There is always baseball happening — almost too much baseball for one person to follow themselves.
Don’t worry, we’re here to help you by figuring out what you missed but shouldn’t have. Here are all the best moments from the weekend in Major League Baseball:
Here come the Cubs
The Brewers were unstoppable! They were unable to be stopped! They had built up a massive lead on the second-place Cubs after ripping first place in the NL Central out of their hands, and it seemed like that was that. It very likely is still that, but the Cubs have made a statement, coming off the Brewers 14-game win streak. Chicago vs. Milwaukee, in a 1v1 situation, is not automatically a Brew Crew victory. In fact, the Cubs took three of four from the Brewers this week, winning the series on Wednesday.
That doesn’t mean that they dominated, however. Chicago won 6-4 and 4-1 in Tuesday’s doubleheader games, and Wednesday’s affair came down to the last out. The Cubs were up 4-2 to start the ninth inning in Chicago, and then things started going downhill. David Palencia came on in relief and struck out Anthony Seigler and Caleb Durbin while allowing a Brice Turang single in between, then there was trouble with two. Turang took second on defensive indifference, then pinch-hitter Danny Jansen singled to score him. Brandon Lockridge would pinch-run and, after a challenge, successfully stole second. Sal Frelick and Isaac Collins both walked, loading the bases with Chicago up 4-3.
William Contreras would then hit the ball, hard, toward second base, but Nico Hoerner got it.
He just got it, and thanks to holding on the Cubs did, too.
While Chicago is still six back of Milwaukee even after taking three of four, of more importance is that they shored up their wild card lead. They’re 5.5 up on the Mets, who hold the third wild card spot at the moment, and 6.5 ahead of the Reds, the first contender to grab one of these slots. While they still have to figure out the Kyle Tucker situation — he’s apparently been playing with a hairline fracture in his hand — that they were able to succeed against the previously red-hot Brewers without him is great news.
Phillies big day
The Phillies swept the Mariners, and it wasn’t even as close as that makes it sound. On Monday, they won 12-7 while piling up 21 hits, with Seattle scoring all of their runs in the last three innings after Philadelphia said “sure, even our bullpen can’t lose this game for us now.” On Tuesday, it was a 6-4 Philly W, but Wednesday was the true beatdown: an 11-2 win where they logged 20 hits and their relievers allowed just one run.
Starter Jesus Luzardo threw 6 innings of 1-run ball while striking out 12 Mariners and allowing just 3 hits and no walks. Trea Turner went 5-for-6 with 3 runs, 2 RBIs and a triple. Max Kepler had 3 hits, including a homer, and Stott picked up 3 knocks with a double. While Bryce Harper had just the one hit on the day, he drove in a run and drew a walk three times.
Kyle Schwarber was the other true star of the day outside of Turner, however, as he scored a pair of runs, drove in 5 RBIs himself and picked up 3 hits, including his NL-leading 45th dinger of the year.
Schwarber is now one long ball up on Dodgers’ star Shohei Ohtani for the NL lead, and just two behind Cal Raleigh, who his teammates shut down all series long. Meanwhile, as the Mets lost again, the Phillies’ NL West lead grew to 6.5 games.
Ohtani gets rocked
Shohei Ohtani was looking great on the mound all season, basically until he pitched into the fifth for the first time all year in his previous start. That’s not an attempt to place blame, either, just a statement of fact. Ohtani took the mound on Wednesday against the Rockies, and things did not go well for him.
Maybe it was just having to pitch in Colorado at all that did it, but whatever the problem, Ohtani couldn’t make it work. Ohtani gave up an RBI double to Brenton Doyle in the second inning, then a sac fly scored Mickey Moniak to make it 2-0 Colorado. In the fourth, Warming Bernabel doubled in another run, then Orlando Arcia singled in Moniak for his second run of the game. Tyler Freeman hit a liner to right for another run-scoring single, and it was 5-0 Rockies. Ohtani would complete the inning, but exit the game.
The Dodgers’ offense would wake up after that and put three runs on the board, but the Rockies just kept going, scoring another three against the Los Angeles pen. With the loss, they now sit just a game ahead of the Padres in the NL West once again, while the Rockies are now 9-10 in the month of August, which matters! The best winning percentage they have managed in a month all season long was in June, when they managed a .385 by going 10-16. Another W against Los Angeles on Thursday, and the Rockies both win this four-game series and sit at .500 in August this deep into the month.
Padres get back on track
The reason the Dodgers are just one game up on the Padres isn’t just that they’ve been losing to the Rockies, but also because San Diego seems to have righted themselves. While a loss on Monday to the Giants made it four defeats in a row, they’ve come out ahead in the last two games, and have a chance to win their own four-game series on Thursday.
Stop us if you have heard this one before, but Fernando Tatis Jr. robbed a home run. And he did it in the first inning, too. All Rafael Devers could do after the catch was smile — being mad at Tatis for pulling a home run back is like being mad at water for being wet, some things you just have to live with.
The Padres had no problems hitting it where they ain’t, though. Manny Machado found the bullpen in the bottom of the third with San Diego already up 2-0…
…followed by Gavin Sheets hitting his second homer of the game shortly after to put the Padres up 6-0.
The Padres would end up going yard four times, with the last coming from trade deadline acquisition Ryan O’Hearn. After a bit of a slow start with San Diego, O’Hearn is now up to .263/.373/.524 with 3 home runs for the Friars in 16 games, which is a little better, even, than what he was doing with the Orioles.
Padres fans can joke about how it’s unfair to get excited since the Dodgers had to face the juggernaut that is the Colorado Rockies, but know that San Diego has their own games remaining against the Rox before the season ends, too. They’re going to play spoiler for someone, one way or the other.
Bad news for the Guardians
The Guardians got oh-so-close to grabbing the last AL Wild Card spot not all that long ago, but it’s been a bit of a struggle since then. The Yankees recovered, for one, and while the Red Sox and Mariners have taken their place as the vulnerable teams in the wild card race, the Guardians have been unable to capitalize: they’re 3-7 in their last 10, the Royals have leapfrogged them by half-a-game and Cleveland sits three back of Seattle.
The Diamondbacks defeated them for the second game in a row on Wednesday, and with a walk-off, too, just to twist the knife a little.
Even worse, the game only went to extras, where Adrian Del Castillo would drive in Pavin Smith to win it, in the first place because Lourdes Gurriel Jr. hit a solo shot in the bottom of the ninth to keep Arizona alive: the Guardians had been up 2-1 to that point since the second inning, with starter Parker Messick and the first man out of the pen, Hunter Gaddis, holding things down for a combined 7.2 innings.
Langeliers is on fire
Shea Langeliers has 16 homers since the All-Star break. That’s more than anyone else, if you were wondering. Kyle Schwarber is close at 15, but he’s Langeliers’ only competition here.
Homers do it again for the Yankees
Giancarlo Stanton pinch-hit for Ryan McMahon in the top of the 10th inning, and delivered a two-run home run to put New York ahead 5-3.
While Stanton’s home run decided the outcome in the end, a number of Yankees had significant contributions of the long ball-variety. In fact, catcher Austin Wells followed up Stanton’s home run with one of his own to pad the Yankees’ lead. It was Wells’ second home run of the night, to complete his first two-HR game of the season. The Yankees would hit five on the night, and, with the nine they hit on Tuesday, tied an MLB record for the most by any team over two games.
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