The Morning Horsehide Herald — the Eight-and-Twentieth of July, Two Thousand and Twenty-Six

The Game of the Day

THE SIEGE OF MIAMI IS LIFTED: TWELVE DEFEATS, A FRANCHISE SORROW, PERISH IN THE NINTH — THREE RUNS OFF THE ALL-STAR CLOSER, AND THE FISH TOPPLE PHILADELPHIA, 8 TO 7

Wheeler is chased inside three innings, his briefest evening in four summers; Hernández ties the affair with the sacks jammed; and Conine, down to his final strike, lines the first walk-off blow of his young life — while Lopez, he of the league-best .331, triples and twice steals for good measure

Losing streaks do not die of old age; they must be killed, and last evening at Miami the deed was done with two strikes remaining. The affair began as though the sorrow would deepen: Bryce Harper struck his two-and-twentieth home run in the very first inning, a two-run line drive to center. But the Fish — twelve times beaten running, a mark of grief no Miami club before them had ever carried — answered with a fury foreign to their recent habits. Heriberto Hernández and Griffin Conine homered in the first and second, Jakob Marsee doubled a run across, and Otto Lopez — whose .331 leads all National League batsmen — tripled home another, five runs in two innings against the great Zack Wheeler, who was excused after three innings and five runs, his shortest evening's work in four years.

Philadelphia, to its credit, mounted the counter-siege: four runs in the sixth upon Alec Bohm's single, J.T. Realmuto's ground-rule double, and Justin Crawford's two-run knock, and when Realmuto lifted a sacrifice fly in the eighth the visitors stood ahead 7 to 5, the old order apparently restored. Then came the ninth, and the All-Star closer Jhoan Duran, owner of four-and-twenty saves, and calamity. The sacks were filled with none out when Hernández sent a single up the middle to knot the affair at seven apiece — his third run driven in of the night — and moments later Conine, with two strikes upon him, lined a knuckle-curve past the second baseman Stott to end it. "That's a playoff-type game right there," the young hero declared, and no man in the delirious home clubhouse contradicted him.

So dies the longest losing streak in the annals of the franchise — twelve games, through which the Miami nine had scratched out but two runs and a half per evening. Faucher collected the victory, Duran the defeat. The Fish, at three-and-fifty wins against four-and-fifty losses, now stand but two games from the league's final wild-card chair — a fact that seemed fantastical a week ago. The Phils, for their part, slip five games and a half behind Atlanta in the East, though they keep the second wild-card chair by two; their captain Harper spent the eve of battle urging the front office to bring reinforcements before the deadline bell (see the bazaar, below). The two clubs resume hostilities at Miami this evening at forty minutes past six.

News Around the League

Six Days to the Bell: The Yankees Shop for Outfielders, Three Contenders Court Skubal, and Robert Pleads to Remain in Flushing

The deadline tolls at the third of August — six days hence — and the bazaar din approaches its crescendo. In the Bronx, where the outfield ranks are thinned by injury (see the ward, below), the Yankees are reported hunting bats for the pasture and for behind the plate alike, and are said to lead the chase for the Minnesota catcher Ryan Jeffers and his .930 on-base-plus-slugging. Detroit's ace Tarik Skubal, fresh from a twelve-strikeout evening, is coveted by the Brewers, the Rays, and the Dodgers — a trio wanting for little else. San Diego's fireman Mason Miller, whose seven-and-twenty saves lead the National, counts the Pirates, the Mariners, and the Yankees among his suitors, though the Friars profess themselves buyers and unlikely to part with him save for a king's ransom. Houston's general manager Dana Brown has declared his club buyers outright — "We would anticipate that we're going to be buyers" — while pronouncing Hader and Peña untouchable. And in Flushing, the outfielder Luis Robert Jr., brought from Chicago in the winter and now dangled anew, offered the wires an affecting plea: "To be honest, I'd like to stay here... but at the end of the day, that's out of my control."

