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

The Game of the Day

A GRAND SALUTE IN A UNIFORM STILL CREASED FROM THE BOX: HICKS, A RAY FOR SCARCE TWO DAYS, SLAMS FOUR ACROSS, AND THE SUNSHINE NINE OUTLAST COLORADO IN ELEVEN, NINE TO SEVEN

The catcher purchased from Miami becomes the first man in the franchise's annals to homer in his club debut — his third-inning slam builds a lead his fellow débutant Peralta promptly mislays, whereupon the bullpen bars the door for seven scoreless, Aranda's ninth-inning single squares the account, and a two-run eleventh settles matters in the mountain air, Baker affixing his two-and-thirtieth seal

The Herald has watched many a new man tip his cap upon arrival, but seldom has an introduction carried such powder. Liam Hicks, obtained from the Miami club only Monday, came to the plate in the third inning at Denver with the bases full and drove the first grand slam of his career four hundred and two feet to right field — and in so doing became the first man in Tampa Bay's entire history to strike a home run in his debut for the club. Five runs to one read the ledger, and the new catcher was not finished: a double followed later, four runs batted in altogether, and his manager Cash pronounced the evening's work behind the plate "pretty awesome" besides.

His fellow débutant fared less handsomely. Freddy Peralta, lately of the Metropolitans and making his own first appearance in Tampa Bay colors, found the thin air a harsh laboratory: nine hits and seven runs in three and two-thirds innings, Moniak striking his nineteenth circuit and driving in three, Castro adding a two-run blast, and by the fourth inning's close Colorado led seven runs to five. There the Mile High nine's account closed for good — the Tampa Bay bullpen strung together seven and a third scoreless innings on two hits, as stern a piece of relief work as the card has lately shown.

The rescue proceeded in installments. In the ninth Jonathan Aranda lined a two-run single to square the matter at seven apiece; in the eleventh Walls laid down a sacrifice bunt, a wild pitch advanced the cause, and Yandy Díaz and Junior Caminero supplied the strokes that made it nine. Cleavinger took the victory and Bryan Baker barred the final door for his two-and-thirtieth save, most in all the majors. The Rays, at seven-and-sixty wins, keep the American's finest ledger and hold the East by three and a half over New York — and their newest employee has already paid a week's wages.

News Around the League

TWO BROTHERS, TWO DEBUTS, TWO HOME RUNS, ONE EVENING: THE LOMBARD BOYS ANNOUNCE THEMSELVES IN CONCERT

The almanac will want a page for Tuesday's coincidence. George Lombard Jr., the Yankees' finest prospect, made his major-league debut in the Bronx and struck a home run in his second time at bat — the youngest infielder to break in as a Yankee since a fellow named Jeter in 1995. That same evening, some thousand miles south, his younger brother Jacob Lombard — taken fourteenth in this summer's draft by Miami — played his first professional game for the Jupiter club and likewise homered in his second at-bat. The wires report the strokes were near twins themselves: both pulled to left field off breaking balls, both leaving the bat at a hundred miles the hour, both climbing at three-and-thirty degrees. Their father, the elder George Lombard, coaches on the Detroit bench and presumably slept well. The Herald tips its cap twice.

THE INFIRMARY WARD: JUDGE'S RIB KNITS BUT SLOWLY, YESAVAGE'S KNEE GOES UNDER THE GLASS THIS DAY, AND THE RUSHING VERDICT WORSENS

The examination table is crowded this morning. In the Bronx, the wires bring the fullest accounting yet of Aaron Judge, absent since the last day of May with a stress fracture of the right rib: the great man is still not cleared for baseball exertions, his labors confined to the neck and the lower half, with a further round of imaging to come. The club professes, in Cashman's words, "a very high likelihood and optimism" of a return within the season — while conceding the darker possibility exists. Judge departed with seventeen home runs and a .908 figure across nine-and-fifty games, and the Pinstripes have soldiered on without him since.

