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

Is it spring training yet? No — but the championship season is upon us, a finer thing still.

The Game of the Day

THE SLIDE DIES IN THE DESERT: OHTANI'S TENTH-INNING KNOCK ENDS SEVEN DAYS OF SORROW, BOYS IN BLUE 2, SONORAN NINE 1

Yamamoto and Pfaadt trade zeroes deep into the Arizona evening, Tucker's eighth-inning circuit is answered by Carroll's ninth-inning triple, and the great man settles the argument in the tenth — precisely the deliverance these pages forecast yesterday, if a day late in the post

Seven consecutive defeats had attached themselves to the finest payroll in creation, and the Herald's Saturday dispatch charged Yoshinobu Yamamoto with arresting the slide against Brandon Pfaadt and the Snakes. The pitchers took the assignment more literally than anyone dared hope. Yamamoto gave five and two-thirds innings of three-hit ball with six strikeouts, his 2.65 figure among the National's five finest; Pfaadt answered with seven innings and but two hits allowed; and through seven frames the evening had produced nothing but zeroes and dread.

Kyle Tucker broke the fast in the eighth, lining his eleventh circuit of the year to right off Loáisiga, and Los Angeles carried the single run to the bottom of the ninth, where Díaz's ledger blotted: Corbin Carroll lashed a triple, his thirteenth of the season, and Geraldo Perdomo raced home to level the account at one. Whereupon the tenth: Shohei Ohtani — who at present may not so much as pitch, the infirmary column below attending to that story — grounded a single past first, Tucker crossed with the go-ahead run, and Dreyer pitched a spotless bottom half for the first save of his campaign. The verdict: 2 and 1, and the famine ended at seven.

The arithmetic restores order to the National's West: the Boys in Blue stand at seventy wins and seven-and-forty defeats, their margin over these same Diamondbacks eight and a half games again, while Arizona falls level with Philadelphia at the wild-card line — both clubs having lost on the day, to the quiet profit of San Diego, one game astern. The two combatants resume this very afternoon at ten past four, Wrobleski against Rodriguez, and the Herald begs the reader not to make plans.

News Around the League

THE OLD LION PASSES THE BIG TRAIN: SCHERZER NOW STANDS TENTH AMONG ALL THE STRIKEOUT ARTISTS WHO EVER LIVED

In Philadelphia on Saturday, Max Scherzer of the Toronto club struck out four Phillies across five and a third innings, and somewhere in that work he moved past Walter Johnson — the Big Train himself, dead these many decades and passed on the all-time strikeout ledger only by the immortals — into tenth place among all who ever threw a baseball for a living. Scherzer's account stands at three thousand five hundred and sixteen. The Herald notes, with the reverence the occasion demands, that Johnson's figure was set down with a dead ball, a spitball-tolerant rulebook, and no radar gun to flatter him — and that passing it in any century remains the work of a giant. The game itself, an eleven-inning affair Toronto carried, is chronicled upon the card below.

A THOUSANDTH VICTIM IN PINSTRIPES: COLE REACHES THE ROUND NUMBER ON A DAY THE BRONX GAVE TO ITS OWN PAST

On an afternoon the Yankees devoted to celebrating their history, Gerrit Cole added a line to it: among his nine strikeouts of the visiting Braves came the one-thousandth of his career in New York flannels. The wires salute the milestone and note that the club's rookies impressed on the same bill — the young Spencer Jones chief among them, as the game account below will attest. Cole's seven innings carried the day's verdict; the particulars sit upon the card.

THE CATCHER TAKES HIS FIRST STEPS IN NEW EMPLOY: RUTSCHMAN, LATELY OF BALTIMORE, MAKES HIS DEBUT IN BOSTON'S SERVICE

Adley Rutschman, three times an All-Star behind the plate and the principal prize of Boston's dealings with Baltimore, began the last leg of his journey to Fenway on Saturday: a rehabilitation debut in the Red Sox' Triple-A employ, wherein he doubled and threw out a baserunner for good measure. The wires pronounce both the bat and the arm in working order. The Crimson Hose, whose nine-game winning streak perished on the same evening (see the card below), may be forgiven for checking the calendar twice.

THE INFIRMARY WARD REPORTS PROGRESS: OHTANI THROWS A BASEBALL AGAIN, AND THE MOUND MAY YET SEE HIM BEFORE THE LEAVES TURN

The two-way colossus of Los Angeles, confined to batting duty while a knee injury mends, has resumed playing catch — a modest verb that nonetheless keeps alive the possibility of a return to the pitching hill before the regular season closes, by the wires' account. The Herald observes that the batting half of the man required no convalescence whatever: his tenth-inning single won the day's crown jewel, chronicled above in full.

