League West teams come to town for the week while old friends Rafael Devers and Marcelo Mayer make their much-anticipated returns to Fenway Park. Website Highlights Payton Tolle’s Learned How to Kill Reaction Time in Dominant Start Against Athletics by Yirsandy Rodriguez Kristian Campbell’s Fantastic Summer is Changing His Narrative Again by Nick John Patrick Sandoval is Walking a Fine Line with Red Sox After Two-Year Hiatus by Gottie Chavez Wilyer Abreu’s August Breakthrough is Proof Minor Adjustments Can Yield Major Results by Alex Mayes Looking Ahead 08/17/26: Diamondbacks (Mitch Bratt) @ Red Sox (TBD): 7:10 PM EDT 08/18/26: Diamondbacks (Merrill Kelly) @ Red Sox (Ranger Suarez): 7:10 PM EDT 08/19/26: Diamondbacks (Brandon Pfaadt) @ Red Sox (Payton Tolle): 4:10 PM EDT 08/20/26: Off Day 08/21/26: Giants @ Red Sox: 7:10 PM EDT 08/22/26: Giants @ Red Sox: 7:15 PM EDT 08/23:26: Giants @ Red Sox: 3:10 PM EDT View the full article

While the Toronto Blue Jays haven’t had the season they’d imagined after being a game away from a World Series title last year, Jays fans can take solace in knowing that one of their cornerstone players is catching fire down the home stretch. Toronto is still very much in the American League Wild Card race, and Alejandro Kirk is figuring it out as we hit the middle phase of August. Stats prior to games on August 16. Alejandro Kirk’s Background Kirk is one of the pillars of this Jays offense. The 27-year-old backstop is a career .269 hitter, drawing plenty of walks to earn an on-base percentage in the mid-.300s as well. The 5-foot-8, 245-pound catcher is in his seventh season in the major leagues, and he’s already stacked up a pair of All-Star selections and a Silver Slugger Award. In the past, he has shown an ability to hit for a respectable average and has proven to be extremely difficult to strike out. Toronto’s pitch-caller has 262 punchouts in over 2,200 plate appearances while earning 229 free passes. A Start To Forget Kirk played just a handful of games this season before taking a foul tip off his glove in a game against the Chicago White Sox. The deflection fractured Kirk’s thumb, sidelining him until his return on June 12. The veteran catcher struggled mightily in June as he worked his way back into the everyday starting spot, slashing just .205/.234/.295 and striking out nine times in 47 plate appearances for an uncharacteristic strikeout rate straddling the 20 percent mark. The Tijuana, Mexico native isn’t fleet of foot, falling in the first percentile for sprint speed (per Baseball Savant), so his high-average profile relies strictly on quality contact. For someone coming back from a thumb injury, that put a lot of pressure on Kirk to rifle his hands through the baseball. It’s possible that he just needed some time to settle in and regain confidence. Turning the Corner Time may be just what the doctor ordered, as Kirk had a much better run in July. The Blue Jays’ catcher slashed .281/.388/.368 (.756 OPS) with a home run, five RBI and three extra-base hits, this time earning 10 walks to seven strikeouts in 67 plate appearances. August has been the contact-hitter’s best month yet, slashing .381/.451/.548 so far. His elite plate discipline has been on display, showing that the catcher, like many backstops, has a great eye for discerning a ball from a strike. Kirk is also showcasing his elite bat-to-ball skills as we hit the home stretch of the season; his 32.5 percent squared-up percentage on the season is well above the league average. His 2026 strikeout rate (12.2%%), walk rate (11.2%) and whiff rate (17.8%) are all far superior to the league average as well. On the defensive side, Kirk is making a world of difference for the Jays’ rotation. For someone like Dylan Cease, who throws offspeed pitches over half of the time (some of which are buried in the dirt), Kirk’s 13 blocks above average (100th percentile) come in handy. He’s also one of the best framers in baseball, nestled in the 86th percentile among big league catchers by Statcast's metric. Leading a Late Surge It’ll take a group effort for Toronto to get back into the postseason, but the AL still looks wide open. Kirk has the ability to impact nearly every pitch from behind the plate, and his elite approach at the plate can have ripple effects on the rest of an offense still in search of its power stroke. If Kirk continues to progress, drawing out counts and ramping up opposing pitch counts, it can only spell positive change for the rest of the roster. View the full article

San Diego Padres Weekly Snapshot Record last week: 5-1 (62-57) Runs scored last week: 31 Runs allowed last week: 18 (season run differential: plus-10) Scores Game 120 (Monday): Padres 3, Brewers 2 Game 121 (Tuesday): Padres 11, Brewers 2 Game 122 (Wednesday): Padres 4, Brewers 3 (11 innings) Thursday: Off Game 123 (Friday): Padres 7, Guardians 5 Game 124 (Saturday): Guardians 6, Padres 1 Game 125 (Sunday): Padres 5, Guardians 0 Week in Review and Highlights Brewers series Game 1: With the team possessing the best record in MLB coming to Petco Park, this was always going to be a huge test for the Padres. But the Padres stood toe-to-toe with the Milwaukee Brewers and delivered a knockout punch in the first of three rounds. Jackson Merrill homered for the third straight game, hitting a go-ahead two-run shot off right-handed starter Logan Henderson with one out in the bottom of the seventh inning for a 3-2 win over the Brewers. The victory kept the Padres one game behind the Arizona Diamondbacks and Philadelphia Phillies for the final two NL wild-card spots, while extending their advantage over the Miami Marlins, the next team in the wild-card standings, to 2½ games. Having been held to three hits and one run by Henderson, Ty France, who had homered leading off the second inning, had a one-out single and Merrill followed with his 19th homer, a 431-foot blast to center field. That set up the Friars' dynamic duo in the bullpen. Left-hander Adrian Morejon allowed a single in the eighth, then All-Star closer Mason Miller overcame a walk to notch his career-high 30th save in 31 chances as catcher Freddy Fermin threw out a runner attempting to steal second to end the game. They were in position to win thanks to the start by right-hander Casey Mize, who was acquired just seven days prior and was making his second Padres start. Mize was much better (it would have been hard to be worse) than his eight-run debut. This time, Mize went six innings, allowed a two-run homer to Christian Yelich, five hits and two walks with six strikeouts. Game 2: While it will go down as the Luis Rengifo revenge game, it was also the day that you could truly believe in the Padres as a postseason team. Just seven weeks after being released by the Brewers, Rengifo hit his first career grand slam as the Padres crushed Milwaukee 11-2. With the win and losses by the D'backs and Phillies, the three teams were tied for the last two NL wild-card spots. Tatis and Luis Campusano also homered as the Padres pounded out 17 hits, two shy of their season high, reaching double digits in hits for the sixth time in their last 12 games. The double-figure runs were the most since putting up 19 in the July 19 Kansas City massacre. The win also secured the series for the Padres, important from not only a standings point of view, but because it came against the MLB-leading Brewers and their No. 2 starter in left-hander Kyle Harrison. And they got to him early, which is key against any pitcher, but especially with the good ones. Merrill remained hot, opening the second inning along with newcomer Austin Hays with singles. After two outs, Jake Cronenworth doubled home Merrill. Tatis was rung up on a 3-2 pitch that would have ended the inning, but successfully challenged the call (just his fourth challenge of the year) to load the bases. Rengifo took a 93.4 mph four-seamer for ball one, then smashed a 94 mph one to left field for his third homer since joining the Padres after hitting none for the Brewers, a grand slam for a 5-0 lead. That opened the floodgates as the Padres added another in the fourth on Tatis' 12th homer and two more in the fifth on Campusano's fifth this season. That made it eight runs in 4⅔ off Harrison. Tatis' homer was the 163rd of his career, snapping a tie with Nate Colbert and taking sole possession of second place in Padres history. Manny Machado holds the franchise record with 217 and counting. Just as important was the outing for Friars right-handed starter Walker Buehler was really good. How much of that was due to getting a big lead early, who knows? But Buehler went six innings, allowing just one run and three hits with two walks and five strikeouts, showing a bit of vintage form. After an inning from left-hander Wandy Peralta, right-hander Griffin Canning went the final two Game 3: Of all the scenarios that you were thinking about a month ago, this was the most unimaginable. With a 4-3 walk-off win over the Brewers, who had the best record in MLB, the Padres completed a three-game sweep and moved into the No. 2 NL wild-card position. Remember, this was a team that entered the All-Star break needing two wins over the Toronto Blue Jays to reach 48-48. Before those two wins, there were four teams the Friars needed to climb over just to be in the first spot outside of the wild-card standings. Now, they are two spots higher. That is the big picture, a place the Padres arrived at sooner than even they expected. The smaller picture was a tremendous series sweep capped an exhilarating extra-innings victory. The winner came off the bat of Campusano, who lined a single to right field that Luis Lara, just off an extraordinary catch, threw home but just a bit high as Song slid in safely. Song, a pinch-runner for France (hit by a pitch), stole second following Merrill's deep sac fly that Lara snagged, allowing zombie runner Cronenworth to score from third. That rally came three innings after tying it in the eighth. That run scored as the Padres took advantage of a rare defensive miscue by the Brewers as the pitcher didn't get over to cover the bag on a two-out grounder to the first baseman, with Tatis speeding home from second base. Tatis was supposed to have the day off, but pinch-hit for Fermin and drew two walks. New Padres left-handed starter Robbie Ray made it only through four innings because he was forced to throw a lot of pitches. He kept the Brewers from getting out to a bigger lead, but it took him 84 pitches to get it done, one more than his opposite number, Brewers right-hander Dustin May, used to get through seven innings. Coming off six-inning starts, the bullpen was in good shape, even having to cover the two extra innings. Right-hander Bradgley Rodriguez went two innings (one hit), while right-hander Jeremiah Estrada, left-hander Hart and Miller each going a hitless inning. Morejon covered the 10th and 11th. Guardians series Game 1: There already was plenty to talk about before manager Craig Stammen made it clear Miller was not pitching and Rodriguez, a closer-in-waiting, was going to be responsible for the bottom of the ninth inning, protecting a 7-5 Padres lead over the Cleveland Guardians. It worked out perfectly for the Padres, as it has recently, as Rodriguez overcame a leadoff double to retire the next three batters for his first career save in the 7-5 win. As the Padres won their sixth straight to retain their No. 2 NL wild-card position, Miller (as well as Morejon) was just getting a day off after pitching in four of the previous seven games before Thursday's travel day. The Padres' quick-strike offense erased an early 3-0 deficit as Xander Bogaerts hit a two-run homer in the fourth, his 11th this year, and Tatis ignited a three-run fifth with a screaming solo shot to left, his 13th of the season. Both came off Guardians ace Gavin Williams. Campusano then knocked in a pair with a double to put the Padres on top for good at 5-3. After the Guardians got one back on a sixth-inning sacrifice fly, the Friars put two more on the board in the seventh as Campusano continued to show his value by doubling home France and Bogaerts had a sac fly for a 7-4 advantage. Padres right-handed starter Michael King was sharp, but did get through six innings, allowing four runs (three earned), including two homers, and eight hits. Left-hander Yuki Matsui had a clean seventh and Estrada allowed a run on a wild pitch in the eight before Rodriguez came on to close things out. Rodriguez's trust level has surged this year and will give Stammen another late-inning option down the stretch once Jason Adam returns from the injured list. Game 2: The problem with trading away players is sometimes they come back to bite you. Take Guardians left-handed starter Joey Cantillo, for instance. One of six players the Padres shipped to Cleveland at the 2020 trade deadline in the Mike Clevinger deal, the 16th-round draft choice in 2017 has rounded into a very nice piece of the Guardians' staff. He showed the Padres what they are missing by allowing just one hit over six innings in the Friars' 6-1 loss. With the Phillies and D'backs both winning, the Padres slipped into a three-way tie for the final two NL wild-card berths. You can expect those three teams to be jockeying for position the rest of the season. The only hit the Padres got off Cantillo , who had seven strikeouts, and three relievers was a first-inning single by Cronenworth, the second batter of the game. The only run came a batter later when Machado grounded into a double play that scored Tatis, who had a leadoff walk and went to third on Cronenworth's hit. Otherwise, virtual silence from the Padres, who did have three walks. While it is tough to win when you don't score, the Friars' pitching plan wasn't up to snuff. Stammen chose the double-opener route with Peralta and Hart each going an inning, but they both gave up a run. That led to right-hander Randy Vasquez in a bulk role and he allowed four runs in five innings on seven hits and a walk. Game 3: A little rain, a rare sight for the Padres, couldn't slow down the Friars. Thanks to four home runs and Mize turning in exactly the type of outing they sought when he was acquired at the deadline, the Padres cruised to their seventh win in eight games, a 5-0 decision over the Guardians. With the Phillies winning and D'backs losing, the Padres (67-58) are tied for the final two NL wild-card spots, one game ahead of Arizona. After a 3-hour, 11-minute rain delay before the game began, the offense got things off to a rousing start. Rengifo and Gavin Sheets hit back-to-back homers with two outs in the second inning, then Bogaerts singled home Merrill in the fourth. They finished with two more solo homers, Jase Bowen in the eighth and Cronenworth in the ninth. That left it up to Mize, who tossed six shutout innings for his first win as Padre, allowing three hits and a walk with three strikeouts. After getting tagged for eight runs in his San Diego debut, Mize has gone six innings in each of his next two starts, which is a perfect distance for the Friars' bullpen. Estrada, Morejon and Matsui finished this one off, with the ninth-inning run keeping Miller from having to come in. Taking two of three on the road from another contending team (albeit below .500) just continues the terrific play that has the Padres in a postseason position. Now they continue the road trip against the woeful New York Mets, a three-game set where the Padres will need to continue to step on the gas. Marvelous Mason Miller Some of the amazing stats for the Padres' closer: Season stats: 4-1, 0.88, 49 games, 30 saves (31 chances) 51⅓ IP, 24 H, 7 R, 5 ER, 19 BB, 93 K, .138 opponent average Leads all MLB relievers with 356 pitches this year at 100 mph or better. Entering Sunday, that total would have been tied for second among all teams with the Los Angeles Dodgers. The Padres had 535 entering Sunday. Has not allowed a run in 43 of his 49 appearances this year. Since being acquired last year, the Padres are 59-12 when he pitches. Random Stats The Padres have won six of their last seven series vs. the Brewers. The sweep was their sixth of the season and third since the All-Star break. With his second plate appearance Friday, Jackson Merrill triggered an extra $1 million per season in his remaining contract, which runs through the 2034 season with a club option for 2035. Fernando Tatis Jr.'s 115.5 mph exit velocity on his homer Friday was his highest of the season and fifth-best of his career. Friday's win was the Padres' ninth this season when trailing by at least three runs. That tied them with the Minnesota Twins for the most in MLB. Saturday's game was the third time this season the Friars have been held to one hit. Both previous times came vs. the St. Louis Cardinals (May 8 at home and June 15 on the road). Sunday's win improved the Padres' record in day games to an MLB-best 29-17 (.630 winning percentage). Transactions Wednesday: Activated RHP David Morgan from the 15-day injured list and optioned him to Triple-A El Paso Chihuahuas. Friday: Signed free-agent RHP AJ Rogers to a minor-league contract. Website Highlights Salas survived the trade deadline. Can we officially call him the Padres' catcher of the future? — Randy Holt Understanding the math behind Merrill's adjustment that saved his season — Yirsandy Rodriguez Mize assuaged Padres' concerns in impressive bounce-back start — Randy Holt Hays covers a weakness Padres failed to address at the trade deadline — Randy Holt Morejon's pure dominance being overshadowed by Miller — Cade Lalim Padres Mission Top 20 prospect list update: Draft and deadline make for big changes — Steve Drumwright Looking Ahead Monday: Padres (Walker Buehler) at Mets (Nolan McLean), 4:10 p.m. Tuesday: Padres (Robbie Ray) at Mets (Zac Thornton), 4:10 p.m. Wednesday: Padres (Michael King) at Mets (Robert Stock), 10:10 p.m. Thursday: Off Friday: Twins at Padres (Randy Vasquez), 6:40 p.m. Saturday: Twins at Padres (Casey Mize), 5:40 p.m. Sunday: Twins at Padres (Walker Buehler), 1:10 p.m. View the full article