A Hard Goodbye on the North Side: The Cubs Cast Off the Veteran Taillon

The ledger is a cold instrument. The Cubs have designated the veteran right-hander Jameson Taillon for assignment, the four-and-thirty-year-old having been reached for five-and-twenty home runs — most in the National League — against an earned-run average of 5.92 across six-and-seventy innings. "We just didn't feel like it was going to happen again," said the manager Counsell, with the brevity of a man closing a book. The clubhouse spoke otherwise of the man himself: "He's definitely on my Mount Rushmore of teammates," offered the shortstop Dansby Swanson. Javier Assad is expected to inherit the rotation turn. The Herald notes that the game has always been thus: sentiment rides in the caboose, and the standings drive the train.

The Infirmary Ward: Bellinger's Hamstring Graded and Priced at Four to Six Weeks, While San Francisco Holds Its Breath Over Schmitt

The Bronx received its bill: the magnetic examination performed Monday upon Cody Bellinger's left hamstring returned a strain of the second grade, and the Yankee outfielder — hurt running out a double on Saturday — shall sit four to six weeks. The wound smarts doubly with the deadline near, and explains much of the shopping list above. In San Francisco the worry is fresher: the utility man Casey Schmitt, batting .271 with one-and-twenty home runs while minding third base in Matt Chapman's absence, wrenched his left knee braking around first base in the second inning of Monday's affair and required assistance down the dugout stair. "Scary moment there for him," allowed the manager Vitello; the examining magnets render their verdict this day.

The Fourth Canvass of the Scribes: Alvarez Runs Away with the American, While Crow-Armstrong Closes Hard Upon Ohtani

The season's fourth polling of the wise men is published, and the two leagues tell opposite tales. In the American, the verdict nears formality: Yordan Alvarez of Houston — who at this writing leads that league in batting average, home runs, and runs driven in, all three jewels at once — commands one hundred sixty-three points and thirty of the six-and-thirty first-place ballots, far clear of Tampa Bay's Junior Caminero at one hundred eleven and the Yankee Ben Rice at three-and-seventy. In the National, the race tightens like a drawn knot: Shohei Ohtani holds the summit at one hundred fifty-eight points, but the Cub center fielder Pete Crow-Armstrong has closed to one hundred forty with eleven first-place votes of his own, and Washington's James Wood stands third. Two months remain; the Herald counsels patience and a sharpened pencil.

An Almanac of Notes: The Draft Ledger Closes at a Record Four Hundred Two Millions, with but Two Names Unsigned

The signing ledger of the summer's amateur draft is closed, and the sums are without precedent: $402,481,143 disbursed across the industry, a record, with the No. 1 selection Roch Cholowsky banking $10,347,500 — the richest bonus ever written — and the White Sox setting a franchise mark of $22,670,200 in total outlay. Of all the names called in the first ten rounds, only two go unsigned: the Cleveland second-rounder Logan Schmidt, a schoolboy left-hander bound instead for Louisiana State, and the Milwaukee fifth-rounder Aidan Knaak, who returns to Clemson. The other thousand-odd dreamers have inked their names and boarded buses for the bush leagues, where every legend begins.

The Rest of the Card

FOUR HOME RUNS OFF KIRBY, TWO FROM PEDERSON ALONE: THE ARLINGTON MEN HAMMER SEATTLE, 7 TO 3, AND STRETCH THEIR HOLD ON THE WEST

George Kirby, long a tormentor of Texas, was this night the tormented: four home runs in four innings, seven runs in all, as Joc Pederson struck two circuit blows — his eighteenth and nineteenth, four runs driven home — with Ezequiel Duran's twelfth and Jake Burger's nineteenth completing the cannonade. Kumar Rocker rode the barrage through six and two-thirds, striking out seven. Randy Arozarena's thirteenth homer led the mariners of the Sound's reply. The Texas nine lead the West by two full games over Houston; Seattle slips two and a half back.

TEN INNINGS, A TYING DOUBLE, A WALK-OFF SINGLE, AND AN EJECTED MANAGER: THE BUCCANEERS EDGE THE SNAKES, 3 TO 2, AND THE TWO NOW SHARE THE LAST CHAIR

A duel of wild-card claimants went the full ten at Pittsburgh. Max Kepler's two-run double had staked Arizona in the sixth, and the Buccaneer manager Don Kelly was invited to leave the premises for disputing the checked swings — whereupon his men rallied without him. Brandon Lowe singled home a run, Bryan Reynolds doubled the affair level in the eighth, and in the last of the tenth Lowe struck again, a single to send Billy Cook across with the winning tally. Montgomery took the decision over Clarke. The consequence is a dead heat: Pittsburgh and Arizona stand five-and-fifty and two-and-fifty alike, joint tenants of the league's final wild-card chair — and they meet again this evening.

