Sports Al Dente

Jarred Kelenic hit a three-run home run, and the Atlanta Braves kept their strong performance against the Colorado Rockies going with a 5-2 win on Wednesday night.

The Braves stayed half a game ahead of the Mets in the National League wild-card race. The Mets had beaten the Red Sox 8-3.

“It is important for us to win every game right now, and in this business, those ones you are supposed to win are hard to win,” Braves manager Brian Snitker said. “It doesn’t work that way.”

Charlie Morton (8-7) pitched five innings to earn the win, allowing two runs on five hits and three walks while striking out eight. Atlanta’s starting pitchers have now gone 23 games in a row allowing three runs or fewer, the longest streak in the majors this season.

“I got swing-and-miss when I needed to for the most part, I just wish I could have been more efficient. … I would prefer to go much deeper in the game,” Morton said.

Raisel Iglesias pitched the ninth inning, keeping his scoreless streak at 23 1/3 innings while earning his 30th save.

The Braves have now won 16 out of 19 games against Colorado since the start of the 2022 season. Michael Harris II was 2 for 5 with a double and a run scored, and Jorge Soler had an RBI.

Rockies rookie Bradley Blalock (1-2), who grew up in an Atlanta suburb, gave up four runs in five innings while walking six and allowing four hits. This was his fifth career start.

Kelenic made a big impact in the first inning when the Braves took a 4-0 lead. After Marcell Ozuna and Matt Olson hit back-to-back doubles, and Travis d’Arnaud walked, Kelenic hit a splitter 395 feet into the right field seats in front of the Chop House restaurant.

“You look at the game, that was a big, big swing, because after the first, we couldn’t really do anything with that kid,” Snitker said.

Wins have been hard to come by this season for the Chicago White Sox. At least they’ll get some extra time to enjoy this one.

Jonathan Cannon pitched into the sixth inning, and Nicky Lopez, Andrew Vaughn, and Dominic Fletcher each hit a home run for Chicago, which ended a 12-game losing streak with an 8-1 win over the Baltimore Orioles on Wednesday. The White Sox have 109 losses this season, but they avoided getting closer to the modern big league record of 120 losses.

And they have Thursday off.

“It’s been hard to come by, so we’ll enjoy it and be ready for Friday,” interim manager Grady Sizemore said.

This year, the White Sox have had three losing streaks of at least 12 games, which is unprecedented in recent history. They lost the first two games of this series at Camden Yards by a combined score of 22-3. Tuesday’s 9-0 loss included two ejections, a pair of missed popups, and a five-walk inning by Chicago’s starting pitcher.

If that was a low point, the White Sox seemed like a different team on Wednesday.

“I think this was a night where it came together,” Sizemore said. “It was nice to get some balls falling in, get good pitching, and then just clean defense. That’s the way we want to play. It shows those guys how they can do it.”

Lopez started the game with a home run, and Vaughn and Fletcher hit home runs during a three-run fourth inning.

It was Lopez’s first home run of the season.

“Kind of crazy, huh?” Lopez said. “I don’t hit them often, so when I do it’s obviously a good feeling. That’s not the type of player I am, so I’m not going up there to hit them.”

The White Sox hadn’t won a game since August 21, and they had a day off after that win. They then lost twelve games in a row before finally getting their next win.

Tommy Pham hit his first home run for Kansas City, a three-run shot that broke the tie during a four-run fourth inning. This helped the Royals end a tough seven-game losing streak with a 4-1 victory over the Cleveland Guardians on Wednesday night.

Seth Lugo (15-8) gave up one run and five hits over seven innings. He is now just one win behind Detroit’s Tarik Skubal and Atlanta’s Chris Sale, who are leading the majors in wins. Lugo is 11-1 with a 1.40 ERA in 15 starts when he has four days of rest.

Kansas City (76-65) closed in on Minnesota (75-64) for the second AL wild card spot. Both teams are 4 1/2 games behind Cleveland (80-60), which is leading the AL Central.