New York Mets Weekly Snapshot Record Last Week: 4-2 Runs Scored Last Week: 24 Runs Surrendered Last Week: 23 Standings 5th in NL East (56-69) 18.5 GB of 1st Place, 11.0 GB of a Wild Card Transactions August 10: RHP Devin Williams placed on the 15-day injured list, retroactive to August 8, with a right shoulder strain. August 10: RHP Jonathan Pintaro recalled from Triple-A Syracuse. Scores Game 120: NYM 8, ATL 5 Game 121: ATL 4, NYM 0 Game 122: ATL 6, NYM 3 Game 123: NYM 4, WSH 1 Game 124: NYM 5, WSH 4 Game 125: NYM 4, WSH 3 Series Breakdown/Highlights Braves Series: Coming off a 5-1 road trip against the Guardians and Pirates, the Mets had one more series on the road, this one against the Braves. The Mets continued their hot stretch in the series opener with an 8-5 victory. New York wasted no time getting to Bryce Elder, with Brett Baty delivering the biggest blow of the night with his first career grand slam as part of a five-run first inning. Francisco Lindor also went deep, and the Mets built an 8-2 advantage before Atlanta made things interesting late. The Braves scored three runs over the final three innings, but Kodai Senga recorded his first career save and looked nasty while doing it to close out New York's sixth win in seven games. The Mets offense went completely quiet in game two. Braves starter Martín Pérez tossed six scoreless innings, while the Atlanta bullpen finished off the shutout. Matt Olson provided the biggest offensive blow with a two-run home run as the Braves handed the Mets a 4-0 loss. The Mets couldn't recover in Wednesday's rubber game, falling 6-3 and dropping the series. Zac Thornton battled through his outing, but Atlanta's lineup eventually broke through. Lane Thomas opened the scoring with his first home run as a Brave, while Mike Yastrzemski and Austin Riley went back-to-back in the seventh inning to give Atlanta breathing room. The Mets made it interesting in the later innings after solo home runs from Luis Torrens, Luis Robert Jr., and Bo Bichette, but couldn't generate enough offense around them. Nationals Series: After an off day Thursday, the Mets returned home to Citi Field looking to rebound from consecutive losses. They did exactly that, sweeping the Nationals and ending the week on a three-game winning streak. The Mets opened the series with a 4-1 victory despite recording just one hit through the first five innings. Francisco Lindor tied the game with a solo home run before Carson Benge delivered a go-ahead RBI single in the sixth. Jared Young added a solo homer in the seventh, and Bo Bichette followed with an RBI single to provide some insurance. Saturday's game required a dramatic comeback, and that is what we got. The Mets entered the bottom of the ninth trailing 4-3 before Brett Baty drew a leadoff walk and Jorge Polanco singled. Francisco Alvarez then doubled to bring home Baty and tie the game against Nationals closer Yovanny Cruz. After A.J. Ewing struck out, Francisco Lindor came through with a walk-off RBI single to give New York a 5-4 win and their second come-from-behind win in the ninth inning this season. It was the Mets' sixth walk-off win of the season and secured another series victory. The Mets finished the sweep with a 4-3 victory Sunday afternoon. Christian Scott turned in his longest outing since returning from Tommy John surgery, pitching 6.1 innings with seven strikeouts. Luis Torrens continued his scorching stretch at the plate with a go-ahead two-run homer, his fourth home run in seven games. Jared Young added an RBI double, while Carson Benge made a pair of important defensive plays in the outfield. Nate Lavender and Daniel Duarte helped bridge the gap to Kodai Senga, who recorded his third consecutive save to finish off the sweep. Website Highlights Mitch Voit, Jefferson Rojas Are Tearing Up Double-A Together In An Early Preview Of What's To Come For Mets Mets' New Kodai Senga Experiment Has Yielded Promising Early Returns Sean Manaea Has Rediscovered His Best Form, Giving Mets Another 2027 Rotation Option to Evaluate Looking Ahead August 17: vs. San Diego Padres August 18: vs. San Diego Padres August 19: vs. San Diego Padres August 20: OFF August 21: @ Chicago White Sox August 22: @ Chicago White Sox August 23: @ Chicago White So View the full article

Demoted to Triple-A St. Paul for the second time this season on June 2, a struggling Kody Funderburk rejoined the Saints, having posted a lousy 5.65 FIP and a -7.3 strikeout-to-walk ratio (meaning he was walking batters considerably more often than striking them out). The 29-year-old struggled with St. Paul, netting a 5.14 ERA, 4.10 FIP, and a lackluster 19.4% strikeout rate over seven innings pitched from June 5 to 21. Funderburk has often battled control issues, but at times this season, he's also run into barrels. After falling behind in counts, he was unable to sneak fastballs past hitters, and was hit hard, as well as giving out free passes. df6014ad-c6159a9d-3311a408-csvm-diamondgcp-asset_1280x720_59_4000K.mp4 Necessity brought Funderburk back to the bigs relatively quickly, though. The team's dearth of relief deoth and Funderburk having a place on the 40-man roster positioned him for a promotion on June 24, upon which he looked to regain his post-2025 trade deadline form. Down the stretch of last season, he generated a 0.75 ERA, 2.30 FIP, and a 28% strikeout rate over 24 innings. “I know I was flying off a lot of stuff mechanically, causing some misses east-to-west.” Funderburk said, noting that Twins bullpen coach LaTroy Hawkins worked extensively with him upon his latest return. “We kind of just got back to staying closed, keeping my head on the target, and I was able to keep my torso closed just a split second longer, and everything timed up better.” Since June 26, the left-handed reliever has regained his dominant form, producing a 2.18 ERA, 2.36 FIP, and a 27.7% strikeout rate over 20 2/3 innings pitched. bGJ3R0JfWGw0TUFRPT1fQUFsVkFsZFhVQWNBRFFZREJRQUhBQWNBQUFNRVZnTUFWbFlOVXdNTUJWVmNVUVVE.mp4 “So, I think mechanically, like, that was a big adjustment for me and [Hawkins] and I got the work done. And, I mean, our catchers kill it with game-planning, and once I feel like I'm involved and can execute, it’s putting all my trust in them,” he said. Funderburk regaining his dominant form couldn’t have come at a better time, given the club’s lone high-leverage left-handed throwing reliever (Anthony Banda) was transferred to the 60-day IL with a left lat strain on July 11, ending his 2026 campaign. Minnesota’s front office traded for southpaw A.J. Minter on July 31, effectively replacing Banda’s production as a high-leverage, late-inning lefty. Still, Funderburk’s ascension has provided Minnesota with two trustworthy lefties ahead of veteran Taylor Rogers. “It’s just baseball; there’s ebbs and flows. That’s part of it, too—like, you go through stretches where you’re not quite yourself," he mused. "I think the better players are able to figure out what they’re doing wrong faster, and they nip it in the bud, and they’re able to get back on track.” Funderburk has always been an east-to-west pitcher, as mentioned above. He lives or dies by his sinker-cutter combination, which he throws a combined 68% of the time. His inability to throw his fastball variants in the zone earlier in the season was the primary reason he couldn't suppress walks and limit runs. However, by tightening his mechanics, Funderburk has regained plus form, becoming a high-leverage, left-handed-throwing bullpen anchor alongside Minter. View the full article

A couple of months ago, I analyzed Isaac Collins’ terrible start in his first season with the Kansas City Royals. The problem was evident: as a hitter, Collins depends on his contact ability, his ability to get on base, and the instincts he developed stealing bases during his final season with the Milwaukee Brewers. Contrary to that profile, the Collins we had seen through mid-June was having trouble putting the ball in play. His strikeouts increased by 4.7% compared to 2025, his slugging percentage dropped from .411 to .302, and his wRC+ (84) was below the league average. Collins is not a hitter who finds success hitting fly balls, so there was an obvious problem in his swing: his fly-ball rate jumped from 34.3% to 50.4%. As he approached the third month of the season, it was time to make adjustments. The big question here was how Collins was going to solve his main inconsistency. Was it worth changing his plan as a hitter? What part of his approach at the plate needed an immediate adjustment? In the two months since the last time we analyzed him, Collins found answers. For many hitters, it might seem reasonable to work on their plate discipline, be less aggressive and more selective, especially as a switch-hitter. Collins did the opposite: he turned aggression outside the zone into better contact. How did he do it? Let’s begin by looking at some revealing numbers: PERIOD K% xSLG BABIP Whiff% Hard-Hit% O-Swing% O-Contact% Contact% Opening Day to 6/12/2026 25.8 .308 .295 26.0 39.6 21.9% 53.1% 76.5% 6/13/2026 to 8/13/2026 17.1 .352 .295 16.8 40.8 26.7% 67.0% 83.8% DIFFERENCE -8.7 .044 .000 -9.2 1.2 4.8% 13.9% 7.3% Everything revolved around contact, but the key was not greater bat speed or a jump in power. Collins has given his season a positive turn since June 13 with greater aggression at the plate. His biggest increase in a metric was the 13.9% increase in O-Contact%, while he reduced his strikeout and Whiff rates. The quality of contact was also key to improving his xSLG from .308 to .352, while maintaining the same .295 BABIP. Yes, this really is not what is expected from a hitter who went through struggles at the beginning of the season. However, the adjustment process itself is nothing new for Collins. In the sample since 2025, he appears among the hitters with the greatest ability to generate value against pitches outside the strike zone: his .514 xOBP ranks sixth among qualified hitters who have seen at least 250 pitches outside the zone. Player xOBP Whiff% Barrel/BBE% Perdomo, Geraldo .568 24.4 1.3 Torres, Gleyber .567 39.1 2.2 Tucker, Kyle .562 41.9 2.3 Soto, Juan .540 40.9 8.1 Grisham, Trent .538 43.1 5.0 Collins, Isaac .514 49.7 0.0 Ward, Taylor .505 49.4 1.2 Vargas, Miguel .500 32.7 3.7 Bregman, Alex .500 32.4 0.8 Acuña Jr., Ronald .497 42.5 5.3 In the Top 10, there are two aspects that perfectly reveal Collins’ profile: he is the hitter with the highest Whiff% rate and the only one with 0.0 Barrel/BBE%. And there is the real story of his adjustment. As a hitter, Collins has remained faithful to the approach that made him an interesting piece for an offense that has achieved the highest Z-Contact% (86.1) in all of Major League Baseball this season. The big question that remains here is whether Collins can sustain this success by living off continued aggression and contact against pitches outside the strike zone. His xwOBA has not had an alarming drop (it went from .305 to .299 during the period of these last two months), while his Barrel% went from 7.5% to 4.0%. Since we already know that Collins’ philosophy is to live off contact, I investigated what the most notable differences have been within his recent offensive rebound. I focused more on his plate appearances against right-handed pitchers, since we have a larger sample there during the two periods we are analyzing. Opening Day to June 12 June 13 To August 13 Collins shows better performance in the second period, accumulating a value of +3.8 over +2.4. His hitting profile was more balanced, especially outside the strike zone, where contact has made the difference since June 13. Let’s look at some of those contacts against pitches up and outside the strike zone. Date: 2026-06-10. Pitcher: Gray, Peyton. Count: 1 – 2. Pitch Type: CH. Velocity: 84.5. URL: Isaac Collins doubles (8) on a line drive to left fielder Wyatt Langford. | Baseball Savant Videos | baseballsavant.com Date: 2026-06-19. Pitcher: McGreevy, Michael. Count: 1 – 2. Pitch Type: FF. Velocity: 91.9. URL: Isaac Collins' two-run double | Baseball Savant Videos | baseballsavant.com Two pieces of hitting in the Collins style! This season, only 18 left-handed hitters have hit a double with a pitch located in that same area. Shohei Ohtani leads the league with four. Collins is in the group of 15 hitters who have two. It is not so easy to get a piece of hitting like that. But for Collins, that is not the point that matters. He will go after pitches outside the strike zone. In these last two months, that has been his best adjustment, and he has gotten many more quality at-bats. We will see if his swing will continue to stay alive outside the zone. The Royals, despite having been in a terrible season, brought Collins in to continue being faithful to his style. View the full article