THREE HOMERS, FOUR HITS FOR HOLLIDAY, AND ONE UNCATCHABLE SQUIRREL: THE BIRDS TAKE DETROIT, 8 TO 5

Baltimore struck early and often at Comerica: Coby Mayo's fourteenth home run with three driven in, Tyler O'Neill's seventh, Leody Taveras's fifth, and four hits from young Jackson Holliday in a twelve-hit assault, the Birds' fourth win in six as they polish their argument for deadline reinforcement. Montero absorbed the defeat; Wolfram won and Garcia sealed it. The evening's true celebrity, however, was a black squirrel that commandeered the outfield for the better part of an inning, alighting briefly in Taveras's very glove — he declined, wisely, to squeeze — before the grounds crew effected a capture by towel at the seventh-inning stretch. "This game has been a zoo," observed the Detroit wire man, unimprovably. The Bengals have dropped three running.

THE OLD LION GRINDS THROUGH HIS BIRTHDAY: SCHERZER SURVIVES HIS RETURN TO THE CAPITAL, AND THE MAPLE LEAF NINE PREVAIL, 3 TO 2

Max Scherzer, two-and-forty years old as of the first pitch, took the ball in the very yard where his legend was made and grinded through two and two-thirds laborious innings — four hits, three passes, one run, and no shortage of theatrical glowering. The bullpen did the rest: Fluharty won it, four relief men held the line, and Varland banked his two-and-twentieth save. Ramón Urías homered and Ernie Clement, batting .296, drove home another for Toronto. Luis García Jr.'s run-scoring double — his one-and-seventieth driven in — was the chief of the Senators' commerce. Washington falls a game shy of the wild-card line; the Jays, though last in the East, have won two of three.

LINDOR'S SIX-RUN SYMPHONY: TWO HOMERS AND A TRIPLE, AND THE AMAZINS BURY ATLANTA BENEATH FOURTEEN RUNS

Francisco Lindor supplied the evening's entire program in miniature: a triple in the first, a two-run homer in the third, and a three-run blow in the eighth — six runs driven in, the seventh and eighth circuits of his season — as the Amazins piled up fourteen runs on nineteen hits. Tyrone Taylor added a three-run homer, Marcus Semien a two-run one, and the Atlanta reliever Thomas will want the evening forgotten: eleven runs in two and two-thirds. Ozzie Albies, with a homer and three driven in, kept the Braves' account respectable in defeat. The East leaders' cushion over Philadelphia holds at five games and a half; the last-place Flushing men, spoilers now by trade, have won two running and send Scott against Sale this evening.

SIX YEARS IN THE WAITING, GONE IN A SWING: ALI SÁNCHEZ'S FIRST HOMER CARRIES THE BRONX BOMBERS PAST THE CHICAGOS, 9 TO 5

The catcher Ali Sánchez made his major-league debut in the year 2020 and had wandered five organizations since without once clearing a fence — until last night on the South Side, when he turned upon a Newcomb offering for a three-run blow in a four-run eighth. "You always dream to play in the big leagues," he said afterward. "Having your first homer with a Yankees uniform and getting the 'W,' it's special." Jazz Chisholm Jr. doubled home two in a four-run fourth and twice stole, Fried managed but three innings in his second start back from the infirmary, and the manager Boone pronounced it "winning ugly." Headrick won; Bednar saved his one-and-twentieth. The White Stockings' lead in the Central holds at two over Cleveland; the second of the set goes tonight, Cole against Kay.

BREGMAN'S SLUMP DIES LOUDLY — A HOMER AND TWO DOUBLES — AND THE BRUINS OPEN AT ST. LOUIS WITH A 7-TO-3 DRUBBING

Alex Bregman chose the rivalry stage to end his fallow spell, collecting four hits — his eleventh home run and two doubles among them — while Nico Hoerner matched the four hits and drove home four, capping the evening with a two-run homer in the ninth. Peterson worked into the sixth for the decision; Liberatore was reached for three in under four innings. José Fermín's fifth homer answered thinly for the Redbirds, who have dropped eight of ten and slip a game and a half from the wild-card line. The Bruins, six behind Milwaukee in the Central, hold the league's first wild-card chair by five and a half.