Royals manager Matt Quatraro came back after missing two games due to his mother’s passing.

“Really happy for those guys,” Quatraro said. “Nobody wants to lose, and when you string a whole week of games together where you don’t win any of them, it wears on you, mentally, physically. It makes it tougher to believe in yourself, so however it had to happen … it’s good to get a win.”

During the seven-game losing streak, the Royals had scored three runs or fewer in six consecutive games, their longest such stretch since August 15-21, 2022. They had also scored two runs or fewer in five straight games, their longest span since June 7-13, 2018.

Pham, who joined the Royals from St. Louis on Saturday, hit the go-ahead home run off Ben Lively (11-9), who gave up seven hits in four innings. The homer, which landed deep in the left-field seats, was Pham’s eighth of the season and marked his first RBIs with the Royals.

“It just seems like we’ve had some chances and we just couldn’t come through with the big hit until tonight,” Pham said. “It felt very good because I’ve been having a hard time barreling up balls to the pull side, and today it was something I worked on, and it’s even better to see it translate into the game.”

Jesse Winker hit his fifth career grand slam, Phil Maton escaped a tough spot in the eighth inning, and the New York Mets continued their strong performance with a 8-3 win over the Boston Red Sox on Wednesday night. This victory marks their seventh win in a row, matching their season high.

“It feels good, but there’s a lot of games left, there’s a lot of good teams in the race,” Mets manager Carlos Mendoza said.

The Mets completed a three-game sweep of the Red Sox, who have now lost six of their last seven games. The Mets have won 14 of their last 19 games and are now just half a game behind Atlanta for the third NL wild-card spot.

“I feel like every game I’ve been here has had a playoff vibe to it because they’re so meaningful to us as a team,” said Winker, who joined the Mets from the Washington Nationals on July 28.

New York had only four hits after Winker’s first-inning homer against Tanner Houck (8-10), but relievers Alex Young, Huascar Brazobán, and Danny Young (3-0) got double plays to end the fifth, sixth, and seventh innings.

Harrison Bader prevented Rob Refsnyder’s two-out pinch-hit single from getting far in the eighth inning. Refsnyder advanced to third on Tyler O’Neill’s single, but Maton got Masataka Yoshida out with a line drive caught by Francisco Lindor.

“Obviously can’t say enough good things about the defense,” Maton said.

In the bottom of the eighth, the Mets scored four runs on just one hit. Kenley Jansen and Rich Hill walked three straight batters to load the bases, and then Bader’s sacrifice fly added another run.

“Right now it’s just about winning baseball games any way you can,” Winker said.

Lindor started the game with a single and added a double in the fifth inning. He extended his hitting streak to 15 games, matching his career high from 2018 with Cleveland. He has also reached base in 33 straight games, the longest active streak in the majors.

Luken Baker hit a single with two outs in the 10th inning to bring in the winning run and give the St. Louis Cardinals a 3-2 win over the Milwaukee Brewers on Wednesday night.

The Cardinals won two of three games against the NL Central-leading Brewers, securing extra-inning victories on both of the last two nights. St. Louis had won 7-4 in 12 innings on Tuesday.

“That was a fun game,” Cardinals manager Oliver Marmol said. “There was a lot of moving parts to that one. Both teams played well.”

Milwaukee was 0 for 15 with runners in scoring position.

“I guess this is a phase we’re going through,” Brewers manager Pat Murphy said. “A lot of it’s youth. There’s a lot of bright spots at the same time. Just very, very frustrating.”

In the 10th inning, St. Louis had a runner on third with two outs when Joel Payamps (3-7) intentionally walked Nolan Arenado. Milner, who was called up from Triple-A Nashville on Tuesday, made his first major league appearance since August 8.

Baker came in as a pinch-hitter, got ahead 3-1 in the count, and hit a grounder up the middle to drive in Masyn Winn. Baker, who has spent most of this season in the minor leagues, has driven in runs in each of his last six games.