The New York Mets are breaking up the M, M & M Boys at Syracuse. Christopher Morel is being promoted to the big club. He'll have his contract purchased ahead of New York's home game Monday night against the San Diego Padres, journalist Mike Rodriguez and Metsmerized Online reported Sunday night, Morel did not play in Syracuse's 2-1 victory over Jacksonville on Sunday evening. The move is a recognition of Morel's slugging at Triple-A. The 27-year-old utility man hit 12 home runs and compiled a 1.098 OPS in 123 plate appearances over 31 games for Syracuse after signing a minor-league contract with the Mets on July 1. He, Ronny Mauricio and MJ Melendez formed a powerful trio. Morel played five positions for Syracuse (first base, second base, third base, left field and right field), and it's expected New York will use him in a similar fashion. The bottom line is, if he hits, he'll play. Elsewhere in the organization: Binghamton got a tie-breaking two-run single from Marco Vargas in the eighth inning to beat Portland 8-6. Vargas finished 4-for-5 with a home run, four RBIs and two runs scored. Brooklyn was held to one hit in a 1-0 loss to Jersey Shore. The only run scored on an infield single in the eighth inning. Daviel Hurtado allowed one hit over seven scoreless frames. St. Lucie lost to Jupiter 7-3. Kuhio Aloy homered twice for the Mets. Starter Will Watson threw three scoreless innings in his third appearance back from an oblique injury that kept him out for three months. The Mets’ Dominican Summer League clubs were off. The regular season ends Tuesday. New York Mets Transactions No Roster Moves Syracuse Bullpen Picks Up Tong Jonah Tong was unable to get through the fifth, which meant the Mets' 'pen had to cover 13 outs after the offense gave it the lead in the seventh. Four relievers did the job in style as they stitched together 4 1/3 hitless innings. Joe Jacques got the last out in the fifth, striking out the only batter he faced. Dan Hammer followed with a scoreless sixth. He became the pitcher of record when the Mets took the lead a half-inning later. Brian Metoyer worked a scoreless bottom of the seventh. Dylan Ross then retired all six batters he faced for his fourth save. Zack Short started the winning rally with a leadoff single. Ronny Mauricio followed with a single that moved Short to third. Nick Morabito walked to load the bases with nobody out. Eric Wagaman then hit a fly ball to center to score Short. Syracuse opened the scoring in the second. Hayden Senger delivered a two-out single to drive in Jose Ramos. Jacksonville answered in the bottom half with a solo home run. Ryan Clifford had a game to forget. He went 0-for-5 with five strikeouts. Player AB R H RBI BB K Ronny Mauricio, SS 5 0 1 0 0 2 Nick Morabito, LF 3 0 1 0 1 1 Eric Wagaman, 3B 4 0 1 1 0 2 Nick Lorusso, 1B 2 0 0 0 3 1 Ryan Clifford, RF 5 0 0 0 0 5 Shawn Ross, DH 3 0 0 0 1 3 Jose Ramos, CF 3 1 2 0 1 0 Hayden Senger, C 4 0 1 1 0 1 Zack Short, 2B 4 1 3 0 0 0 Player IP H R ER BB K HR Jonah Tong 4 2/3 3 1 1 2 6 1 Joe Jacques 1/3 0 0 0 0 1 0 Dan Hammer 1 0 0 0 1 0 0 Brian Metoyer 1 0 0 0 1 1 0 Dylan Ross 2 0 0 0 0 1 0 Vargas Clutch As Binghamton Holds Off Portland The Rumble Ponies gave up the lead in the bottom of the seventh, then promptly got it back in the eighth. Chris Suero singled, and Corey Collins and D'Andre Smith walked to load the bases. Vargas' single to center scored Suero and Collins for an 8-6 lead. Garrett Stratton came on and retired all six batters he faced to earn the save. Vargas started his day by homering with one out in the first inning. It was his second homer of the season. He followed that by singling home Mitch Voit in the fourth to put the Ponies up 6-4. Vargas, 21, is trying to regain momentum as a prospect after two stints on the injured list. He's part of a Binghamton infield that added Jefferson Rojas, Billy Amick and Émilien Pitre at the trade deadline. Will Sammon of The Athletic reported that Pitre is being promoted to Syracuse, presumably to take Morel's place R.J. Gordon started and went the first four innings. He allowed four runs (two earned) on two hits, with three walks and two strikeouts. Player AB R H RBI BB K Mitch Voit, 2B 5 1 1 1 0 3 Marco Vargas, SS 5 2 4 4 0 1 Émilien Pitre, DH 4 0 0 0 1 2 Jefferson Rojas, 3B 3 0 0 0 2 1 Jacob Reimer, 1B 5 0 1 1 0 0 Chris Suero, C 4 3 3 0 1 0 John Bay, CF 4 1 1 0 0 1 Corey Collins, LF 2 1 0 1 1 1 JT Benson, LF 0 0 0 0 0 0 D'Andre Smith, RF 2 0 0 1 1 1 Player IP H R ER BB K HR R.J. Gordon 4 2 4 2 3 2 0 Cristofer Gomez 1 2/3 1 1 1 2 2 0 Saul Garcia 1 1/3 1 1 1 0 2 1 Garrett Stratton 2 0 0 0 0 3 0 Hurtado Masterful In No-Decision For Brooklyn Hurtado deserved better. He struck out five and walked two to go with the hit he allowed. He needed just 81 pitches to get through seven. The Cyclones' hitters had a golden opportunity to give him early run support. Brooklyn loaded the bases with one out in the third after Sammy Stafura was hit by a pitch, Aiden Smith walked, and Trey Snyder was hit by a pitch. Ronald Hernandez grounded into an inning-ending double play. Brooklyn put two men on in the fourth as well. John Spikerman doubled and Colin Houck walked, but Eddinson Paulino struck out to end the inning. Jersey Shore broke through in the eighth with a two-out, RBI infield single against Parker Carlson. With a runner on third, a soft ground ball up the middle deflected off Carlson's glove and rolled toward shortstop. Stafura charged and made a barehanded grab, but his throw was late. AB R H RBI BB K Sammy Stafura, SS 2 0 0 0 1 1 Aidan Smith, CF 3 0 0 0 1 0 Trey Snyder, LF 3 0 0 0 0 3 Ronald Hernandez, 1B 2 0 0 0 2 1 Yonatan Henriquez, RF 4 0 0 0 0 1 John Spikerman, DH 4 0 1 0 0 2 Daiverson Gutierrez, C 3 0 0 0 0 0 Colin Houck, 3B 3 0 0 0 1 2 Eddinson Paulino, 2B 3 0 0 0 0 2 Player IP H R ER BB K HR Daviel Hurtado 7 1 0 0 2 5 0 Parker Carlson 1 2 1 1 0 0 0 Elwis Mijares 1 0 0 0 1 2 Aloy Goes Deep Twice In St. Lucie Loss Aloy hit his second and third homers in just his 10th professional game. The 2026 draft pick out of the University of Arkansas gave the Mets a 1-0 lead in the second with his first homer. After Jupiter responded with a two-run home run in the fourth, Aloy homered again in the sixth to tie the game 2-2. Jupiter homered in the bottom half of the sixth off Conner Ware to go ahead 3-2. The Hammerheads put the game out of reach with three runs in the seventh and a run in the eighth. One of the runs was unearned thanks to a throwing error by shortstop Elian Peña. St. Lucie got the tying run to the plate in the ninth after Peña -- who was promoted to High-A Brooklyn after the game -- drew a two-out, bases-loaded walk. John Smith III grounded into a force play to end the game. Ware took the loss. The homer was the only hit he allowed over two innings. layer AB R H RBI BB K Elian Peña, SS 4 0 0 1 1 3 John Smith III, RF 5 0 0 0 0 1 Julio Zayas, 1B 4 0 0 0 0 2 Kuhio Aloy, LF 4 2 2 2 0 0 Yovanny Rodriguez, C 3 1 1 0 1 2 Reed Stallman, DH 3 0 1 0 1 1 Bohan Adderley, CF 3 0 0 0 1 3 Dylan Carey, 3B 3 0 0 0 0 1 Kooper Schulte, 2B 3 0 1 0 1 1 Player IP H R ER BB K HR Will Watson 3 1 0 0 1 2 0 Candido Cuevas 1 3 2 2 0 2 1 Conner Ware 2 1 1 1 0 2 1 Jose Guevara 2/3 1 3 2 2 1 0 Ernesto Mercedes 1/3 0 0 0 0 0 0 Brett Banks 1 1 1 1 1 2 0 Top-20 Prospect Performance Jonah Tong: 4 2/3 IP, 3 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 2 BB, 6 K, HR Jack Wenninger: DNP Ryan Clifford: 0-for-5, 5 K Elian Peña: 0-for-4, RBI, BB, 3 K Nick Morabito: 1-for-3, BB, K Jacob Reimer: 1-for-5, RBI Mitch Voit: 1-for-5, 2B, RBI, 3 K Jonathan Santucci: DNP Zac Thornton: MLB Chris Suero: 3-for-4, 2B, 3 R, BB Will Watson: 3 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 1 BB, 2 K Wandy Asigen: DNP Eli Serrano III: DNP Randy Guzman: DNP Dylan Ross: 2 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 0 BB, 1 K, S Ryan Lambert: DNP Antonio Jimenez: DNP R.J. Gordon: 4 IP, 2 H, 4 R, 2 ER, 3 BB, 2 K Jonathan Pintaro: MLB Marco Vargas: 4-for-5, HR, 4 RBI, 2 R, K View the full article