In Houston, Toronto's young right-hander Trey Yesavage — a 3.65 mark across ninety-three and two-thirds innings this campaign — left Tuesday's contest before the third inning was rung in, his left knee buckling on a warm-up toss with what the manager Schneider called a pinching sensation. The magnetic examination is scheduled for this very day, and the Maple Leaf nine hold their breath. And in Los Angeles, the follow-up testing on the young catcher Dalton Rushing — shelved this week, as the Herald reported, with elbow trouble — has returned the harder verdict: a slight tear of the ulnar ligament, and no date named for his return.

EIGHT HUNDRED NINETY-FIVE MORNINGS WITHOUT A DAY ABED: OLSON DRAWS LEVEL WITH MUSIAL HIMSELF

In Atlanta on Tuesday, Matt Olson answered the bell for the eight hundred and ninety-fifth consecutive game, drawing even with the sainted Stan Musial for eighth place upon the all-time roll of iron men — a streak begun the second of May, 2021, when the first baseman still wore Oakland's elephant. It is the longest active run in the game by a country mile: the nearest pursuer, Baltimore's Pete Alonso, stands at five hundred and twenty-three. Let the record show Olson marked the occasion in character — a double in a winning cause (see the card, below) — and that the seventh rung of the ladder lies within reach by next season's end, should the man simply keep doing what he has done every playing day for five years.

THE CROWN JEWEL OF THE DEADLINE REPORTS TO FENWAY WITH A TENDER WRIST: RUTSCHMAN SOON, BUT NOT QUITE YET

Adley Rutschman, the thrice-All-Star catcher pried from Baltimore at Monday's bell for a parcel including three of Boston's five finest prospects, has arrived in the Fenway clubhouse — but the reader must wait to see him crouch. The backstop remains on the injured list with inflammation of the left wrist, though he has begun his swinging program and may, the wires suggest, skip any lengthy minor-league errand. "The team's been extremely hot," the man observed upon arrival, with some understatement: the Crimson Hose have gone twenty wins against three defeats since the second of July (the twentieth arriving Tuesday by a 14-to-2 landslide, itemized below). The calendar, ever the dramatist, sends Boston to Baltimore the third of September.

THE TEN-MILLION-DOLLAR SHORTSTOP PUNCHES HIS FIRST CLOCK: CHOLOWSKY BEGINS AT WINSTON-SALEM

Roch Cholowsky, first name called in this summer's draft and signed by the White Sox for a record bonus of $10,350,000, began his professional career Tuesday with the High-A Winston-Salem club. The bat kept its own counsel — no hits in five tries, with a walk — but the glove gave a first sermon, the one-and-twenty-year-old shortstop handling all four of his chances without blemish in an extra-innings loss to Asheville. The Pale Hose, atop the American's Central this morning, may afford patience with the young man from the California university; the Herald merely notes that careers, like editions, are judged by the full run and not the first page.

The Rest of the Card

SIX IN THE FIRST, SIX IN THE SIXTH, AND NO APPEAL: CRIMSON HOSE 14, PALE HOSE 2, THE STREAK AT SIX

Boston greeted the Central's leaders with a six-run first inning, rested through the middle frames, then delivered a second six-spot in the sixth for symmetry — fifteen hits in all, 14 runs to 2. Wilyer Abreu struck two circuits to reach nineteen, Durbin homered and drove in four, and Duran added a blast of his own with two stolen bases besides. Sandoval took the victory, his first of the campaign. The Fenway men have won six running, stand ten games above the level mark, and await their new catcher; Chicago's Central margin over Cleveland is trimmed to three.

THE LION'S FIRST WALK IN BLUE ENDS IN A THICKET: BRUINS 5, ANGELENOS 1, AND THE SLIDE REACHES FIVE

All Wrigley turned out to see Tarik Skubal make his first start in Los Angeles flannels, and the twice-laureled lion gave a creditable six innings with six strikeouts — but his new mates supplied him four hits the whole evening, and Chicago's patience wore the visitors down. Swanson and Hoerner cleared the wall, Crow-Armstrong stole two bases to reach eight-and-twenty, and Rolison ran his account to six victories against one defeat. Tucker's tenth homer was the champions' entire offense. Los Angeles has now dropped five straight, its Western cushion pared to nine; the Cubs sit five and a half behind Milwaukee with the National's first wild-card chair firmly held. The clubs go again this very afternoon.