“As far as the RBIs go, that’s my job, and that’s the ultimate goal, right?” Baker said. “You have to score runs to win games. … The job is to score more than the other team, so the more I can drive runs in, the better.”

With regular closer Ryan Helsley unavailable after pitching two innings the night before, Ryan Fernandez pitched the 10th inning to earn his second save in four chances.

Fernandez struck out two batters, intentionally walked Jackson Chourio to put the potential winning run on base, and then struck out Rhys Hoskins to get his second save in four opportunities.

Rookie Wyatt Langford had three hits, scored three runs, and drove in two runs after hitting a game-ending grand slam against the Yankees the night before. The Texas Rangers defeated New York again 10-6 on Wednesday night.

Langford made a jumping catch at the top of the left-field wall on Giancarlo Stanton’s drive with two runners on base to end the game. This catch helped Kirby Yates earn his 26th save in 27 chances.

The Yankees had closed a 10-2 gap with Trent Grisham’s grand slam in the ninth inning against Grant Anderson.

Juan Soto, who had three hits, ended Nathan Eovaldi’s scoreless game with his 38th home run, a two-run shot in the fifth inning. However, Aaron Judge, who leads the majors with 51 home runs, had his ninth consecutive game without a homer, going 0-for-3.

Grisham was a late-inning replacement batting in Soto’s spot. Duke Ellis, from East Texas, followed Grisham’s grand slam with his first big league hit as part of six consecutive Yankees reaching base with two outs.

“It was definitely getting interesting,” said New York manager Aaron Boone, who had replaced Soto, Judge, and Alex Verdugo in the eighth inning when the game seemed out of reach.

“It would have been fun to at least see the tying run come up. And then Giancarlo hits that ball. We almost had it.”

The Yankees lost six of their last eight games and are now a half-game behind Baltimore for the best record in the American League and the AL East lead.

New York is 40-41 in their past 81 games and will have a day off before starting a three-game series against the Chicago Cubs.

“We know we’ve got to be better than this if we want to get to where we want to go,” Boone said. “Hopefully, we’ll catch our breath and rest on the off day. But we need to be ready for Wrigley. I expect us to.”

Langford, Nathaniel Lowe, and Ezequiel Duran each had a hit that drove in a run, while Adolis García and Josh Smith added RBI groundouts to give a 5-0 lead against Marcus Stroman. Duran’s hit was one of his two doubles that drove in runs, and García also hit a two-run double.

Langford’s home run in the ninth inning off Clay Holmes contributed to a 7-4 Texas win on Tuesday night, leading Boone to announce a closer-by-committee strategy after Holmes’ 11th blown save, the highest in the majors.

“You look at last night and tonight, he continues swinging well, got some big hits for us, and that catch,” Texas manager Bruce Bochy said. “He’s playing some terrific ball. He’s in a good place right now.”

New York didn’t need a closer while losing their third consecutive series, a streak they haven’t had in almost two months.

Smith, playing shortstop as the leadoff hitter, doubled, walked, and stole a base, a role he will likely have often over the remaining 3 1/2 weeks.

With the defending World Series champions nearly out of the race, All-Star Corey Seager was placed on the injured list before the game due to hip discomfort, which might end his third season with Texas.

The Yankees let Langford turn a single into a double on his RBI hit in the fourth when second baseman Gleyber Torres casually cut off Soto’s throw from right field as Langford raced toward the base. Langford scored when Lowe followed with a single.

Eovaldi (11-7) had a 2-0 lead when he managed to work around Judge to load the bases in the third inning. Jazz Chisholm Jr. then hit a shallow fly ball to end the inning.

After Soto’s two-out home run made it 5-2, Eovaldi struck out Judge with three pitches, the last one a called strike on a 97 mph fastball inside. Eovaldi allowed four hits and two runs while striking out six in seven innings.

Mickey Moniak hit a three-run homer, and Griffin Canning pitched 6 2/3 strong innings in the Los Angeles Angels’ 10-1 win over the Los Angeles Dodgers on Wednesday night.