Let’s see how the Boston Red Sox's farm fared in series finales across the organization. Triple-A Worcester Red Sox Series vs. Buffalo Bisons (Toronto Blue Jays): 2-4 Season Record: 62-53 The WooSox fell in the series finale in a rough start for the pitching staff. John Holobetz took the mound in hopes of ending Worcester’s two-game skid, but exited with his head hanging low after a disastrous performance. Holobetz allowed six runs on six hits in just 2⅔ innings as Buffalo got to him early. Holobetz issued two walks and struck out four before turning the ball over to Devin Sweet in the third inning. Sweet wasn’t much better, allowing three runs on three hits in just one inning of work. He walked two and struck out one before Hobie Harris was called in to finish the fourth frame. Harris steadied the ship for the pitching staff in a 1⅓ inning appearance, allowing two hits and striking out one before Seth Martinez entered. Martinez took the sixth and seventh innings, allowing two hits and notching a pair of punchouts in a scoreless outing. With the bullpen depleted, manager Iggy Suarez turned to first baseman Nathan Hickey for the final two innings of Sunday’s game. Hickey was excellent, allowing three hits but closing the game in shutout fashion. Trevor Story returned to the diamond for the first time since mid-May, playing in the first four innings of Sunday’s matchup before being replaced. Story went 1-for-2 with a single and a popup following a nine-pitch at-bat. Facing an early nine-run deficit, Mikey Romero got the WooSox on the board with a two-run homer in the fourth inning, scoring Story. Franklin Arias would strike next for Worcester, scoring Jason Delay on an RBI single in the fifth inning. Arias would score one more in the seventh inning as he drove in Brett Harris on a sac fly in the seventh inning. Tsung-Che Cheng scored Delay in the seventh as Worcester slowly closed the gap. Delay launched a solo homer in the ninth inning in hopes of sparking a late rally, but he was unsuccessful as the WooSox couldn’t generate any more late offense. Double-A Portland Sea Dogs Series vs. Binghamton Rumble Ponies (New York Mets): 1-5 Season Record: 58-55 A rough night from the bullpen led to Portland’s sixth loss in eight games as the Sea Dogs struggles continued. Reidis Sena started Sunday’s game, but exited after just ⅔ of an inning. Sena let up a home run and issued one walk, recording one strikeout before being replaced by Morgan McSweeney. McSweeney’s second appearance with Portland was a rough one as he gave up four runs on four hits in 2⅓ innings pitched. McSweeney issued a pair of walks and struck out two more before Max Carlson took over in the fourth. Carlson pitched one frame of one-run ball, allowing two hits and issuing a walk as he struck out another. Caleb Bolden took on a bulk relief role as he entered in the fifth inning. Across three innings Bolden let up just one hit as he struck out five of the ten batters he faced. Joe Vogatsky entered in a tie game, but let up two quick runs as Binghamton took a late two-run lead. Vogatsky finished with a line of two runs on two hits in two innings. He issued a pair of walks and struck out one in the loss. The Sea Dogs were able to generate six runs on just four hits, but it wasn’t enough to defeat the Rumble Ponies. Henry Godbout led the way with a pair of RBIs as he continued to adjust to Double-A competition since being called up from High-A Greenville before the series. Will Turner struck first for Portland, driving in Johanfran Garcia on a single in the second inning. Nate Baez drove in Mason White to complete the two-run inning and tie the game. Baez was called up to Triple-A Worcester following Sunday’s game. In the third, Godbout gave Portland a short-lived lead as he drove in Brooks Brannon and Tyler McDonough on a line drive single in the third inning. In the fifth, Brannon cut into the two-run lead with an RBI groundout as McDonough scored. Jack Winnay gave Portland its final run of the afternoon on a game-tying home run in the seventh inning, his sixth of the season. The tie wouldn’t last long, as Binghamton took the lead just a half-inning later and didn’t look back. High-A Greenville Drive Series @ Hub City Spartanburgers (Texas Rangers): 3-3 Season Record: 50-61 Greenville was the lone affiliate team to win on Sunday, clinching a 10-5 win to secure the series split. Matt Duffy started the series finale for Greenville, turning in a solid three-inning performance. Duffy allowed one run on a pair of hits as he issued a walk and struck out one before Alex Bouchard took over. Bouchard earned the win for his four-inning relief role. He allowed three runs on five hits and issued two walks. Bouchard struck out four before Brandon Neely got the call in the bullpen. Neely was solid as he closed out the win for the Drive. He allowed one run on one hit as he struck out a pair of Hub City batters. To say that Sunday’s offensive performance was excellent would be an understatement. Led by Justin Gonzales’s first career multi-homer day, the Drive scored ten times on fourteen hits in a sustained performance. In the second inning, Carlos Gutierrez crossed home as Yophery Rodriguez reached via error, giving Greenville an early lead that it wouldn’t relinquish. In the third, Owen Hull scored Gonzales on a fly ball double as Gerardo Rodriguez advanced to third. In the fourth, Y. Rodriguez made his mark yet again. He launched a homer to right center, his 14th of the season. With runners on the corners later in the inning, Jake Schaffner hit a ball between the infield gap as Antonio Anderson scored easily. Then with the bases loaded, Gutierrez drove home G. Rodriguez and Schaffner on a single right up the middle, giving Greenville a 6-0 lead. In the sixth, Gonzales clubbed his first homer of the night, going the opposite way on a ball that was absolutely demolished over the right field wall. An inning later, Anderson brought the lead to four on an RBI single that scored Maximus Martin before Gonzales stepped to the plate once more. Gonzales proceeded to smoke a line drive homer to left center as Anderson crossed home, capping off the ten-run game. Gonzales was promoted to Double-A Portland following the game. Low-A Salem RidgeYaks Series @ Delmarva Shorebirds (Baltimore Orioles): 2-4 Season Record: 49-63 Another poor start and less than timely offense led to Salem’s second straight loss. After posting a 1.56 ERA in the month of July, Jose Bello has struggled in August. His last three starts have been less than ideal as his ERA rests at 9.24 for the month. He entered Sunday’s start looking to turn things around, but failed to do so. Bello completed four innings, and pitched to two batters in the fifth before being pulled. He allowed six runs on eight hits and walked a season-high five batters, more than he allowed in the months of June and April. He struck out just one batter before Nicholas Judice took over. Judice’s second appearance back from injury went much better than his first as he allowed one run and issued one walk while striking out three in 1⅔ innings. Caden Vire took over at the end of the sixth, allowing one hit and walking two over 1⅓ frames of work. He struck out a pair before Harry Blum took the ninth inning. Blum allowed one final run and issued one walk in the ninth, striking out two as he completed the game. Multi-hit games from Kleyver Salazar and Josue Brito kept Salem afloat despite the loss. Brito gave Salem an early lead as he scored Franklin Primera on an RBI double in the first inning. Primera scored again in the third by way of a balk, tying the game at 2-2. In the fourth, Adonys Guzman tied the game again, this time by scoring Andrews Opata on a sac fly. Down by four in the seventh, Salazar cut the lead in half as he homered on a deep ball to left field, scoring Primera for the third time in the afternoon. View the full article

Over the weekend, Miguel Amaya started two consecutive games behind the plate. It was the first time he'd done that since late June, but it was also just the latest indication that the team is beginning to trust their younger backstop more—and that they realize they need to get Carson Kelly more rest. It's a shift with implications for both the present and the future behind the plate in Chicago. Since the start of July, Kelly has started 22 games, while Amaya has started the other 18. Before that, the playing time had not been nearly so evenly distributed, with Kelly starting 48, Amaya starting 32, and Moisés Ballesteros starting five games in the team's first 85. Of the last 22 games the team has played, Amaya and Kelly have divided the starts right down the middle. This was the initial plan, when the Cubs signed Kelly in December 2024. Like several other teams, they believe the best way to manage the exceptionally heavy on- and off-field workload of catchers is to divide playing time as evenly as possible between two solid options and to have a third person who can be sprinkled in to soak up some innings throughout the season. Because of Amaya's oblique strain last May, Kelly ended up having to start 71 of the team's last 110 games behind the plate, and that workload caught up to him down the stretch. Early this year, as Amaya's bat speed remained low and his production looked sluggish, Craig Counsell reluctantly ratcheted up Kelly's playing time again. Lately, however, Amaya's performance has trended in the right direction, just in time to shield the team from some difficulties for Kelly. His bat speed is up over his last six weeks of playing time or so: Amaya's swing also has more tilt than it did when he first came to the majors, allowing him to square the ball up consistently—and to all fields, as he demonstrated with an opposite-field home run during garbage time on Sunday. d2V3eFFfV0ZRVkV3dEdEUT09X1UxVlNBZ1VCQUZNQVcxSldYZ0FIQ1ZCV0FGZ0ZBQVVBQlFBTlVRcFJDQUpRQmd0WA==.mp4 Amaya's feel for the barrel has improved right along with his bat speed since the heat of summer began to gather in earnest. He's also been a solid defender this year, including doing a better job against the running game than Kelly. Put all of that together, and he's earned renewed trust and opportunity from Counsell. Since the All-Star break, he's batting .279/.326/.465, in 48 plate appearances. That should be good for the Cubs on multiple fronts. At 27 years old, Amaya is five years Kelly's junior. He's been in the mix forever, so often delayed by injuries and now out of minor-league options, but he's also under team control through the 2029 season. He'll be eligible for arbitration for the first time this winter, but is only in line for a modest raise there. Kelly, meanwhile, will become a free agent this fall, when either he or the team declines their side of a mutual option for 2027. That makes the re-emergence (and, for now, the good health) of Amaya a major development for the team's medium-term future. They were more comfortable moving Ballesteros at the trade deadline because Amaya had shown that he can handle a greater workload than in the past for the balance of this year. They felt comfortable prioritizing keeping Owen Ayers, whom they view as their catcher of the future, and are tentatively planning to partner Amaya with Ayers next season. They might re-sign Kelly, if he wants to return on favorable terms, but it's just as likely that they'll bring in a catcher on a split or minor-league deal and give Ayers and Amaya a chance to assert themselves as the new Amaya and Kelly. In the meantime, while Kelly is in a dip right now, playing Amaya more often during this difficult August grind should produce a fresher version of the veteran in September and October. Amaya has another handful of weeks to show that he deserves playing-time parity even in the looser schedule of the postseason, but whether he does so or not, his play over the last month-plus has already been huge for the team. View the full article

Jake McKibbin and Jason Wang show some love to Milwaukee men that have been stepping up to the late over the past few weeks. Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-brewer-fanatic-podcast/id1740648724 Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/5CY8mWsQayqjDXqw9OT2Td iHeartRadio: https://www.iheart.com/podcast/263-the-brewer-fanatic-podcast-166534588/ Pocket Casts: https://pca.st/ommzz627 Watch On YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@brewerfanatic View the full article

The Minnesota Twins have retired eight player uniform numbers. Kent Hrbek is the lone player in that group who is not in the National Baseball Hall of Fame. Harmon Killebrew, Kirby Puckett, Rod Carew, and Joe Mauer were locks; they got through the gates to baseball immortality relatively easily. Tony Oliva, Bert Blyleven and Jim Kaat all eventually reached Cooperstown. Hrbek's case never even generated much discussion, though. In his lone season on the ballot, he got just 1.0% of the vote. This certainly does not diminish what Hrbek meant to the Twins. From 1981 through 1994, he established himself as one of the most important players in franchise history. He was an All-Star and a key member of two World Series championship teams. His No. 14 now adorns the facing of the second deck in the left-field corner at Target Field alongside those Hall of Famers, because his career represented something bigger than individual statistics. That raises an interesting question when looking at Byron Buxton. Buxton is not on a Hall of Fame trajectory, either. Injuries have limited his playing time, which has made it difficult for him to build the kind of career totals typically associated with Cooperstown. But that doesn't mean his overall body of work should be dismissed. In fact, comparing Buxton's numbers to Hrbek's shows that the gap between the two is not quite as wide as their career totals might suggest. The biggest difference is obvious: Hrbek played nearly twice as many games. But when the comparison shifts toward rate statistics, defensive value and the areas in which Buxton has been elite, the conversation becomes much more interesting. There's no real argument when it comes to career volume. Hrbek appeared in 1,747 games, compared to 981 for Buxton. He accumulated 7,137 plate appearances to Buxton's 3,783, and Hrbek finished with 1,749 hits, 293 home runs and 1,086 RBIs. Buxton's current totals are 856 hits, 193 homers and 481 RBIs. That difference in longevity has a major impact on virtually every counting statistic. Hrbek also owns the edge in batting average, on-base percentage and OPS. He hit .282 with a .367 on-base percentage and a .481 slugging average, compared to Buxton's .249/.309/.492 line. Hrbek's 128 OPS+ also tops Buxton's 117. That is an important distinction. Buxton has produced tremendous power, but Hrbek was the more complete offensive player over a much larger sample. The same can be seen in WAR. Hrbek finished his career with 38.6 WAR, compared to 32.9 for Buxton. Hrbek also accumulated 37.5 offensive WAR, while Buxton sits at 25.7. However, Buxton has time to pass Hrbek in WAR with the remaining time in his career. Opportunity has been, perhaps, the most important separator between the two. Hrbek played through age 34 and spent 14 seasons building his résumé. Buxton's comparison currently stops at age 32. That leaves Buxton with a significant amount of ground to make up, especially in the statistics most often used to define franchise legends. Hrbek also has a substantial edge in postseason résumé. He was part of two Twins championship teams, something Buxton has not yet experienced. If Buxton's career ended today, Hrbek would still have the stronger overall résumé as a framchise icon. That part is not particularly close. Where Buxton Has the Advantage The most obvious advantage for Buxton is that he has created considerably more value with his legs. Buxton has 124 stolen bases compared to Hrbek's 37, and his career stolen-base percentage is an MLB-record 90.5% compared to Hrbek's 58.7%. Buxton has produced 36 runs of baserunning value, while Hrbek sits at -1. That's not a small difference. For all of Hrbek's offensive accomplishments, he was a first baseman whose value came overwhelmingly from his bat. Buxton has been a much more multidimensional player. The defensive comparison is even more striking. Buxton has accumulated 8.3 defensive WAR, compared to -7.7 for Hrbek. (Virtually every center fielder has a positive defensive WAR, since FanGraphs includes a positional adjustment in that statistic. Every first baseman has a negative defensive WAR. Both players' performance pushed their numbers toward the extremes, though, rather than toward the center at 0.) Buxton's fielding contribution is credited at 70 runs above average, while Hrbek's sits at 16. That makes sense when considering how Buxton has built his reputation. At his best, he has been one of the most dynamic center fielders in baseball. Hrbek was a good defensive first baseman at different points in his career, but he was never going to change a game defensively in the same way Buxton could. Buxton also has more home runs per game played. He has hit 193 home runs in 981 games, while Hrbek hit 293 in 1,747 games. Hrbek's longevity gives him a large edge in total home runs, but Buxton's rate of nearly 20 homers per 100 games is impressive. Buxton’s .244 isolated power mark is significantly higher compared to Hrbek's .198. This is where the "what if" surrounding Buxton becomes so important. He has never had the opportunity to put together a long, uninterrupted stretch of seasons like Hrbek did. Despite playing 766 fewer games, Buxton has already accumulated a WAR total approaching Hrbek's career number. Of course, WAR also isn't the only robust way to capture and weigh players' contributions. Hrbek got considerable value from availability, which baseball people have always venerated as the best ability. But through the prism of runs above average (RAA), Buxton is much better than Hrbek, even over a much smaller sample. He's been worth 196 RAA in his career, versus just 138 for Hrbek. Aguably, it's the ability to do each of the key things on a diamond—batting, baserunning and fielding—better than an average player that makes a guy a cornerstone for a winning team. Buxton does that much better than Hrbek did. This is where the Hrbek comparison gets interesting for the Twins. No one should pretend Buxton has already matched Hrbek's career. He has not. Hrbek has the advantage in games, plate appearances, hits, RBI, total home runs, batting average, on-base percentage, OPS, OPS+ and WAR. But Buxton has already built a résumé that is difficult to ignore. His combination of power, speed and defense makes his career profile unique in Twins history. It does make the idea of Buxton eventually reaching the same historical territory much more realistic. The next few seasons will determine whether that becomes a legitimate conversation. If Buxton can stay healthy enough to add several more productive seasons, pass Hrbek in WAR and continue climbing the Twins' home run rankings, his argument for a retired number becomes far more compelling. There is also something worth remembering about the standard for a retired number in Minnesota. The Twins do not strictly reserve that honor for Hall of Famers. They reserve it for players who became synonymous with the franchise. Hrbek did that. Buxton has a chance to do the same. The career paths are completely different. Hrbek was the dependable middle-of-the-order cornerstone who played 14 seasons and helped bring two championships to Minnesota. Buxton has been the spectacular, oft-injured center fielder whose peak has been among the most exciting stretches any Twins player has produced. Buxton has always held the promise of being the main guy on a pennant-winning team, if he could stay healthy enough. Hrbek was never on that level. Hrbek had better teammates and better health, though, and has gotten to bask in the glow of each. He's also a native Minnesotan, which gave him a leg up on being beloved. Buxton's demonstrated loyalty to his adopted home should go far in that regard, too, but it might never be worth as much to the fan base as the accident of Hrbek being born and bred here. Buxton still has work to do before he reaches the Kent Hrbek threshold. But based on the numbers, he's already much closer than the simple career totals would suggest. And for the Twins, that makes the question worth asking now, rather than years from now. Can Buxton reach the Hrbek threshold? Should the Twins retire Buxton’s number? Leave a comment and start the discussion. View the full article