THREE-AND-TWENTY WITHOUT A MISCUE: THE RAYS' CLOSER COMPILES A RECORD RUN OF PERFECTION

Bryan Baker sealed Tampa Bay's 3-to-2 verdict in Seattle on Saturday — his four-and-thirtieth save of the season, the American's best figure — and with it his three-and-twentieth consecutive save converted without a failure, a run the wires certify as record-breaking. The arithmetic of his season now reads: a 1.55 figure, an army of quiet ninth innings, and the finest record in the American League standing behind him at seventy wins. The game is reported upon the card below.

A VALEDICTION FROM AN HONORED NAME: TOMMY JOHN, IN FAILING HEALTH, OFFERS HIS THANKS TO THE YANKEES

The wires carry an emotional message from Tommy John, the left-hander whose two hundred and eighty-eight victories were long ago eclipsed in fame by the elbow operation that bears his name, and who is presently managing serious troubles of health. His words were addressed to the Yankees organization, with whom he twice served: gratitude, memory, and a plain "will never forget you." The Herald — which this very morning reports a young Detroit pitcher restored to the hill by the operation John made thinkable (see the card below) — sends its warmest regards to a man whose name will outlive every arm in the game.

The Rest of the Card

A BALK, A BOY NAMED JONES, AND A THOUSANDTH STRIKEOUT: BRONX BOMBERS 5, TOMAHAWK NINE 4

Cole's milestone is chronicled in the news column; the game around it was a proper quarrel. The rookie Spencer Jones singled home the first run, tripled home another in a two-run fifth, and then scored the go-ahead run on a balk — a call the Atlanta manager Weiss pronounced in terms the wires soften to "terrible," and for which he was invited to leave the premises. Lombard Jr. struck his second circuit in the seventh; Acuña Jr. answered with his twelfth and Rice replied in turn with his two-and-thirtieth, third-best in the American; and Dominic Smith's ninth-inning single drew Atlanta within one before Bednar affixed his six-and-twentieth save. Sale struck out eight in defeat against Cole's nine in victory. The Tomahawk nine still hold the National's East by eight and a half games; the Bombers keep the American's first wild-card chair, four and a half behind Tampa Bay.

ELEVEN STRIKEOUTS FOR JUMP, AND THE NINE-GAME PROCESSION HALTS AT FENWAY: WHITE ELEPHANTS 7, CRIMSON HOSE 3

Boston struck first — Monasterio singling home two in the opening frame — and then Jacob Jump simply closed the doors: eleven strikeouts across six innings, and the Elephants' bats did the remainder by installments. Serven and Heim singled home runs, Walton's ground-rule double cashed two more, and Soderstrom and Bolte added circuits, the nineteenth and fifth respectively. Bennett bore the defeat and Harris sealed the tenth save. So perishes Boston's nine-game streak, one evening after these pages watched it reach nine — and so ends, in the same stroke, a stretch of one victory in ten for the visitors, who will take their sunshine where they find it. The Crimson Hose remain five and a half games clear in the wild-card ledger.

ALCANTARA CLAIMS A THIRD FRANCHISE LEDGER-LINE AND THE SERAPHS GO HUNGRY: FISH 7, SERAPHS 0

Sandy Alcantara pitched seven scoreless innings of three-hit ball with eight strikeouts for his thirteenth victory, and in the doing passed the Marlins' franchise record for innings pitched — his third club record claimed this season, the wires attest, in a career spent almost entirely in Miami's colors. The batting was communal: Edwards drove home three with a double and a pair of singles, Lopez — whose .317 average is the National's second-best — cashed two more, and the Seraphs were blanked on five hits with eleven strikeouts, Ureña excused after two and a third. The Fish stand level at nine-and-fifty wins apiece, three games shy of the wild-card table.

ELEVEN INNINGS, TWO ESCAPES, AND LUKES SETTLES THE ACCOUNT: MAPLE LEAF NINE 7, QUAKERS 5

Guerrero Jr. opened the evening with his seventh circuit and singled home a second run; Scherzer did his history-making (see the news column) across five and a third; and Philadelphia seized the whole argument back with a four-run sixth — Turner and Harper striking circuits, Crawford tripling home a fourth. Toronto answered in the eighth by Giménez's two-run double off Alvarado, the clubs traded sacrifice-fly runs in the tenth — Arraez, he of the National's best .324 average, supplying Philadelphia's — and in the eleventh Nathan Lukes struck a two-run homer off Shugart to end it. Varland took the decision and Estrada the seal. The Quakers fall level with Arizona at the wild-card line, eight and a half games behind Atlanta.