Shohei Ohtani went 0 for 4, ending his two-game return to Angel Stadium with a 1 for 8 performance, including an RBI triple and two runs scored on Tuesday.

Taylor Ward homered for the third game in a row, and rookie Niko Kavadas also hit a home run. This was the Angels’ second win over the major league-leading Dodgers in their last 14 matchups. The teams split their four-game Freeway Series this season.

Bobby Miller (2-4) had another tough game for the Dodgers, who lost for just the fourth time in 16 games. He gave up seven runs on five hits, including three home runs, and walked three batters in five innings, despite striking out eight.

“It’s kind of hard to put into words, but recently I’ve been feeling really good, and I still felt really good today,” Miller said.

“Besides the first inning, there was a lot of good in there. Just a couple of good fastball hitters. Just a couple of bad pitch selections.”

Miller has been trying all summer to regain his impressive rookie form, and it seems less likely he will be part of the Dodgers’ postseason plans after giving up 17 earned runs in four starts since coming back from the minors to help with the team’s injury issues.

Manager Dave Roberts expressed disappointment in Miller, though he said Miller will start again next week.

“I don’t think they sequenced well tonight,” Roberts said about Miller and catcher Austin Barnes. “I don’t think they used his secondary pitches the right way to protect the fastball.”

Mitch Garver and Luis Urías each drove in four runs, George Kirby struck out nine in six innings, and the Seattle Mariners defeated the Oakland Athletics 16-3 on Wednesday night.

Seattle, which was 5 1/2 games behind the last AL wild card spot before the game, set a season record for runs and ended a four-game losing streak, bringing their record to .500 at 70-70.

The Mariners scored seven runs in the seventh inning, sending 12 batters to the plate, and added four more runs in the eighth.

“Just a bust-out game for everybody,” Seattle manager Dan Wilson said. “A lot of special things that can still happen on this club in the last several games here.”

Kirby (11-10) improved to 5-0 against the A’s in his career and had eight strikeouts through the first four innings.

The 26-year-old said he made a small mental adjustment after allowing five runs in a loss last week against the Angels by “just ripping it” and trusting his stuff.

“I was just thinking too much the last couple weeks,” Kirby said. “I’m always at my best when I just keep it simple and just attack guys.”

Leading by one run in the fourth, the Mariners hit four straight two-out hits off A’s starter JP Sears (11-10) to extend their lead to 5-1. After Victor Robles hit a double, Garver knocked in his third run of the game with a single. Urías and Dylan Moore each followed with RBI hits.

“Two-out RBIs are so big, and they’re backbreakers on the other side,” Wilson said. “Our guys put up some great at-bats and gave George what he needed in terms of the lead.”

Urías led off the seventh with a solo homer, and then the next six Mariners reached base, widening the lead. Julio Rodríguez, Randy Arozarena, and Victor Robles each drove in runs to make it 12-2.

A’s reliever Janson Junk was responsible for all seven runs in the seventh and did not record an out, allowing six hits and two walks. Oakland gave up a season-high 16 runs.

Zac Gallen pitched six hitless innings, earning his 50th career win, and the Arizona Diamondbacks managed to hold off the San Francisco Giants for a 6-4 win on Wednesday night.

Gallen (11-6) struck out eight batters, threw 63 of his 100 pitches for strikes, and worked through four walks to secure his second win in six starts.

“I mostly followed my plan,” Gallen said. “I felt sharp with most of my pitches. Even though I had some walks in the second inning, they were close to where I wanted them.”

Eugenio Suárez and Pavin Smith each hit solo home runs, helping the Diamondbacks (79-61) close the gap to five games behind the NL West-leading Los Angeles Dodgers. Arizona is holding onto the second NL wild-card spot.

LaMonte Wade Jr. hit a home run and drove in four runs for the Giants. The game saw a season-low attendance of 22,855 at Oracle Park.

Gallen had struggled for much of August with a 4.94 ERA over five starts but managed to perform well against the Giants. The 29-year-old right-hander faced a couple of tough situations but successfully got out of them.