Ben Ross has gone from organizational depth to the doorstep of the majors with an incredible 2026 season. With a skill set that matches Ryan Kreidler's, could the 2022 draftee have a role with the big league team in 2027? We recap his incredible rise in 2026. View the full article

Luis Matos and Kyle Jones both homered and drove in four runs in late wins for Nashville and Wilson. Jayden Dubanewicz tossed five shutout innings in Wisconsin’s victory, while Andrew Fischer homered in Biloxi’s loss. For the week, Wilson (5-1) was the sole series winner, while Nashville (3-3) and Wisconsin (3-3) fought to draws in their respective series. Biloxi dropped all six games in a tough week. Transactions: LHP Tate Kuehner activated by AAA Nashville from 60-day injured list After Sunday’s games, the Brewers’ announced the promotion of SS Brady Ebel (2025 first round pick) to High-A Wisconsin and the assignment of his brother SS Trey Ebel (2026 first round pick) to Low-A Wilson. Game Action: Nashville Pre-Game Media Notes Final: Nashville 6, Indianapolis (Pirates) 4 Box Score Via the Sounds’ website, game details and we encourage readers to review affiliate write-ups as part of their Link Report routine: Matos' 4-RBI Night Fuels Sounds Win Over First Place Indians - Luis Matos' 438-foot moonshot is the second-furthest homer for the Sounds this season We’re grateful to Nishant Brahme and the Nashville media team for their detailed game report, including three video highlights which capture major contributions by OF Luis Matos (2-for-4, HR, triple, 4 RBIs) and C Bo Naylor (2-for-4, HR, 2 RBIs). Starting RHP Tyson Hardin (3 2/3 IP, 2 R, 5 H, 1 BB, 5 Ks) and LHP Tate Kuehner (2 1/3 IP, 2 R (0 ER), 1 BB, 5 Ks) each struck out five batters and allowed two runs, though Kuehner’s were unearned as the Indians took advantage of an error to tie the game in the 7th inning. This game was a welcome comeback for Kuehner, who’d last pitched on May 20th before going on the injured list. 1B Blake Burke’s opposite field 107.8 MPH single put the Sounds in business to start the bottom of the 8th inning, with Matos delivering the clutch two-out, two-run triple (also to the opposite field) to re-take the lead: LHP Jared Koenig (1 IP, 0 R, 1 K) did a terrific job to close out the win, while RHPs Will Childers (2/3 IP, 0 R, 1 K) and rehabbing Joel Kuhnel (1 1/3 IP, 0 R, 0 Ks) were both effective in relief. This was Koenig’s first outing since July 12 and his velocity topped out at 96 MPH to the final batter. Sounds’ Extras: SS Eduardo Garcia exited after singling in the 3rd inning, with 2B Eric Brown Jr. coming on in relief. Hopefully Garcia will return to action quickly. Rehabbing OF Sal Frelick (1-for-4) doubled, while each of 3B Brock Wilken (1-for-3, walk) and 2B/SS Ethan Murray (1-for-3, walk) reached base twice. Next week’s outlook: Nashville will fly east to Norfolk, Virginia for six games against the Orioles’ affiliate, with the series starting on Tuesday. Biloxi Pre-Game Media Notes Final: Pensacola (Marlins) 6, Biloxi 3 Box Score Via the Shuckers’ website, game details: DeBerry Deals in Nine Strikeout Night, Shuckers Swept By Blue Wahoos - Biloxi Setback for 11th Consecutive Contest in Series Finale Against Pensacola Pensacola took advantage of an infield single and two miscues on a ground ball to starting RHP Jaron DeBerry to ultimately score four unearned runs in the third inning, which was ultimately too much for the faltering Shuckers to overcome. We’ll have to monitor 20-year old OF Braylon Payne’s status, as he exited in the top of the 9th inning after his fly out and an “injury delay” notation in the game log half an inning earlier. In potentially positive news, OF Josh Adamczewski was the player who entered for Payne, which is the first we’ve seen Adamczewski in action since Wednesday’s contest. DeBerry walked none, struck out nine Blue Wahoos and only allowed one extra-base hit in an encouraging outing overall (5 IP, 4 R (0 ER), 6 H, 0 BB, 9 Ks). Biloxi was out-hit 9-6 and had only three opportunities with runners in scoring position (0-for-3), but closed the gap to 5-3 thanks to homers by MiLB home run leader 1B Andrew Fischer and OF Mike Boeve (3-for-4, HR, RBI) and a sacrifice fly which brought Payne home after he’d tripled. Shuckers’ Extras: 2B Dylan O’Rae was a late addition to the lineup, after OF Mark Coley II was originally listed as a starter. Per the game report, O’Rae stole his 50th base of 2026. He also singled to lead off the 8th inning while trailing 5-3, representing the team’s last real opportunity to tie the game. RHP Edwin Jimenez retired both batters he faced, stranding three baserunners inherited from RHP Ryan Birchard in the top of the ninth inning. RHP Garrett Hodges also put in a respectable shift of middle relief: 2 1/3 IP, 1 R, 2 Ks. Next week’s outlook: Biloxi head to Huntsville to battle the Angels’ affiliate Rocket City for six games, commencing Tuesday evening. Wisconsin Pre-Game Media Notes Final: Wisconsin 5, Cedar Rapids (Twins) 1 Box Score Via the Timber Rattlers’ website, game details: Wisconsin Wins Third Straight to Close Out Road Trip - Dubanewicz tossed five scoreless innings for Timber Rattlers As well-captured in the linked game report, starting 20-year old RHP Jayden Dubanewicz got his revenge after a difficult Tuesday outing, allowing only three harmless singles and issuing no free passes over five innings of dominant work (0 R, 3 H, 0 BB, 3 Ks). Dubanewicz’s Ks A two-out hit brigade by SS Luis Pena (1-for-4, walk), OF Sawyer Strosnider (1-for-4, walk), 2B Daniel Dickinson (2-for-4, walk, RBI, 2 SBs) and 1B Eric Bintoti (1-for-3, 2 walks, RBI) got the scoring started in the 3rd inning for Wisconsin, while OF Luis Castillo (1-for-3, 2 walks, RBI, SB) and DH Tayden Hall added two-out RBI singles two innings later. Dickinson RBI single Bitonti RBI single Luis Castillo RBI single Tayden Hall RBI single Credit to LHP Bjorn Johnson for a 1-2-3 seventh inning, as well as to RHPs Yerlin Rodriguez and Jose Nova for escaping challenges of their own making in the sixth and eighth innings. RHP Michael Fowler registered three strikeouts in the bottom of the ninth inning, but also conceded a homer and double to the first two batters he faced. Timber Rattlers’ Extras: Cedar Rapids may think they should have done better than an 0-for-10 outing with runners in scoring position, but Wisconsin stranded 13 baserunners to their seven to make it clear who had more opportunities. Every Wisconsin position player reached base via hit or walk in the contest, including 3B Luiyin Alastre (1-for-4, walk, RBI) adding a late RBI single and OF Tyler Rodriguez drawing three walks and stealing a base. Next week’s outlook: Wisconsin returns home for two weeks, hosting Guardians’ affiliate Lake County from Tuesday. RHP Jacob Morrison is the scheduled starter for the series opener. Wilson Pre-Game Media Notes Final: Wilson 9, Columbia (Royals) 6 Box Score Via the Warbirds’ website, game details: Warbirds Score Seven Late to Win Series Finale 9-6 - Jones, Sabathia Hit First Professional Homers Trailing 6-2 in the sixth inning and having already clinched the series victory earlier in the week, Wilson kept their eye on the bigger prize (i.e. a potential second half playoff berth), with DH Carsten Sabathia III (3-for-4, HR, RBI) triggering the rally with his first professional homer and also leading off the team’s three-run eighth inning to grab the lead. Perhaps there should be rule that a first-year player must homer when their Hall of Fame father is in attendance: RHP Carlos Carra deserves a ton of credit for giving the team a chance, tossing 5 1/3 innings and 82 pitches in relief (1 R, 3 H, 4 BB, 1 K), just five days after covering six innings and throwing 78 pitches in Tuesday’s win. Carra also stranded two baserunners inherited from RHP Carlos Espinal (2/3 IP, 1 R, 1 K) after entering with one out in the 3rd inning, while his defense picked him up after a leadoff double in the 4th inning -> 2B Filippo Di Turi (1-for-3, walk) threw out a baserunner at home and C Rylan Mills caught another stealing. 3B Juan Ortuno (1-for-4, HR, sac fly, 3 RBIs) was a key contributor for the victors, homering for an early lead and tying the game on a sacrifice fly after OF Kyle Jones’ (3-for-5, HR, 4 RBIs) first professional homer, a two-run shot: A balk gave Wilson a 7-6 advantage in the bottom of the 8th inning, with Jones tacking on two critical insurance runs with an opposite field single. Warbirds’ Extras: RHP Joshua Quezada (1 1/3 IP, 0 R, 2 Ks) stranded two baserunners inherited from Carra, ultimately retiring all four batters he faced to earn the win. 6’5”, 19-year-old RHP Luke Roupe made his first start (second appearance) at the Low-A minor league level, struggling with control this time out (1 2/3 IP, 4 R, 1 H, 6 BB, 0 Ks). OF Brailyn Antunez (1-for-3, walk, HBP) reached base three times, while SS Brady Ebel (1-for-4, double, walk) and 1B Frederi Montero (0-for-2, 2 walks) came aboard twice. Next week’s outlook: Wilson travel four hours northwest to take on Red Sox affiliate Salem, with the first game of the series scheduled for Tuesday. We hope that you enjoy the Minor League Link Report. On Monday, the sole affiliates in action are the Dominican Summer League clubs. Brewers Gold (33-19) battle Cubs Blue (32-21) on the road, while Brewers Blue (30-23) host Padres Brown (11-42), with both games starting at 10:00 am CST. The Milwaukee Brewers have a day off on Monday before hosting the Mariners on Tuesday evening. Organizational Scoreboard including starting pitcher info, game times, MiLB TV links, and box scores Current Milwaukee Brewers Organization Batting Stats and Depth Current Milwaukee Brewers Organization Pitching Stats and Depth View the full article

