The Morning Horsehide Herald — the Fourth of August, Two Thousand and Twenty-Six

The Game of the Day

TEN BASEBALLS OVER THE BRONX WALLS, AND THE LAST THREE SETTLE IT: BURLESON STRIKES THRICE, THE REDBIRDS ANSWER A STOLEN LEAD WITH SEVEN IN THE EIGHTH, 13 TO 7

The first baseman no deadline could dislodge hits three circuits and drives in six — New York's five home runs, García Jr.'s first in pinstripes among them, turn a six-run deficit clean over in one shining seventh — whereupon Chivilli is set upon for three more blasts, Graceffo bars the door, and the earned-run sovereign Schlittler is chased in the third

Ten baseballs left the premises at the Stadium on Monday evening, five to a side, and the affair they decorated deserves entry among the season's curiosities. St. Louis, which had spent the deadline hours selling Nootbaar to the desert and May to Milwaukee, kept Alec Burleson — and the retained man spent the evening explaining why. His two-run circuit in the first opened the account, his second in the fourth made it six runs to none, and by then Richard Schlittler, whose 2.26 figure still leads all the American, had been chased inside three innings, five walks and four runs against his name.

New York's reply was a proper cannonade. Wells and Grisham struck in the fifth, McMahon and Caballero opened the seventh with back-to-back blasts, and then Luis García Jr. — purchased from Washington but the day before, and batting third in his first evening as a Yankee — lined his four-and-twentieth over the right-center wall with Grisham aboard, and the Stadium roared over a 7-to-6 lead conjured whole from a six-run hole.

It lasted one half-inning. The eighth fell upon the reliever Chivilli like a collapsing roof: Nathan Church's three-run circuit restored the lead, Jimmy Crooks followed with a two-run blast, and Burleson concluded the argument with his third home run of the night — his eighteenth of the year, his sixth run batted in of the evening — thirteen runs to seven, and no further correspondence entered. Graceffo supplied two hitless innings for his seventh victory against a single defeat. The Yankees, beaten a fifth time in ten, hold the American's first wild-card chair yet slip three and a half behind Tampa Bay; the Cardinals, at four games under level, play on with the cheerful violence of a club with nothing owed.

News Around the League

THE BELL HAS RUNG AND THE LEDGER IS STAGGERING: RUTSCHMAN TO BOSTON, ARRAEZ TO PHILADELPHIA, AND THE METROPOLITANS SOLD TO THE BARE WALLS

The six-o'clock bell of Monday evening closed the season's commerce, and the final hours produced dealing of a violence this column has rarely itemized. The thunderclap came from Baltimore: the Orioles sent the catcher Adley Rutschman, with Jake Rogers and cash besides, to the rival Red Sox for a five-man parcel headed by the young right-hander Kyson Witherspoon — Boston in the same breath dispatching the young infielder Marcelo Mayer to San Francisco for the left-hander Erik Miller. The Giants, selling by the wagonload, also sent Luis Arraez to Philadelphia — whither Bryce Harper announces himself willing to remove to right field to make room — Heliot Ramos to the Yankees, and Robbie Ray to San Diego, where Preller added Casey Mize from Detroit and pronounced himself unrepentant at the cost in prospects.

Elsewhere the wires record: Kris Bubic from Kansas City to the Dodgers; Daulton Varsho from Toronto to Houston for Spencer Arrighetti, the Jays meanwhile adding José Soriano from Anaheim and Josh Smith from Texas while sending Jeff Hoffman to Minnesota; Brenton Doyle from Colorado to the White Sox's first-place cause; Taylor Ward from Baltimore to Seattle; and from Flushing, a full clearance sale — Clay Holmes to the Cubs for the prized shortstop Jefferson Rojas, Luke Weaver to Pittsburgh, Brooks Raley to Philadelphia, and Brazobán to Chicago. The Herald's ledger closes with the note that Tampa Bay, amid its own dealings, designated the ancient closer Craig Kimbrel for assignment — the game's commerce being no respecter of laurels.