In the second inning, Gallen walked the bases loaded but struck out Curt Casali to end the threat. In the sixth inning, after walking Mike Yastrzemski, Gallen induced a double play and struck out Michael Conforto.

“He became very determined and did his job,” said Diamondbacks manager Torey Lovullo. “Once he adjusted to their strategy and figured things out, he started to pitch very effectively.”

With Gallen’s pitch count rising, Lovullo made it clear that he wasn’t planning to let him pitch much longer.

“He knew that throwing a no-hitter was impossible,” Lovullo said. “I wasn’t going to let him throw 145 pitches just for a no-hitter. That won’t happen here.”

The Giants didn’t get their first hit until Gallen was out of the game. Tyler Fitzgerald singled off reliever Kevin Ginkel in the seventh inning and later scored on LaMonte Wade Jr.’s sixth home run of the season.

Ginkel allowed two runs and retired three batters. A.J. Puk struck out three batters in the eighth inning, and Justin Martinez gave up two runs in the ninth before getting Brett Wisely to strike out and end the game.

Eugenio Suárez hit a home run off Giants starter Hayden Birdsong in the second inning. Suárez also doubled in the eighth inning, coming close to another home run when the ball got stuck on top of the center field fence.

“Situationally we weren’t perfect, but we did enough at the right times to win the game,” Lovullo said. Pavin Smith ended a two-month home run drought with a solo shot off Spencer Bivens in the fifth inning.

The Diamondbacks started the game with back-to-back walks off Birdsong and took the lead with an RBI single from Josh Bell.

Birdsong (3-5) struggled with control and lasted only three innings. The rookie had a season-high five walks and gave up two runs while throwing 77 pitches.

Corbin Carroll led off the game with a four-pitch walk, extending his franchise record for reaching base to 43 consecutive games.

Fernando Tatis Jr. hit an RBI single with two outs in the 10th inning to give the San Diego Padres a 6-5 win over the Detroit Tigers on Wednesday night.

In his second game back after being on the injured list since June 22, Tatis hit a single to left field off Jason Foley (3-5), scoring automatic runner Jackson Merrill. Merrill had earlier hit a three-run homer in the fourth inning and was a triple away from a cycle as the Padres came back from a 5-0 deficit.

This was Tatis’ first career walk-off hit.

“A very long time,” Tatis said, reflecting on his journey since reaching the majors in 2019 and missing the entire 2022 season due to injuries and a PED suspension. “I’m happy it came here.”

Tatis had been out with a stress reaction in his right thighbone from June 22 until Monday.

The Tigers walked Luis Arraez intentionally to face Tatis.

“I took it personal,” Tatis said. “As soon as I saw four fingers up. But I felt the push I needed, the energy I needed and I just wanted to come through for the boys.”

During the celebration near third base, Tatis’ jersey was ripped off. He said half of it came off during the celebration, and he finished tearing it himself.

“It just happened. I saw dark and then I had no shirt. It was beautiful. Hopefully it comes more. Just a great moment all the way around,” said Tatis, who threw the jersey into the stands.

Asked about the decision to walk Arraez to face Tatis, Merrill said: “I get it, but go ahead, good luck. Walk him to get to Tatis.”

Manager Mike Shildt commented: “Oh man, what a big moment. I don’t think there was any real doubt he was going to come through. It felt pretty right. Good for him. He had really good at-bats tonight.”

Jeremiah Estrada (5-2) got the win by pitching the 10th inning.

Gold Glove third baseman Matt Chapman agreed on Wednesday to a $151 million, six-year contract with the San Francisco Giants for the 2025-30 seasons, forgoing his chance to become a free agent after this year.

Chapman will receive a $1 million signing bonus, paid on January 15, and will earn $25 million each year. This new contract ensures he will make $169 million over seven seasons from 2024 to 2030.

He joined the Giants as a free agent in March with a contract that guaranteed $54 million over three seasons.