On Sunday, the Royals won the rubber game of the Angels series 3-0. However, the biggest story of the game was Noah Cameron throwing a one-hit shutout, the first complete-game shutout of his career. It was another stellar start for Cameron, who bounced back from a mediocre outing against the Dodgers on August 10th (5.2 IP, 4 ER, 6 H, 2 BB, 2 K). Since a seven-run performance against the Padres at home on July 19th, Cameron has gone seven or more innings in four of his last five starts. He has not allowed runs in three of those outings: July 24th against Detroit, July 30th against Minnesota, and Sunday against the Angels. In addition to allowing only one hit (a bloop single by Vaughn Grissom with an exit velocity of 65.8 MPH), the lefty out of St. Joseph, Missouri struck out eight and only allowed one walk. He also produced a 37% whiff rate, a 32% CSW, and was in strong command of his stuff all afternoon long in Anaheim. So what clicked for Cameron in his immaculate outing? Let's take a look at his pitch breakdown and how he set up his success on Sunday against the Angels with that pitch mix. Cameron Leaned Heavily on His Slider and Changeup When looking at his TJ Stuff+ summary via TJ Stats, Cameron utilized his slider (21.7% usage) and changeup (20.9% usage) the most of his six-pitch mix on Sunday. He threw the offspeed and breaking offerings 49 times, for a 43% usage rate. Overall, Cameron did an excellent job limiting hard contact, as shown by his .173 xwOBA on balls in play. That said, he not only induced a .238 xwOBACON on his slider and .045 xwOBACON on his changeup, but also 46.2% and 53.3% whiff rates on his slider and changeup, respectively. Those two whiff rates were the best marks of the six pitches he threw on Sunday. With the slider, the 27-year-old lefty did an excellent job of locating the pitch glove-side and low, as illustrated in his slider pitch description chart via Baseball Savant. Cameron did a good job of avoiding the middle with his slider, and even when it found the zone, he was able to generate batted-ball outs. Furthermore, most of his whiffs came at the edge or below the strike zone. Two of his whiffs were on pitches that were in or touched the zone, and three were on sliders thrown out of the zone. Those whiffs showed Cameron had Angels hitters guessing badly, and he made them pay with that slider, even when it wasn't particularly close to the strike zone (his 33.3% chase rate rated as above average). While his slider was good, Cameron's changeup was even better, as illustrated by the pitch's pitch description chart. Cameron generated eight whiffs on the changeup, with three of those whiffs coming inside the strike zone and five coming on changeups outside of the zone. Cameron really pounded hitters armside with the offspeed pitch, and as a result, he was extremely successful, not just generating whiffs, but a profound amount of chase as well (50% chase%). Interestingly enough, his four-seamer was his second-worst-rated pitch on a TJ Stuff+ end on Sunday with a 90 TJ Stuff+. However, it generated a 44.4% whiff rate, the third-best whiff rate of his six pitches. That was surprising to see, especially considering the pitch's lackluster TJ Stuff+ mark, velocity (93.1 MPH), and extension (6.2 feet). Cameron's four-seamer pitch description chart was peppered with light purple, orange, and green dots along the edges of the strike zone, representing whiffs, called strikes, and foul balls. The strong four-seamer command, lower usage of the four-seamer (16.5%), and the pairing with the changeup, especially in the armside area of the strike zone, seemed to drive success for Cameron on Sunday. Changeup Key to Success? Since moving to calling his own pitches after his July 19th start, Cameron has leaned heavily on the changeup. When looking at his pitch mix rolling chart via Savant, he has seen a tremendous spike over the last month in his changeup usage compared to his other offerings. In 37.2 IP, it's been not just his most-thrown offering (21.7% usage), but most successful in terms of generating whiffs and weak contact, as illustrated below in his TJ Stuff+ summary since July 20th. His changeup has the best pitching grade of his six offerings at 57, and in addition to a stellar whiff rate (45.3% whiff%), it has also produced a .265 xwOBA since July 20th. That's a solid mark for his most-thrown offering. When breaking down the splits and heatmap of his changeup, it's been an even stronger offering against righties than lefties since he began calling his own pitches. Against righties, the changeup is producing a 30.3% CSW%, a 44.6% whiff%, a 31.6% O-Swing%, and a .168 xwOBACON. He's producing similar metrics against lefties in terms of CSW (38.5%), whiff% (50%), and O-Swing% (50%), but it got hit much harder (.785 xwOBACON). Below is an example of Cameron's changeup making Minnesota's Alex Jackson chase badly on a two-strike count. ZzZ3QVFfVjBZQUhRPT1fQkFCWkFsUUVCUXNBRHdaVFZnQUhDQUVIQUFCWFYxQUFCQWRRQ0FKV1ZRVUdBQUZY.mp4 The movement on the changeup dives a little more toward righties, which is different than most changeups and plays well off his four-seamer better. Below is an example of his four-seamer located down against the Dodgers' Miguel Rojas on August 10th. Notice how it has similar movement to the changeup, but is 12 MPH faster than Cameron's primary offspeed pitch. cU93V2tfVjBZQUhRPT1fQTFBSFZsUU1BRllBQ1ZBQVVBQUhBZ05lQUZoUlVnSUFVUUFCVmdWUkF3RlFDVk5W.mp4 Most pitchers will lead with the four-seamer and then use the changeup as a change of pace. Cameron seems to be opting for the opposite: setting the tone with the changeup and then utilizing his four-seamer as his change-of-pace pitch. Michael Wacha has used this strategy successfully before, particularly in 2024, his first season in Kansas City, when he posted a 3.35 ERA in 164.1 IP. Here's a look at his pitch mix breakdown that season via TJ Stats. Will Cameron's pitch-mix strategy lead to long-term success, like Wacha's? That is to be determined. Wacha has over 12 years of MLB service time under his belt, after all. Nonetheless, what Cameron is doing is intriguing and is working, with Sunday's shutout in Anaheim being the pinnacle of this newfound approach. For a Royals team building for 2027, those two qualities are more than enough. View the full article

Logan Henderson is not Tarik Skubal. At his best, Skubal’s two fastballs flirt with triple digits. They comprise just one part of a powerful five-pitch mix from the left side. His ceiling is the best starting pitcher in baseball. Henderson, meanwhile, averages 93 MPH with his heater, and his ceiling is probably a solid No. 2 starter. But when the Brewers reportedly withheld Henderson from an already-aggressive trade offer to the Detroit Tigers, and Skubal instead became a Los Angeles Dodger for a pitching-centric return, the calculus wasn’t just about ceiling. Skubal was a rental who would make at most 15 more starts through a 2026 World Series run. Even if the best version of Skubal is better than the best version of Henderson, the latter could easily perform similarly for the rest of this year, after which he’ll have five more seasons of team control before free agency. Skubal’s body of work since he started breaking out in 2023 is more significant, but Henderson has come impressively close to his rate stats in his first 17 big-league starts. That includes a nearly identical strikeout-minus-walk rate, among the most powerful predictors of pitcher performance. Pitcher GS IP ERA- FIP- DRA- SIERA K-BB% Tarik Skubal 96 581.1 60 59 70 2.80 26.9% Logan Henderson 17 88.2 61 78 87 2.95 26.3% The emphasis here is “close.” If the question is whom to pick for 15 starts, the answer is Skubal. If the question is whom to pick for a winner-take-all postseason start, the answer is Skubal. Henderson isn’t a bad alternative, though. He’s capable of matching him within such a 15-start stretch and on a given night. Henderson going directly against Skubal just a couple of weeks after the trade was a prompt test of that hypothesis. The early returns supported it. Skubal didn’t have great support from his defense, as just one of the two runs he allowed was earned. For that reason, it’s not quite fair to say Henderson outdueled him, but he absolutely matched him. Beyond their box-score lines, the two were nearly identical when it came to commanding the strike zone and missing barrels. Pitcher IP H ER BB K CStr + Whiff Whiff Hard Hit Barrel Tarik Skubal 6 7 1 2 7 31% (29/93) 29% (15/52) 47% (8/17) 6% (1/17) Logan Henderson 7 3 1 1 6 28% (31/109) 28% (18/64) 50% (9/18) 5% (1/18) Adding to the symmetry is the fact that both pitchers are propelled by their excellent changeups. Both Henderson and Skubal induced whiffs on 50% of swings with their changeups Sunday, offsetting louder contact against their fastballs. Most notably, Henderson got another opportunity to pitch into the seventh inning after an unsuccessful attempt in his last start. In San Diego, his fastball velocity tumbled to 90.6 MPH in his seventh frame, and he hung a changeup to Jackson Merrill for a go-ahead home run. On Sunday, Henderson averaged 93.7 MPH in the seventh, tossing a scoreless final inning and tying a career high with 93 pitches. As things currently stand, Skubal and Henderson could line up for a direct rematch in a postseason game. Even if they don’t, Henderson profiles as one of the Brewers’ top three starters, so they’ll start him in important October games. Whether those outings come against the Dodgers or someone else, they’ll hope for similar results to what they would have gotten from Skubal had they acquired him instead. A Sunday afternoon outing in August guarantees nothing from a rookie starter in the postseason, but it was the latest sign that the guy the Brewers insisted on keeping could match the game’s best arms when needed. View the full article

The Cubs can't go very far without Dansby Swanson, but it sure looks like they'll be without him for a while. After a swing in the bottom of the third inning of Sunday's loss to the Cardinals, Swanson immediately reacted with visible pain and frustration, and he walked off the field after only a very brief consultation with manager Craig Counsell and a team trainer. The Cubs announced that he'd left with discomfort in his left side. After the game, Counsell said that Swanson would go on the injured list with the issue and undergo imaging Monday to determine the severity of the injury. Because 'setback' can be construed as a worsening of a preexisting injury, I followed up with Bastian and with a team source; both indicated that there was no known issue with Swanson's side before this. That it's a new problem is hollow succor, though, if he's likely to miss several weeks either way. According to Bruce Levine of 670 The Score, Dansby Swanson told reporters after Sunday's game that he had never had a soft tissue injury during his professional career. That's not true, so either Swanson or Levine is badly mistaken. Swanson underwent sports hernia surgery just after the 2024 season, which addresses damage to soft tissue in the lower abdomen. Swanson might have meant that he hadn't previously missed time due to such an injury, and maybe he meant that declaration as an avowal that he won't be sidelined for long by this issue, either. For now, however, it's a huge blow to Chicago's hopes. That's because, although Swanson has been his inconsistent self at the plate this year, his value as a defender at shortstop is virtually unparalleled—especially in the context of the Cubs' lineup. Counsell indicated what any Cubs fan already knew Sunday: that Nico Hoerner will play shortstop in Swanson's absence, with Pedro Ramírez picking up extra playing time as something close to the everyday second baseman. Offensively, that's great news. On balance, Ramírez is at least as good a hitter as Swanson at this stage of each player's career. Defensively, though, it represents a massive downgrade—one the team will feel every time it takes the field in that configuration. Hoerner is an adept fielder, but he's not as fluid or as good at the quick exchange and release as is Swanson. In 2022, he was an adequate shortstop, but he was never destined to be excellent there. Having lost even half a step since then, he's now underqualified for the spot. Over a full season, Swanson is worth a good 15 runs more than Hoerner is as a shortstop, so if he misses (say) 30 games, the Cubs will lose about 3 runs. In fact, though, the effect will be larger. Ramírez is a fine but not superb second baseman; multiple scouts for other teams who evaluated him during trade season last month believe his best position is third. There's about a 12-run difference between the glovework of Hoerner at second and that of Ramírez over a full season, so dock the team another couple of runs on that basis. You'd better round it up to 3 runs and call it 6 between the two positions, because when a team gets weaker at two adjacent positions simultaneously, there's a slight but real exponent that should be applied to the effect. Six runs shouldn't make or break the Cubs the rest of the way, but it's likely to cost them a game somewhere along the way. Again, if you're a believer in what Ramírez has done over his first 140 plate appearances—and he's earned a bit of confidence, by now—then he can be worth an extra couple of runs with his bat, relative to Swanson, but he doesn't have the same upside Swanson offers when he goes on one of his famous power binges. So far, we've talked only about what will happen if Swanson misses a month but returns in time for the final few games of the regular season and is at full strength come October. That's a fair estimate, based on how much time hitters typically miss with oblique strains. However, as you can see in this graphic from Baseball Prospectus, there's about a 25% chance (the 20% represented in the monthly breakdown, scaled up slightly because it's already the middle of August and Swanson just suffered his injury) that this ends the shortstop's season. Whatever depth Ramírez might add to the lineup (at the cost of the dynamism Swanson brings), the team is worse without Swanson. In fact, it's hard to see the team going far in October if Swanson doesn't have time to recuperate, go on a rehab assignment, and return at the peak of his ability by the time that calendar page flips. That's a worry for later, though. In the short term, the Cubs have problems that extend beyond Swanson going down. Edward Cabrera made a return to the active roster and to the starting rotation Sunday, but it was anything but triumphant. The righty continued a disastrous season by giving up a long first-inning home run and then going to pieces in the fourth, partially because of a blister that emerged during that frame. The Cubs made a plan based on Cabrera being the pitcher they've expected and hoped he would be ever since they traded for him in January, optioning Javier Assad to Triple-A Iowa and provisionally shifting David Peterson to the bullpen. Now, that plan appears to be in doubt. It's a concern that extends beyond the adjustments that might be required, too, because it feels like another indictment of the team's ability to develop and optimize talented players after paying hefty sums to acquire them. Cabrera joins a pitching lineage that included Yu Darvish, Tyler Chatwood and Marcus Stroman, among others, but of course, the club also didn't realize quite as much value from Kyle Tucker as they'd hoped. Tucker cost them top prospect Cam Smith, and more. Cabrera cost them top prospect Owen Caissie, and more. The team can and should keep using prospect depth to bolster their big-league roster, but they can't afford to keep getting tepid returns on those huge investments. Losing three out of four won't plunge the Cubs into real jeopardy. They're going to make the playoffs; they still have a five-game lead over the other contenders for the top Wild Card berth. However, after the Brewers took three of four from the Dodgers in Los Angeles, Chicago is also five games behind the Crew in the NL Central. For a week or so, they seemed to be closing in on Milwaukee, and to have the depth to catch and pass them to claim the division crown and a first-round bye. Suddenly, that feels much less likely. Swanson and Cabrera had bad days; the Cubs had a bad weekend. Perhaps that's all it'll be. The White Sox come to Wrigley Field for three games this week, giving the North Siders a chance to quickly reassert themselves. Pete Crow-Armstrong hit a much-needed home run in an otherwise dreadful series finale; another hot streak from him would be the best-timed one yet. Until the response comes, though, Cubs fans will have to hold their breath a bit. Cabrera's season looks like a washout. Swanson's is in danger. The team's depth, in all departments, is a bit less robust than they might have hoped. The whole weekend went wrong, and the time to get right again is growing short. View the full article