THE PURCHASED GOODS ARE UNCRATED THIS VERY EVENING: SKUBAL AT WRIGLEY, PERALTA IN THE THIN AIR, AND A LOMBARD SUMMONED TO THE BRONX

The deadline's merchandise goes on display at once. Tarik Skubal, the twice-laureled lion lately purchased by Los Angeles, makes his first start in Dodger flannels this evening at Wrigley Field at five past eight — against the very Cubs who thumped his new mates on Monday (see the card, below) — while Freddy Peralta unveils himself for Tampa Bay in the thin air of Colorado at forty past eight, as disagreeable a laboratory as the schedule could assign a débutant. The wires further report that the Yankees have summoned the infield prospect Lombard for his first taste of the majors — reinforcement arriving, as the reader will note from the column above, not a moment too soon.

THE TRIPLE CROWN LEDGER, A STANDING ENTRY: ALVAREZ HOLDS ALL THREE JEWELS, THOUGH CAMINERO'S ARTILLERY DRAWS NEARER

The standing examination of the American's leader boards finds Yordan Alvarez of Houston still in possession of all three jewels: .330 in average, two-and-thirty points clear of the field; five-and-thirty home runs; and four-and-eighty runs batted in, eleven ahead of the nearest pursuer. But the reader is directed to the second line of the home-run column, where Tampa Bay's Junior Caminero struck twice at Colorado last evening to reach two-and-thirty — three astern of the leader with two months to run. The crown chase has acquired a challenger.

THE INFIRMARY WARD: KELLER AND GALLEN TO THE LONG LIST, AND THE DODGERS' YOUNG CATCHER SHELVED ON THE EVE OF HIS REPLACEMENT'S ARRIVAL

The deadline's fine print carried its measure of grief. Pittsburgh has placed Mitch Keller on the sixty-day list with an injury to the teres major muscle of the right arm, and Arizona has moved Zac Gallen to the same long list, his right elbow inflamed. Los Angeles shelves the young catcher Dalton Rushing — elbow inflammation likewise — which explains the club's deadline purchase of the catcher Feduccia from Tampa Bay. Cleveland transfers the reliever Shawn Armstrong to the sixty-day list with a calf strain, the Cubs move Ben Brown there with a neck strain, and Kansas City does likewise with Connor Seabold, his right lat the trouble. Milwaukee's newly acquired JoJo Romero arrives, with grim comedy, already bound for the fifteen-day list.

ONE MAN STAYED PUT AND WAS PAID FOR IT: MONIAK AND THE ROCKIES AGREE UPON TWO FURTHER YEARS

Amid the general auction, Colorado elected to keep something: the wires report the outfielder Mickey Moniak, un-dealt at the bell, has agreed to a two-year extension with the Rockies — and he saluted the news at once, striking his eighteenth home run in Monday's loss to Tampa Bay. The Herald commends the symmetry: in a week when half the league changed its address, one man was rewarded for keeping his.

The Rest of the Card

HILL'S GRAND SLAM TURNS THE EVENING CLEAN OVER: PHILS 6, NATIONALS 3, AND THE CAPITAL NINE'S SLIDE REACHES SIX

Washington built a 3-to-0 lead on Abimelec Ortiz's first circuit of the campaign and Daylen Lile's fourteenth, and carried it into the seventh — whereupon Derek Hill struck a grand slam to left-center, four runs upon a single swing, and the Brotherly Love nine never looked back. Bryce Harper added his four-and-twentieth in the eighth for insurance, Duran sealed his five-and-twentieth save, and one-and-forty thousand went home in the eighty-nine-degree evening well satisfied. Philadelphia has won three straight and shares the National's wild-card table with Arizona; the Nationals have lost six running.

HORWITZ EMPTIES THE BASES AND THE CORSAIRS HOLD ON: PITTSBURGH 4, MILWAUKEE 3

Spencer Horwitz's three-run double in the third was the evening's heavy stroke, Jake Mangum added a fourth run with a bunt single of all things, and Pittsburgh then spent six innings defending the margin as Milwaukee clawed within one. Chandler took the victory, Montgomery struck out three in the ninth for his third save, and the Corsairs thus reach dead level at seven-and-fifty apiece — three and a half from the wild-card table. The Brew Crew drop a second straight yet keep the game's finest ledger at nine-and-sixty wins, a half-game ahead of the idle-no-longer Dodgers, of whom directly.