THE BOY'S FIRST BLAST AND BEDNAR'S QUIET NINTH: PINSTRIPES 2, MOUND CITY NINE 0

The debut of young Lombard — treated at proper length in the news column — supplied one run, Jasson Chisholm Jr.'s seventeenth circuit the other, and Yankee pitching did the rest: St. Louis managed six hits and no runs, Weathers taking the decision and Bednar closing the book for his five-and-twentieth save. The Pinstripes hold the American's first wild-card chair at four-and-sixty wins; the Cards fall a second straight night in the Bronx with the series' rubber match this evening.

LUZARDO BOLTS THE CAPITAL'S DOOR ENTIRELY: QUAKERS 5, SENATORS 0, THE SKID AT SEVEN

Jesús Luzardo blanked Washington for his tenth victory, and the new tenant atop the order kept paying rent: Luis Arraez, three days a Phillie, doubled and drove in two, with Turner, Bohm, and Marsh completing the accounting in a 5-to-0 verdict. The Senators were held to five hits and have now lost seven running, a misery unmatched on the card; Philadelphia has won four straight and sits a single game off the National's first wild-card perch.

ALBIES AND RILEY SUPPLY THE POWDER, HOLMES THE PATIENCE: TOMAHAWK NINE 4, FISH 2

Atlanta struck twice by air — Albies' nineteenth, Riley's thirteenth with a man aboard — and Holmes carried the day for his seventh victory, Miami's lone reply arriving too late, two runs in the ninth on Jiménez's single. Olson's milestone double (the news column salutes him) figured in the argument. The Braves have won six straight and hold the East by seven and a half; the Fish slip two games back of the wild-card table.

FOUR IN THE FIFTH DECIDE IT, AND A DEBUT ENDS IN WORRY: HOUSTON NINE 7, MAPLE LEAF NINE 2

The 'Stros broke a scoreless affair with two in the fourth and four in the fifth, Altuve driving in a pair and Trammell three with his sixth circuit, and Wesneski took the decision in a 7-to-2 verdict. Straw doubled and tripled for Toronto's dignity. But the evening's gravest entry was Yesavage's early exit — the knee, the examination, the held breath, all itemized in the infirmary column above. Houston holds the West by two and a half.

TWICE TIED, ONCE SETTLED: ARLINGTON MEN 5, ORANGE AND BLACK 4, THE LAST RUN IN THE LAST INNING

San Francisco twice clawed level — two in the seventh, two more in the ninth on Basabe's blast — and Texas answered the final insult with the final word, a run in the home ninth to close the matter 5 to 4. Ezequiel Duran, four hits the night before, contented himself with two doubles and four runs batted in; Latz took the victory in relief. The Rangers hold second in the West, two and a half behind Houston; the Giants' long summer continues.

THE QUEEN CITY NINE RALLY TWICE AND THE ELEPHANTS' MISERY REACHES SIX: REDS 5, ATHLETICS 4

The Athletics led by a run twice and held neither, Cincinnati answering with three in the fifth — Elly De La Cruz driving in two — and two in the eighth, Stewart adding to a league-leading ledger of six-and-eighty runs batted in. Pagán sealed his twelfth save. The White Elephants have now lost six running, and one game in ten across their last ten; the Reds, quietly, have won six of ten and keep within sight of the wild-card table.

THREE CIRCUITS IN FLUSHING COLORS ON THE LAKE ERIE SHORE: AMAZINS 6, GUARDIANS 2

Bichette, Benge, and Torrens all cleared the Cleveland wall — the catcher Torrens driving in four runs himself — and Manaea took the decision in a 6-to-2 verdict that dropped the Lake Erie men to exactly the level mark, one-and-a-half games' grace all that remains of their hold on the American's final wild-card chair. The Mets, long since sellers, play the spoiler with evident relish.