Luke Keaschall has quickly become one of the more fascinating players on the Twins roster. There is a very clear reason to want him in the lineup, and an equally clear reason to wonder whether the team can actually afford to play him. The good news is that Keaschall has continued to show that his rookie season was not a fluke. After posting a terrific 130 OPS+ during his rookie campaign, Keaschall got off to a slow start in 2026, but he's been much better at bat as the season has progressed. Since June 1, he's posted a .826 OPS, bringing his OPS+ for the full season to 108. Through 164 games as a Twin, Keaschall has shown that he can be a productive major-league hitter. Keaschall gets on base, and when he does, his speed can immediately become a problem for opposing teams. He has the ability to create value without hitting for a ton of power; there's plenty to like about what he brings to the Twins offensively. The problem is that finding a place for that offense has become increasingly difficult, because of his defense. The issues initially surfaced at second base, where Keaschall played all of last season and began the 2026 campaign. It did not take long for the Twins to decide they were uncomfortable with him there. By the end of June, Minnesota had moved him off the position, and other than one emergency mid-game appearance in July, Keaschall has not returned to second base. At this point, it's fair to assume that chapter of his career is closed. Over the last two seasons, Keaschall has accumulated -9 Outs Above Average at second base, and the Twins clearly do not believe the position is a viable long-term home for him. When Keaschall moved to the outfield, the idea was that things would get better. His speed could become an asset, and playing in the outfield would seemingly allow him to use his athleticism without asking him to handle the responsibilities of the middle infield. That has not happened. Since moving off second base, Keaschall has bounced between center field (filling in for Byron Buxton) and right field. He's struggled defensively in both spots. Defensive metrics are far from perfect, especially when a player has limited time at a position, but when multiple metrics are telling the same story, it becomes difficult to dismiss the numbers. In just two months as an outfielder, Keaschall has posted -3 OAA and -3 DRS in center field and -2 OAA and -4 DRS in right field. Combined with his work at second base, his defensive metrics paint a pretty ugly picture. Keaschall currently ranks as the sixth-worst defender in baseball in terms of Outs Above Average this season. Again, OAA is not a perfect statistic, and there is plenty of room to debate exactly how much weight should be placed on any individual defensive metric. But the numbers also match what has been visible on the field. Keaschall has looked overmatched at every defensive position he has played for the Twins. Moving him from second base to the outfield was supposed to solve the problem, but instead, it has created the same questions in a different part of the diamond. That leaves the Twins with a very interesting problem. What do you do with a player who can clearly hit, but cannot seem to find a defensive position? The obvious answer is to put Keaschall in the outfield and live with the defense. The problem is that there may not be a natural opening for him, long-term. Byron Buxton is going to occupy one of those spots, and Walker Jenkins appears destined to occupy another once he inevitably debuts next season. That leaves one corner outfield spot for a Twins system that has plenty of options. The Twins could give that spot to Keaschall and simply accept that they're going to sacrifice defense in order to keep his bat in the lineup. There's a precedent for teams doing exactly that. Players such as CJ Abrams and Junior Caminero have significant defensive shortcomings, but their offensive production is MVP-level and their teams live with those defensive problems. If Keaschall's bat develops to anywhere near that level, the defensive concerns become much easier to overlook. The question is whether Keaschall's bat is good enough to justify doing that, or can get anywhere close to it. A 108 OPS+ is certainly useful. His OBP is exactly .400 since the start of May; that carries great value. But that's not necessarily the level of offensive production that makes a player with significant defensive deficiencies an obvious everyday player. If Keaschall is going to be a liability wherever he plays, the Twins need his offense to provide enough surplus value to make the tradeoff worthwhile. There is also another possibility: designated hitter. A DH role would allow the Twins to put Keaschall's best skill on display without worrying about where to hide his glove. With Royce Lewis establishing himself at first base, that position does not appear to offer an obvious alternative. The DH spot may ultimately be the cleanest way to get Keaschall's bat into the lineup. But that comes with its own problem. A player who is going to occupy the designated hitter spot has to really hit. There's little value in carrying a full-time DH who is merely a good (as opposed to very good, or great) hitter, especially when the Twins could use that lineup spot to rotate players through the position or to keep another regular healthy. For now, Keaschall's role is likely to stay the same, but it should be modified to tip the share of his contributions to the game from defense toward offense. Since July 1, he's batted second once and fifth once, but otherwise, he's slotted in sixth or lower in the batting order. That's the worst possible way to handle a bat-first player. If the team believes enough in what Keaschall has done at bat over the past three-plus months to keep him in the lineup, he should bat higher. Move him up three spots, and you raise the chances of him getting one extra plate appearance in a game by 33%. He also gets each of his at-bats earlier that way, so if you get a mid-game lead and want to switch to a defensive mode, you can lift Keaschall after (say) three plate appearances in six innings, rather than only getting two from him by then or needing to play him an extra frame or two in the field to get a third. This question becomes even more pertinent as we look to the future, though. Do they put him in the third outfield spot next season and simply accept the defensive shortcomings in hopes that his offense can outweigh them, withholding someone like Emmanuel Rodriguez in the meantime? Do they move him into a full-time DH role and bet on his bat taking another step forward? Or is there another solution the Twins should explore? Keaschall has proven that he can be a productive major-league hitter. Now, the Twins have to figure out how to get the most out of that production without allowing his defense to overwhelm everything else he brings to the table. What do you think the Twins should do with Luke Keaschall? Let us know in the comments. View the full article

While the Miami Marlins are in a wild card race, a few of their 2026 draft selections have already started their professional careers. First round pick Jacob Lombard made his professional debut earlier this month and has already had some big plays and big hits in the minors. Here’s an update for every Marlins draft pick from their 2026 draft class: SS Jacob Lombard (Round 1): .194/.362/.361 slash line in ten games for the Low-A Jupiter Hammerheads. Lombard has recorded seven hits, two home runs, seven RBIs, eight walks, eight runs scored, five stolen bases, and a .723 OPS. LHP Ethan Kleinschmit (Round 2): No MiLB games yet RHP Ryan Peterson (Competitive Balance Round B): No MiLB games yet SS Cam Kozeal (Round 3): .214/.313/.405 slash line in ten games for Low-A Jupiter. Kozeal has recorded nine hits, two doubles, two home runs, three RBIs, six walks, six runs scored, and a .718 OPS. OF Wessley Roberson (Round 4): No MiLB games yet LHP Trey Beard (Round 5): No MiLB games yet RHP Cole Selvig (Round 6): No MiLB games yet SS Eric Guevara (Round 7): .300/.417/.300 slash line in four games for Low-A Jupiter. Guevara has recorded four hits, one RBI, two walks, two runs scored, one stolen base, and a .717 OPS. 1B Rintaro Sasaki (Round 8): No MiLB games yet 3B Nic Tolbert (Round 9): No MiLB games yet RHP Zach Peters (Round 10): No MiLB games yet RHP Fabio Bundi (Round 11): No MiLB games yet RHP Bane Barker (Round 12): No MiLB games yet RHP Connor Benge (Round 13): No MiLB games yet RHP Tyler Kapa (Round 14): No MiLB games yet RHP Colin Linder (Round 15): No MiLB games yet RHP Porter Buursema (Round 16): No MiLB games yet RHP Duke McCarron (Round 17): No MiLB games yet OF Jatniel McCloud (Round 18): No MiLB games yet RHP Jackson Mitchell (Round 19): No MiLB games yet RHP Joey Lawson (Round 20): No MiLB games yet View the full article

The Blue Jays fell just short of a weekend sweep against the Yankees, and they even had the chance to complete a four-game sweep of the Red Sox on Thursday. They couldn't finish the job either time, but a 5-2 week against a couple of (very likely) playoff-bound AL East rivals at home has kept their post-deadline fire burning. This team may still sit four games below .500, but the AL logjam has them just one game out of a playoff spot heading into a week that sees them travel to St. Pete and the Bronx. Pitching 3. Chase Lee: Andruw Monasterio GIDP, Top 6, 8/11 (+11.0% WPA) Chase Lee was optioned after giving up a grand slam in Thursday's finale against Boston, but not before he got a big couple of outs in the sixth inning on Tuesday night. After Jarren Duran's leadoff single, he found himself in a 1-1 count against Andruw Monasterio, who got jammed by a sweeper in on his hands and rolled it just to the left of second base. Ernie Clement did the rest himself. 2. Louis Varland: Nick Sogard Groundout, Top 9, 8/10 (+13.6% WPA) The Jays' lights-out closer notched his 25th save early this week, the latest milestone in his unbelievable season. With the tying run 90 feet away and the count full, Louis Varland whipped a 100-mph fastball up in the zone and slightly inside. Nick Sogard did a good job to get to the ball, hitting it sharply to first base, but Vladimir Guerrero Jr. was as sure-handed as ever, taking it to the bag to seal the win. 1. Louis Varland: Andruw Monasterio Strikeout, Top 9, 8/10 (+14.0% WPA) More pivotal than the final out was the strikeout that Varland got just one batter earlier. Monasterio was on the wrong end of another big moment for the pitching staff this week after failing to come through with a man on third and one out while facing a one-run deficit in the ninth. Varland got him to wave on a nasty knuckle curve in the dirt for a big strikeout. Hitting 3. Alejandro Kirk: RBI Double, Bot 6, 8/14 (+17.3% WPA) Alejandro Kirk has come around in the second half, and he had himself a night on Friday against New York. It began in the sixth when, with two outs and a man on second, he got a hanging slider from Gerrit Cole. He laced it all the way to the wall in left field, scoring George Springer with ease and giving the Jays a lead that Kirk himself would eventually add to in the eighth with a homer. 2. Charles McAdoo: RBI Double, Bot 7, 8/15 (+19.0% WPA) Charles McAdoo had his first signature moment in front of a packed Rogers Centre crowd on Saturday afternoon. Ernie Clement stood on first as the go-ahead run after his leadoff base-hit off Yankees reliever Brent Headrick. McAdoo got a high fastball from Headrick in a hitter's count and didn't miss it, drilling it off the wall on the fly at 107 mph off the bat. Clement came all the way around to score, and the Jays went on to take the game and the series. 1. Kazuma Okamoto: RBI Single, Bot 8, 8/12 (+19.3% WPA) The Blue Jays clinched their series against the Red Sox thanks to a five-run eighth inning, getting contributions up and down the lineup that would wind up looming large as Boston almost came back in the ninth. Nonetheless, the runs began with Kazuma Okamoto, who turned around a 99.5-mph sinker in a two-strike count and lined it into left-center for a base hit. Vladimir Guerrero Jr. scored on a bang-bang play after a headfirst slide at home, and the offense kept on coming. View the full article

TRANSACTIONS Three straight days with no transactions in the organization. Hard to believe. I would expect we will hear a few interesting transactions on Monday. We know that Catcher Alex Jackson has been outrighted to St. Paul. I believe that he has the choice to go to St. Paul or become a free agent. SAINTS SENTINEL St. Paul 2, Iowa 1 Box Score Starting Pitcher: German Marquez: 4 IP, 4 H, 1 ER, 2 BB, 1 K, 57 pitches, 33 strikes Multi-Hit Games: None. HR: Matt Wallner (22) Veteran German Marquez made his first start in the Twins organization. He started with three zeroes before giving up a run in the fourth inning. Matt Wallner provided the offense. He drove in a run on a ground out in the first inning. Then when he came to bat in the fourth inning, he launched a long home run, tying the franchise-record 22nd home run of the season. The Saints bullpen was incredible. Aaron Rozek walked three and struck out three over three scoreless innings. Garrett Acton walked one and struck one batter out over a scoreless, hitless inning. Marco Ray came on for the ninth inning. He gave up two hits, walked a batter and struck out one batter, but he kept the Cubs from scoring to earn his third Saints save. Walker Jenkins and Ben Ross each went 1-for-3 with a walk. WIND SURGE WISDOM Wichita 2, Corpus Christi 5 Box Score Starting Pitcher: Ty Langenberg: 4 IP, 3 H, 2 ER, 0 BB, 3 K, 55 pitches, 37 strikes Multi-Hit Games: Caden Kendle (2-for-3, BB, 2B, RBI, K) 2B: Caden Kendle (9) The Wind Surge got on the scoreboard first in the second inning when Jaime Ferrer singled to drive in Garrett Spain. In the third inning, Jorel Ortega scored on Kendle’s ninth Surge double. However, the Hooks scored five runs over the next two innings and held on for the win. Hunter Gregory came into a 2-2 game in the fifth inning. He was charged with three unearned runs in the inning. Spencer Bengard gave up one hit over two scoreless innings. Jacob Webb and Kyle Bischoff each threw a shutout inning with two strikeouts. KERNEL NUGGETS Cedar Rapids 1, Wisconsin 5 Box Score Starting Pitcher: Kolten Smith: 2/3 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 1 K, 9 pitches, 7 strikes (77.8%) Multi-Hit Games: JP Smith (2-for-3, BB) 2B: Quinn McDaniel (8) HR: Danny De Andrade (12) Joey Chestnut was in Cedar Rapids on Sunday afternoon. Following the game, he dominated local media personalities with his ability to eat kolaches. The Rattlers jumped out to an early 4-0 lead and held on to it throughout the game. The Kernels scored one in the ninth, but that clearly wasn’t enough. Ivran Romero came into the game after Smith departed. He went two innings and gave up two runs on four hits and a walk. Yehizon Sanchez was next. He gave up two runs on two hits and four walks over 2 1/3 innings. He had four strikeouts. Mike McKenna gave up a hit and walked two batters over two scoreless innings. He struck out three batters. At that point, the Kernels were out of pitchers. Quinn McDaniel came into the game to start the eighth inning. That inning started with three consecutive walks to load the bases. However, he responded by getting an infield pop-out and a double play groundout to end the inning. He gave up one run in the ninth inning. His final line was two innings, one hit, one run, five walks, and no strikeouts. And I’m thinking his teammates and coaching staff were thrilled with that. Danny De Andrade hit a solo home run in the bottom of the ninth to avoid a shutout. MIGHTY MATTERS Fort Myers 9, Clearwater 4 Box Score Starting Pitcher: Callan Fang: 4+ IP, 6 H, 4 R, 3 ER, 2 BB, 4 K, 75 pitches, 47 strikes (62.7%) Multi-Hit Games: Colby Turner (3-for-5, R, 4 RBI), Bryce Fowler (2-for-4, HBP, RBI), Hideki Prather (2-for-4, 2B, 2 R) 2B: Luis Fragoza (18), Quentin Young (12), Hideki Prather (1) Merphy Hernandez led off the home half of the first inning by being hit by a pitch. He stole second and went to third on a Colby Turner single. Hernandez scored on a balk. Turner went to third on a wild pitch. Fragoza walked. A successful double-steal saw Turner score to make it 2-1. Isaiah Lane walked. Aidan Teel drove in Fragoza with a single. Lane was caught stealing home. With two outs, Fowler drove in the fourth run, Teel, with a single. Fang gave up single runs in the first and third innings. He completed four innings. He faced three batters in the fifth inning without getting an out. He left with two runners on base and Jake Covey allowed one of the runners to score, but he got out of the fifth inning with the Mussels still leading 7-4. Covey tossed four scoreless relief innings to earn the win. Hendry Chivilli worked a scoreless ninth inning. The Mussels scored their nine runs on 12 hits, seven walks, and three hit batters. They added another eight stolen bases to their league-leading total. Along with the three who had multi-hit games, Luis Fragoza was 1-for-2 with two walks. Isaiah Lane walked twice. Teel, Young, and Charlie Scholvin each had one hit and one walk. PLAYERS OF THE DAY Hitter(s) of the Day Colby Turner (Fort Myers): 3-for-5, R, 4 RBI. Pitcher(s) of the Day Jake Covey (Fort Myers): 4 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 3 BB, 2 K, PROSPECT SUMMARY Check out the Prospect Tracker for much more on our Twins Top 20 prospects. See how they did today. #1 - OF Walker Jenkins (St. Paul) - 1-for-3, BB (batted first, played CF) #3 - IF Kaelen Culpepper (Minnesota) - 2-for-4, 2B(1), K (batted ninth, played SS) #4 - SS Marek Houston (Wichita) - 1-for-3, SH, CS(6), 2 E, (batted first, played SS) #6 - OF Emmanuel Rodriguez (St. Paul) - 1-for-4, 2K (batted third, played LF) #17 - RHP James Ellwanger (Ft. Myers) - 60 Day Injured List (right elbow sprain) #18 - 3B/SS Quentin Young (Ft. Myers) - 1-for-4, BB, 2B(12), RBI (batted sixth, played DH) #19 - OF Yasser Mercedes (Cedar Rapids) - 1-for-4, K, (batted first, played CF) UPCOMING PROBABLES Monday, August 17 DSL Twins @ DSL Marlins (10:00 am CT) CURRENT W-L Records Minnesota Twins: 60-65 St. Paul Saints: 69-50 Wichita Wind Surge: 45-67 Cedar Rapids Kernels: 44-68 Fort Myers Mighty Mussels: 62-50 FCL Twins: 33-26 DSL Twins: 17-34 Please feel free to ask questions about the teams, the rosters, and discuss today’s games, or anything else Twins minor-league related! View the full article