This contract allowed him to opt out after 2024 and 2025 and included a $2 million signing bonus and a $16 million salary for 2024.

Chapman is currently hitting .247 and leads the Giants with 22 home runs, 69 RBIs, 90 runs, and 33 doubles. The 31-year-old is a four-time Gold Glove winner with a .241 career average, 177 home runs, and 495 RBIs from his time with Oakland (2017-21), Toronto (2022-23), and the Giants. He was an All-Star in 2019.

Aaron Judge hasn’t hit a home run in nine games for the first time this season, and the New York Yankees are under .500 for the equivalent of half a season.

Even though Judge leads the majors with 51 home runs and the Yankees are just a half-game behind Baltimore for the AL East lead and the best record in the AL, there’s no sympathy coming their way.

“Nobody’s going to feel sorry for us,” manager Aaron Boone said. “I’m sure a lot of people out there are rooting against us. We’ve got to have that us-against-the-world, go take this thing, go take this position, go take this playoff opportunity. It’s all there for us. We’ve got to do it.”

In a 10-6 loss to the Texas Rangers on Wednesday night, which gave the Yankees their third straight series loss, New York came close to narrowing a ninth-inning deficit from eight runs to just one.

Wyatt Langford made a leaping catch at the top of the wall in left field on a 104 mph liner from Giancarlo Stanton with two runners on, following Trent Grisham’s two-out grand slam. This happened one night after Langford’s game-ending grand slam in a 7-4 Rangers win.

Judge and Juan Soto had left the game in the eighth inning due to the 10-2 score, so Judge was already guaranteed his ninth game in a row without a home run—he had two stretches of eight games without a homer earlier this season.

“Just don’t think about it, try not to hear those kinds of things,” said Judge, who was 6 of 34 with two doubles over the three series losses. “I think I heard it early in the year, too, but there’s nothing I can do about that. I’m not trying to hit homers.”

The Yankees are currently missing a specific closer after two-time All-Star Clay Holmes allowed Langford’s drive with New York close to a series win in the middle game against the Rangers—Holmes’ league-high 11th blown save.

Boone said there are several options, including Holmes, for the next save opportunity in what he called a short-term situation. The answers won’t be clear until Friday at the earliest when they play the Chicago Cubs.

Marcus Stroman had been on a winning streak with a 3-0 record over his previous four starts, but he struggled in the series finale against the Rangers, giving up nine hits in 3 2/3 innings.

The Rangers were missing their top two hitters, Marcus Semien and Corey Seager, the reigning World Series MVP.

“I think we’re all very process-oriented in this clubhouse so we know what we’re capable of,” Stroman said.

“A few bad losses doesn’t move the room in a bad way at all, so just a matter of doing what we’re capable of and going out there and getting momentum and hopefully taking it to Chicago.”

New York’s record of 40-41 since June 1 is a drop from their earlier 40-19 start. Even then, they were only two games ahead of the Orioles.

Cleveland, leading the AL Central with an 80-60 record, is also competing for the AL’s best record, tied with New York and a half-game behind Baltimore (81-60).

“We are right there with every opportunity to reach our hopes and dreams. And that’s because of the season we’ve had as a whole,” Boone said. “We’ve put ourselves in position to go grab this thing.

But if we want to go grab it, we’ve got to play our best ball and put our best foot forward with 22 to go.”

There were several mistakes for the Yankees in the series finale against the Rangers, the defending World Series champions who are likely out of playoff contention this year.

Second baseman Gleyber Torres didn’t anticipate that speedy Langford might try to turn an RBI single into a double and handled the cutoff throw carelessly while Langford advanced to second base. Langford later scored on a single.

Reliever Tim Mayza allowed three consecutive baserunners in the sixth inning, and Mark Leiter Jr. gave up a double and a wild pitch, leading to a three-run inning and an 8-2 lead for Texas.

New York needs two more wins to secure a 32nd consecutive winning season. Judge remains calm despite the recent lackluster performance.