CHANDLER AND COMPANY ADMINISTER A WHITEWASHING OF THREE HITS: CORSAIRS 9, METROPOLITANS 0

Bubba Chandler pitched six scoreless innings, Bachar struck out four across two more, and Yates closed a shutout in which New York's entire offense amounted to three singles. The Corsairs, meanwhile, dined at leisure: three in the first upon Gonzales's run-scoring groundout and Simon's two-run double, four more in the fourth crowned by Gonzales's twentieth two-bagger of the year — the same Gonzales whose .309 average stands third in the National — and Lowe's five-and-twentieth circuit in the seventh for punctuation. Stock was charged with eight runs in three innings and the defeat. The Metropolitans, so lately the league's merriest spoilers, were reminded that the role has hours of business both ways.

THE CONQUEROR OF BURNS: WASHINGTON HANDS A THIRTEEN-GAME WINNER HIS SECOND DEFEAT: SENATORS 8, QUEEN CITY NINE 2

Chase Burns arrived in the capital with a thirteen-and-one ledger these pages called the National's marvel, and departed thirteen-and-two. Ortiz singled home two in the third; Suárez's two-run sixteenth drew Cincinnati level in the sixth; and Washington replied with four in the bottom half — Lile and Young singling home runs around Chaparro's two-run double — before Chaparro and Abrams added late singles, the latter's nine-and-eightieth run driven in extending his lead atop the National's column. Beeter collected the victory in relief. The Senators have won two running, and the Queen City nine's pursuit of the wild-card table loses a step.

FOUR RUNS DRIVEN BY THE YOUNG COLOSSUS CAGLIANONE: ROYAL BLUES 6, BRUINS 3

Jac Caglianone opened the scoring with a first-inning circuit, doubled home Witt Jr. in the third, and in the seventh struck a second homer — his twentieth — with a man aboard: four runs driven in, and a Sunday crowd's worth of noise on a Saturday. Rojas singled home two besides. Chicago's answer came by Kelly's two-run double and Happ's nineteenth circuit, but Lugo held the line for the victory, Pearson sealed it, and the Bruins' five-game winning streak — minted only this week — was quietly melted down. Chicago keeps the National's first wild-card chair at eight-and-sixty wins, five and a half behind Milwaukee; the Royal blues have won two straight.

THE LEAGUE'S BEST LEDGER GROWS BY ONE MORE NARROW CHAPTER: CREAM CITY NINE 4, TWIN CITIES NINE 3

Milwaukee scored its first run without swinging — Contreras struck by a pitch with the bases loaded — and Minnesota answered with three in the second, Jeffers walking one home and Royce Lewis doubling home two. Thereafter the Cream City method: Turang's two-run single leveled the account in the fourth, Vaughn's single won it in the eighth, and the relief corps kept the books — Ashby taking the decision to reach thirteen victories against two defeats, company for Alcantara and Burns one rung below Philadelphia's Sánchez, and Megill sealing his one-and-twentieth. At three-and-seventy wins against four-and-forty defeats, the Brewers keep the finest ledger in all of baseball.

NINE STRIKEOUTS IN FIVE FOR DEGROM, AND SEAGER SETTLES THE ACCOUNTS: ARLINGTON MEN 5, BIRDS 1

Jackson Holliday's sixth circuit gave Baltimore the first blood, and it was the last the Birds would draw. Jacob deGrom struck out nine across five innings for his eighth victory — a gem the wires garland at length — while Texas took the lead in the second on Carter's fielder's choice and Burger's single, the latter abetted by a Henderson throwing error, and buried the matter in the eighth when Corey Seager struck a three-run homer, his eleventh. Bradish bore the defeat. The Arlington men have won four straight, hold the American's final wild-card chair, and sit but half a game behind Houston in the West — an argument that sharpens by the day.