FOUR CIRCUITS OFF WROBLESKI AND THE CHAMPIONS' SLIDE REACHES FOUR: NORTH SIDERS 10, DODGERS 5, ON THE EVE OF SKUBAL

Tommy Edman's three-run blast gave Los Angeles the first inning, and Wrigley answered with a fusillade: Suzuki, the freshly recalled Kevin Alcántara — summoned from Iowa that very morning, homering in his first appearance — Kelly, and Busch all cleared the wall against Wrobleski, who entered the evening eleven-and-two and departed in the fifth with seven runs against him. Boyd ran his account to 7-and-1, and a three-run sixth — featuring a bases-loaded walk awarded upon challenge — closed the book at ten. The Cubs stand five and a half behind Milwaukee with the National's first wild-card chair in hand; the champions have dropped four straight, and turn this evening to their newly purchased lion.

LEE STRIKES TWICE, TEXAS KICKS THE BALL FIVE TIMES, AND THE SELLERS WIN ANYWAY: BAY NINE 5, RANGERS 1

On the very day the front office sold Arraez, Ramos, and Ray out of the clubhouse, Jung Hoo Lee played the whole of the Giants' argument: home runs in the third and the eighth, a sacrifice fly in the ninth, three runs batted in, and a stolen base for garnish. Logan Webb gave six scoreless frames with eight strikeouts, and Texas abetted the visitors with five errors — Wynns charged with two — the sloppiest ledger on the card. Ezequiel Duran's four hits, a homer among them, were the home nine's lone dignity. The Lone Star men have now lost six running and slip two and a half behind Houston; the Bay nine, stripped for parts, played their crispest game in a fortnight.

BIEBER THREADS TEN HITS AND THE JAYS TRIP THEIR TRADING PARTNERS: TORONTO 3, HOUSTON 1

The clubs had scarcely finished exchanging Varsho for Arrighetti when they met upon the field, and Toronto took the evening's argument. Alejandro Kirk opened with his fourth circuit, Okamoto scored on a Sánchez single in the fourth with Clement's sacrifice fly following, and Shane Bieber threaded nine Houston hits across five and two-thirds without surrendering more than the single run — Rogers barring the ninth for his third save. Varsho, uncrated in center field for his new employers within hours of the trade, managed one hit of the ten Houston strung together to so little purpose. The Astros' six-game winning run is thus arrested, their Western lead holding at two and a half.

CAMINERO TWICE IN THE MOUNTAIN AIR, AND THE GULF COAST CLUB OUTLASTS A NINE-RUN PURSUIT: RAYS 13, ROCKIES 9

Tampa Bay laid fifteen hits upon Colorado, Junior Caminero striking his one-and-thirtieth and two-and-thirtieth circuits — the crown implications are weighed in the news column — with Aranda collecting four hits and Palacios adding a two-run blast in the ninth that proved no luxury at all, for the Rockies answered with four in their half before the door shut. Tovar had four hits with a homer for the home nine and Moniak, fresh from his extension, struck his eighteenth. Seymour fanned nine across six for his eighth victory; Lorenzen's account fell to 3-and-10. The Rays, at six-and-sixty wins, keep the American's best ledger and stretch their Eastern lead to three and a half.

TAWA'S THREE-RUN STROKE STANDS UP IN THE DESERT: SONORAN NINE 5, MISSION NINE 1, AND THE WILD-CARD TABLE RESHUFFLES

Tim Tawa — lately famous for essaying a bunt against a perfect game — did his damage conventionally this time, a three-run circuit off Michael King in the fourth, and Brandon Pfaadt made it stand with six and two-thirds innings in which the lone San Diego run arrived unearned. McCann doubled home a fifth run and Pfaadt's record climbed to 6-and-1. The Padres, eight-of-ten winners coming in, are checked; Arizona draws level with Philadelphia at the National's wild-card table, two clear of San Diego and Miami both.

The morning after the auction, the full fifteen-game bill resumes, and the playgoer is spoiled: the lately purchased Skubal unveils himself for Los Angeles at Wrigley at five past eight — opposite Assad, whose mates gave the champions such a drubbing on Monday — while Peralta makes his Tampa Bay bow in the Colorado altitude at forty past. The Cardinals and Yankees resume their acquaintance in the Bronx at five past seven, ten home runs already on the series' books; the first-place White Sox call at Fenway at ten past; and Toronto and Houston, freshly done trading with one another, go again at ten past eight. Until the morrow's dispatch, keep your scorecards near and your enthusiasms nearer.

~ THE HERALD ~