Sunday saw the San Diego Padres' four full-season affiliates wrap up their series, going 0-5 on the day, including the completion of a suspended game from Saturday. The Triple-A El Paso Chihuahuas were beaten by Salt Lake 13-7, the Double-A San Antonio Missions fell to Frisco 8-5, the High-A Fort Wayne TinCaps lost twice to Quad Cities, dropping a suspended game 5-2 in eight innings and then 4-3 in the scheduled game, while the Low-A Lake Elsinore Storm lost to Inland Empire 11-7. Padres Minor-League Transactions None. Ethan Salas Bashes Career-High 10th HR In Chihuahuas' Loss Ethan Salas hit his third Triple-A homer and drove in four, matching his career high, but the host El Paso Chihuahuas gave up nine runs over the sixth and seventh innings in dropping a 13-7 decision to the Salt Lake Bees. The Chihuahuas (49-70, 14-30 second half) won two of the six games in the series, losing the final three. The 20-year-old Salas, Padres Mission's No. 1 prospect, extended his hitting streak to 10 games as he had also had a double, a walk and scored twice. The home run was his 10th this season, surpassing his career best set in his debut season of 2023. He has reached base in all 14 games since being promoted from Double-A San Antonio and is slashing .377/.453/.698 at Triple-A, with 15 RBIs in his last eight games. Salas had driven in three runs three times this season and matched his career best of four set July 6, 2023, his debut season. Nick Pratto hit a two-run homer in the first inning, while Marcos Castanon went 2-for-4 with an RBI and a run scored. Salas had a two-run double in the bottom of the first that tied the game 2-2, Castanon doubled home Salas and Pratto then hit his 10th homer of the season for a 5-2 lead. Salas' homer came in the bottom of the fifth, an opposite-field shot to left on the first pitch and with two outs for a 7-4 Chihuahuas lead. But the Bees scored six in the sixth and three in the seventh to take control. Chihuahuas right-handed starter Andrew Thurman gave up three runs in three innings on five hits and three walks, then left-hander JP Sears allowed five runs in 2⅓ innings. Right-hander J.P. France surrendered five runs (three earned) on four hits and two walks in 1⅔ innings before right-hander Hunter Stratton settled things down with one hit over two shutout innings. Stratton hasn't allowed a run in his five appearances (six innings) since being acquired at the trade deadline from the Pittsburgh Pirates. EP_0816.mp4 Player AB R H RBI BB K Dustin Harris, CF 4 1 0 0 1 0 Gage Workman, SS 3 1 1 0 1 1 Carlos Rodríguez, DH 5 0 1 0 0 1 Nick Solak, RF 4 1 0 0 0 0 Ethan Salas, C 3 2 2 4 1 0 Blake Hunt, C 0 0 0 0 0 0 Marcos Castañon, 2B 4 1 2 1 0 2 Nick Pratto, 1B 3 1 1 2 1 0 Clay Dungan, 3B 4 0 1 0 0 0 Bryce Johnson, LF 4 0 0 0 0 1 Player IP H R ER BB K HR Andrew Thurman 3 5 3 3 3 2 1 JP Sears 2 1/3 4 5 5 3 3 0 J.P. France 1 2/3 4 5 3 2 0 1 Hunter Stratton 2 1 0 0 2 1 0 Missions Knocked Out By Late RoughRiders Rally In what felt like a boxing match with each fighter landing big blows, the Double-A San Antonio Missions were unable to survive a late punch, giving up three runs in the bottom of the eighth for an 8-5 loss to the host Frisco RoughRiders. The Missions (51-63, 20-25 second half) went 2-4 in the six-game series after winning two of the first three. Alex McCoy (Padres Mission's No. 8 prospect) wrapped up his first weekend in Double-A with two more hits and two RBIs, while Jack Costello also had two hits and two RBIs, Romeo Sanabria two hits and two runs scored and Braedon Karpathios (Padres Mission's No. 9 prospect) two hits and an RBI. Missions right-handed starter Ian Koenig gave up five runs over six innings on six hits and a walk while striking out five. Right-hander Jose Leclerc pitched a scoreless seventh, then left-hander Igor Gil allowed three runs while only getting one out on four hits and a walk. SA_0816.mp4 Player AB R H RBI BB K Ryan Jackson, 2B 2 2 0 0 2 2 Romeo Sanabria, 1B 2 2 2 0 1 0 Alex McCoy, CF 4 1 2 2 0 1 Braedon Karpathios, DH 4 0 2 1 0 2 Jack Costello, LF 4 0 2 2 0 0 Luis Verdugo, 3B 4 0 0 0 0 1 Kai Roberts, CF 3 0 1 0 0 0 Tirso Ornelas, RF 1 0 0 0 0 0 Wyatt Hoffman, SS 4 0 0 0 0 2 Brendan Durfee, C 4 0 0 0 0 3 Player IP H R ER BB K HR Ian Koenig 6 6 5 5 1 5 1 José Leclerc 1 1 0 0 1 1 0 Igor Gil 0 1/3 4 3 3 1 1 0 Bernard Jose 0 2/3 0 0 0 1 1 0 Unproductive Week Ends With Two More TinCaps Losses A long week filled with rain and other delays came to a disappointing finish as the High-A Fort Wayne TinCaps lost the conclusion of Saturday's suspended game to the host Quad Cities River Bandits 5-2 on a walk-off three-run homer in eight innings, then fell in the regularly scheduled game 4-3. The TinCaps (46-65, 19-26 second half) were swept in the five games played, with another being canceled due to unplayable conditions. The TinCaps have lost a season-worst eight games. In the completion of Saturday's suspended game, the game resumed with the game tied 2-2 entering extra innings after the River Bandits tied it with a two-out two-run homer in the seventh. But like the bottom of the seventh, the bottom of the eighth did not go well for the TinCaps, who didn't push across a run in the top half. With the zombie runner at second, right-hander Nick Falter walked the first batter he faced and then gave up a three-run homer to Derlin Figueroa, his 25th of the season. It put a damper on a terrific outing in the Saturday portion of the game in which TinCaps right-handed starter Bryan Balzer, who struck out a career-high 10 in five innings (94 pitches, also a career high). Balzer didn't allow a hit until Figueroa led off the fourth with his 22nd double, although he had walked three and hit another. That would be the lone hit for the River Bandits until the bottom of the seventh. The TinCaps had five hits and the River Bandits four. In the regularly scheduled game, Justin DeCriscio was on base twice and drove in a pair of runs, but the River Bandits scored the go-ahead run in the seventh inning. Trailing 2-0 after two innings, Kasen Wells and DeCriscio had RBI singles in the top of the third inning to tie the game, then the River Bandits went back on top in the bottom of the third. The TinCaps tied it in the fifth when DeCriscio put down a bunt on a 2-0 pitch with no outs that the pitcher fielded and his only play was at first, but he threw wide as Dylan Grego scored from third. TinCaps right-handed starter Abraham Parra gave up four runs (two earned) in a career-best 6⅓ innings, allowing four hits and five walks while striking out two. Parra had gone six innings once this year (June 20), four times in 2025 and once in 2023. FW1_0816.mp4 FW2_0816.mp4 SUSPENDED GAME Player AB R H RBI BB K Kasen Wells, LF 3 0 0 1 0 2 Justin DeCriscio, SS 4 0 0 0 0 0 Ryan Wideman, CF 4 0 0 0 0 1 Luke Cantwell, 1B 3 0 1 0 0 2 Lamar King Jr., C 3 0 0 0 0 3 Carlos Rodriguez, DH 3 1 1 0 0 1 Bradley Frye, 3B 2 1 0 0 0 0 Dylan Grego, 2B 3 0 1 1 0 1 Conner Westenburg, RF 2 0 2 0 0 0 Player IP H R ER BB K HR Bryan Balzer 5 1 0 0 4 10 0 Will Koger 2 2 2 2 0 2 1 Nick Falter 0 1 3 2 1 0 1 SECOND GAME Player AB R H RBI BB K Justin DeCriscio, SS 2 0 1 2 1 0 Ryan Wideman, CF 4 0 0 0 0 0 Rosman Verdugo, 2B 4 0 0 0 0 3 Luke Cantwell, 1B 4 0 0 0 0 1 Robbie Lavey, DH 3 0 0 0 1 1 Kerrington Cross, 3B 3 0 0 0 1 1 Carlos Rodriguez, C 4 1 2 0 0 0 Conner Westenburg, PR 0 0 0 0 0 0 Dylan Grego, LF 2 2 1 0 1 1 Kasen Wells, RF 3 0 1 1 0 0 Player IP H R ER BB K HR Abraham Parra 6 1/3 4 4 2 5 2 0 Jeferson Villabona 0 2/3 0 0 0 3 1 0 Isaiah Lowe 1 0 0 0 0 1 0 Luis Maracara Fans 8, Draft Picks Shine, But Storm Stumble A pair of three-hit games by draft picks and a four-run first inning were not enough as the Low-A Lake Elsinore Storm saw the host Inland Empire 66ers use a five-run seventh inning for an 11-7 victory. The Storm (61-53, 22-25 second half) split the six-game series. Storm right-handed starter Luis Maracara struck out eight in four innings, giving up a pair of runs on five hits and no walks. The eight strikeouts matches the 18-year-old's career high set in his fifth professional game in the Dominican Summer League in 2024. He struck out seven twice last year in the Arizona Complex League. Sixth-rounder Nu'u Contrades went 3-for-5, including his second pro homer, with two RBIs and a run scored, while seventh-rounder Joe Tiroly also went 3-for-5 with two RBIs. Tiroly's two RBIs on a single to right capped the four-run first inning. The Storm were up 5-2 before the 66ers came back with two in the fifth, one in the sixth and then the five-run seventh with one more in the eighth after Lake Elsinore scored twice in the top of the eighth. LE_0816.mp4 Player AB R H RBI BB K Nu'u Contrades, 3B 5 1 3 2 0 0 Alex Conover, CF 3 1 0 0 2 1 Chris McHugh, LF 5 1 1 0 0 0 Ty Harvey, 1B 5 1 1 1 0 2 Jesmaylin Arias, RF 4 2 2 1 0 1 Joe Tiroly, 2B 5 0 3 2 0 0 Jose Verdugo, SS 5 0 2 0 0 1 Jake Bold, DH 3 0 1 0 1 0 Augie Lopez, C 4 1 0 0 0 1 Player IP H R ER BB K HR Luis Maracara 4 5 2 2 0 8 0 Ryan Reed 1 3 2 2 0 1 1 Florangel Vasquez 1 1/3 4 5 3 0 2 0 Jordan Valenzuela 0 2/3 1 1 1 1 1 0 Rordy Mejia 1 1 1 1 1 0 1 Padres Mission's Top 20 Prospect Performance Ethan Salas: 2-for-3, 2B, HR, 4 RBI, BB Ryan Wideman: 0-for-4, K (Game 1); 0-for-4 (Game 2) Coleman Borthwick: In Arizona Kruz Schoolcraft: DNP Ty Harvey: 1-for-5, RBI, 2 K Kale Fountain: Injured, out for season Jorge Quintana: DNP Alex McCoy: 2-for-4, 2 RBI, K Braedon Karpathios: 2-for-4, RBI, 2 K Lamar King Jr.: 0-for-3, 3 K Elliot Lascelles: In Arizona Tucker Musgrove: DNP Jagger Haynes: DNP Jake Cunningham: DNP Truitt Madonna: DNP Eric Yost: DNP Winyer Chourio: DNP Jesus Castro: DNP Michael Salina: On injured list Rosman Verdugo: 0-for-4, 3 K View the full article