WITT'S THIRTIETH THEFT ADORNS A COMFORTABLE EVENING: ROYAL BLUES 8, TWIN CITIES NINE 2

Kansas City struck for two early, three in the fifth, and three in the eighth, Witt Jr. driving in two, doubling, and stealing his thirtieth base to draw level with Chisholm atop the American's larceny column. Dobnak took the decision over Ryan, whose account fell to six-and-eight. Bell's fourteenth homer was the visitors' consolation. The Twins have dropped three straight and cling one game off the wild-card table; the Royals, whatever the standings say, have won four of six.

SEVENTY WINS, FIRST IN ALL THE LAND: CREAM CITY NINE 4, BUCCANEERS 2

Milwaukee became the season's first club to seventy victories by the quiet arithmetic of Chourio's fourteenth homer and two runs driven in, Vaughn's fifth circuit, and Henderson's six-and-one ledger, Megill sealing his nineteenth save against Pittsburgh's pair. Rodríguez and Gonzalez homered for the Corsair cause. The Brewers' margin over Chicago stands at five and a half — and this evening's rematch brings Skenes against Harrison, of which the desk note says more.

ELEVEN HITS BUY THE SERAPHS EXACTLY ONE RUN: BIRDS 3, ANGELS 1

Los Angeles strung eleven hits and contrived to score once — a monument to stranded ambition — while Baltimore made four hits suffice, O'Neill's eighth circuit and Alonso's two runs batted in (one-and-seventy on the season) carrying a 3-to-1 verdict. Povich took the decision and Cano the save, and the new-look Birds, three days past their great sale, have won consecutive games while their departed catcher convalesces in Boston.

THE NEW MAN THROWS DARTS IN THE NORTHWEST GLOOM: BENGALS 8, PUGET SOUND MEN 0

Troy Melton, Detroit's deadline acquisition, made his first start in Bengal stripes a dominant one, running his season's account to seven victories against one defeat as Seattle managed four hits and no runs. Detroit laid on thirteen hits — Torres and Keith driving in two apiece, Dingler adding to his three-and-seventy runs batted in, second in the American — and closed with a four-run ninth for emphasis, 8 to 0. The Tigers have won four straight and stand a game and a half off the wild-card table; the Mariners sink a further game below level.

MACHADO EMPTIES THE LARDER IN THE DESERT: FRIARS 9, SNAKES 4, AND THE WILD-CARD GAP NARROWS TO ONE

San Diego opened with three in the first and three in the second and never looked back, sixteen hits in all, Manny Machado driving in four and Merrill two in a 9-to-4 verdict. Arizona's reply — Arenado's sixteenth and McCann's fourth in a four-run seventh — arrived after the issue was settled. Vásquez took the decision over Rodríguez, whose ledger falls to ten-and-four. The Friars thus close within a single game of the Snakes for the National's final wild-card chair, with the rubber match this very evening in the desert.

This evening's bill runs to fifteen contests again, and the connoisseur is directed first to Milwaukee, where Paul Skenes (nine-and-nine, 3.90) duels the six-and-one Harrison at forty minutes past seven — the Buccaneers' ace against the seventy-win machine. Daylight baseball graces Wrigley at twenty past two, the Angelenos seeking to arrest their five-game slide against Imanaga's Cubs; the Sunshine nine try for the Colorado sweep at ten past three behind Martinez and his 2.77 figure; and at Fenway, ten past seven, the thirteen-and-two Gray takes the hill for hot Boston against the Central's leaders. The almanac reminds the reader besides that the Field of Dreams engagement — Twins against Phillies among the Iowa corn — arrives the thirteenth of this month. Until the morrow's dispatch, keep your scorecards near and your enthusiasms nearer.

~ THE HERALD ~