TEN MEN TO THE PLATE, FOUR RUNS, AND BUT ONE HIT: THE HOUSTON NINE STEAL A 6-TO-4 VERDICT FROM THE HALOS IN THE NINTH

The ninth inning at Anaheim was a comedy the home nine will not soon live down: a fielder's choice misplayed, a hit batsman, a bases-loaded pass to LaMonte Wade Jr. forcing home the go-ahead run, and a bounder to the pitcher Bachman thrown away — ten Houston men to the plate, four runs across, and precisely one base hit in the transaction. Cristian Javier, in long relief, had made it possible with five scoreless innings and seven strikeouts; Hader closed the account for his thirteenth save. Vaughn Grissom homered early for the Halos and later contributed the pivotal muff. The triple-crown aspirant Yordan Alvarez (see the canvass, above) singled home a run besides. Houston sits second in the West, two behind Texas.

HITLESS THROUGH FIVE, THEN ONE ALMIGHTY SWING: RAFAELA'S FIRST GRAND SLAM CARRIES THE FENWAY MEN, 4 TO 2, THEIR TENTH STRAIGHT UPON THE ROAD

For five innings the Fenway men had not a hit to their name; in the sixth they filled the sacks regardless, and Ceddanne Rafaela emptied them with the first grand slam of his life — four runs, the whole of Boston's account, and sufficient. The rookie Tolle struck out seven across five and a third, the bullpen passed the baton thrice without incident, and Chapman sealed his five-and-twentieth save. Soderstrom and Heim homered in the White Elephants' losing cause. The figures now read like a fever chart: ten consecutive victories upon the road, eighteen wins in their last twenty affairs entire, and the Bostons — seven behind Tampa Bay in the East — hold the second wild-card chair by two games.

MAHLE'S DEADLINE AUDITION: SIX SPOTLESS INNINGS, McCRAY'S LONG-AWAITED BLOW, AND THE BAY NINE BLANK MIGHTY MILWAUKEE, 3 TO 0

With appraisers from a dozen front offices doubtless in attendance, Tyler Mahle chose the perfect hour for his finest work of the season: six innings, three hits, not a run, against the club with the National's best record. Grant McCray supplied the margin with a two-run homer — his first major-league circuit in nearly two summers — and Luis Arraez, batting .326, drove in the third. Sproat took the hard-luck defeat; Erik Miller recorded the final outs. The Cream City nine, held to three hits, saw their lead over the Cubs hold at six; the Bay men's celebration was tempered by the injury to Schmitt (see the ward, above).

RAIN CLAIMS THE OHIO CUP OPENER AT CINCINNATI: GUARDIANS AND RED STOCKINGS TO SETTLE ACCOUNTS TWICE OVER THIS DAY

The lone blank on Monday's card: the meeting of the Lake Erie men and the Red Stockings was postponed, and the two clubs shall discharge the debt with a twin bill at Cincinnati this day — a matinee at forty minutes past one, with the astonishing Chase Burns and his twelve victories against a single defeat opposing Cecconi, and a nightcap at ten past seven behind Williams. Cleveland arrives in genuine distress, five beaten running and their grip on the league's final wild-card chair loosened to two percentage points; a doubleheader is either the cure or the cliff.

A sixteen-game bill this day, swollen by the twin engagement at Cincinnati aforementioned. Elsewhere the appointments of note: the Arlington men, masters of the West, call upon Tampa Bay, whose 38-and-15 mark at home is the league's most forbidding fortress; Sale and his 2.19 takes the ball for Atlanta at Flushing against the resurgent Amazins; the Bombers and White Stockings resume on the South Side, Cole opposing Kay; and the wounded Fish, streak-slayers now, receive Philadelphia once more at forty minutes past six. Six days remain before the deadline bell — expect the wires to sing. Until the morrow's dispatch, keep your scorecards near and your enthusiasms nearer.

~ THE HERALD ~