ON THE DAY GUILLÉN'S NUMBER ASCENDS, A FIVE-RUN SIXTH: PALE HOSE 6, LAKE ERIE MEN 3

The South Side spent the afternoon retiring Ozzie Guillén's No. 13 — the shortstop and championship manager pronouncing himself grateful, by the wires' account — and the present tenants marked the occasion properly. Cleveland struck first in the sixth, Hoskins homering behind a runner off Williams, whose one hundred and eighty-five strikeouts lead the American; the reply was five runs in the bottom half, Murakami's six-and-twentieth circuit the opening note, Peters doubling home two and Meidroth singling home two more as Holderman retired nobody. Genao struck his first homer of the year in answer, Montgomery added insurance, and Kay took his ninth victory with Taylor sealing. The Pale Hose lead the Central by three games over a massed and quarrelsome pursuit.

McCARTHY STRIKES A PAIR AND THE MOUNTAIN MEN PLUNDER SAINT LOUIS: MOUNTAIN MEN 8, REDBIRDS 6

Jake McCarthy, whose .305 average stands fourth in the National, homered in the first and again in the sixth — the latter with a man aboard — while Carrigg doubled home two and Goodman, co-tenant of the National's home-run summit at three-and-thirty, singled home another. St. Louis kept the pursuit honest by Fermín's two-run double, Herrera's single, and Walker's three-and-twentieth circuit — his two-and-eighty runs driven in stand third in the league — but the arithmetic never quite closed. Liberatore was charged with nine hits and the defeat; Mushinski took his first victory of the year and Romano his tenth save. A rare and thorough road plunder for the last-place Coloradans.

JOBE RETURNS FROM THE SURGEON'S TABLE WITH FIVE SPOTLESS INNINGS: BENGALS 8, ORANGE AND BLACK 0

Jackson Jobe, making his first start since the elbow operation whose namesake addresses the world in this morning's news column, allowed a single hit across five scoreless innings with four strikeouts — "electrifying," by the wires' verdict — and departed with the victory in hand. The batting arrived fashionably late: Torkelson walked home a run in the sixth, and a six-run seventh followed — Dingler doubling home a run, Valencia doubling home two, the young Max Clark tripling home another for the first three-bagger of his career's ledger this year, and Báez singling home a fifth. Roupp bore the defeat. The Bengals sit two games shy of the wild-card line, and their rotation just grew a good deal more interesting.

MERRILL PROVIDES, KING ENDURES, MILLER SEALS: MISSION NINE 3, 'STROS 2

Jackson Merrill drove in the first run by force-out and struck his seventeenth circuit in the third; Tatis Jr. crossed with the third run upon a Peña error; and that proved the whole of the necessary. Michael King gave six innings of one-run ball with six strikeouts, Trammell's seventh homer the only blemish, and after Diaz's ninth-inning single made the evening anxious, Mason Miller barred the door for his nine-and-twentieth save, the National's best figure. Lambert took the defeat. The Mission nine climb within a single game of the wild-card pair, both of whom lost on the day — and these clubs resume the argument this very evening under the San Diego lights.

NAYLOR ALONE, THOUGH TWICE, IS NOT ENOUGH AGAINST THE AMERICAN'S BEST: GULF COAST CLUB 3, PUGET SOUND MEN 2

Josh Naylor supplied the entirety of Seattle's offense with a pair of solo circuits, his ninth and tenth, and the arithmetic of one man against a first-place club came out as it usually does. Mesa Jr. answered the first with a homer of his own in the fourth, Palacios singled home two in the sixth — Simpson, co-holder of the American's stolen-base crown at one-and-thirty, among the scorers — and the Tampa Bay relief corps defended the margin to the end, Matz taking the decision and Baker the record-extending save the news column celebrates. The home nine's frustrations ran to the dugout: manager Dan Wilson was ejected, his second such invitation in four games. The Gulf Coast club has won five straight and owns the American's finest record at seventy wins.

The almanac deals another full fifteen this Sunday, and the connoisseur is spoiled for choice. The Bronx hosts the finale of a splendid series at five-and-thirty past one, Atlanta's Holmes against Schlittler and his 2.26 figure, the American's finest; at ten past two the terrifying Misiorowski — eleven victories, a 1.63 figure, and the National's strikeout crown — receives the Twins in Milwaukee; in Kansas City at the same hour, Boyd and his seven-and-one ledger meet Dobnak and his improbable 1.16; the Dodgers and Diamondbacks resume their quarrel in the desert at ten past four; and the Astros and Mission nine close the card at twenty past eight. The Herald also directs the sentimentalist's eye to Thursday next, when the Twins and Phillies repair to the Iowa corn at Dyersville for the Field of Dreams game. Until the next dispatch, keep your scorecards near and your enthusiasms nearer.

~ THE HERALD ~