The Morning Horsehide Herald — the Tenth 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

TWO HUNDRED STRIKEOUTS FOR THE MIZ, AND A WALK-OFF BESIDES: SUDS MEN 4, NORTH STARS 3

Misiorowski fans nine and crosses the two-hundred mark faster than all but one pitcher in the game's recorded history, the rookie Lara twice robs Minnesota by feats the wires can only call Spider-manning, and Bauers — a homer already to his name — singles home Turang in the tenth to settle it

Begin with the arithmetic, for it is the kind that gets a man remembered. Jacob Misiorowski struck out nine Minnesotans across six innings on Sunday, and somewhere in that harvest his season's account passed two hundred — a figure reached, the wires certify, faster than all but one pitcher in the whole recorded history of the game. His ledger now reads two hundred and four strikeouts and a 1.76 figure, both of them atop the National League by the width of a county, and the crowd in Milwaukee understood perfectly well what it was watching.

The game itself insisted on being interesting anyway. Jackson Chourio opened the account with his seventeenth circuit in the first; Brooks Lee answered with his seventeenth in the fifth; Jake Bauers restored the lead with his one-and-twentieth in the bottom half and David Hamilton doubled home Sánchez behind him; and Kody Clemens levelled the whole argument at three apiece with a two-run blow in the sixth. In between, the rookie Luis Lara twice went up the wall to rob Minnesota of extra bases — "all of a sudden he's Spider-manning," by the wires' awed account — and the relief corps of both clubs pitched blank frames until the tenth, when Bauers lined a single to left, Brice Turang raced home, and Hall collected his first victory of the year.

The Herald's almanac desk notes, with a raised eyebrow, that this is the second morning running these pages have set down Brewers 4, Twins 3 — the schedule occasionally repeats itself for emphasis. At four-and-seventy wins against four-and-forty defeats, Milwaukee's remains the finest ledger in all of baseball, five and a half games clear of Chicago in the National's Central.

News Around the League

THE CY YOUNG MAN CHANGES COASTS: SKUBAL, LATELY OF DETROIT, TAKES THE DODGER STADIUM HILL THIS VERY EVENING

The wires devote their largest type to Tarik Skubal, the two-time Cy Young laureate obtained from Detroit in the season's great dealings, who makes his first home start in Los Angeles flannels tonight against Kansas City at ten past ten Eastern. He arrives bearing a 2.81 figure — and arrives, it must be said, not a moment early: the Angelenos have dropped eight of their last ten and watched their division lead thin to seven and a half games (the desert's latest contribution to that misery is chronicled upon the card below).

ONE HUNDRED AND ELEVEN GAMES WITHOUT A MISPLAY: THE ATHLETICS' YOUNG SHORTSTOP RETIRES BORDICK'S RECORD

At Fenway Park this weekend, Jacob Wilson of the Athletics carried his errorless run at shortstop to one hundred and eleven consecutive games, passing the mark of Mike Bordick to stand alone in the annals — every chance accepted, every throw true, across better than two-thirds of a season's worth of afternoons. The wires pronounce it a record for the position, and the Herald pronounces it the quietest sort of greatness there is. His club, it happens, keeps noisy company with the feat: see the card below, where the Mackmen made it two straight over Boston.

NINE TIMES AN ALL-STAR AND BOUND FOR KANSAS CITY: KIMBREL REPORTED TO JOIN THE ROYALS' RELIEF CORPS

The wires carry word, by way of a source, that Craig Kimbrel — nine times an All-Star and among the most decorated ninth-inning men of his era — has been added by Kansas City to shore up a bullpen that has wanted for shoring. The Missourians' present standing (see their Sunday misfortune upon the card) suggests the veteran is engaged for dignity as much as for the pennant arithmetic, but a famous arm is a famous arm, and the Herald will report his first appearance in royal blue when it comes.

THE CATCHER'S LONG ROAD REACHES ITS LAST MILE: RUTSCHMAN EXPECTED IN BOSTON'S SERVICE AT TORONTO

Adley Rutschman, whose rehabilitation doings these pages chronicled only yesterday, is now on the cusp of his first game in Boston employ: the wires expect the thrice-an-All-Star catcher to make his debut during the series that opens this very evening in Toronto. The Hub nine, having dropped two straight since their nine-game procession ended, would receive him the way a parched man receives rain.

THE YOUNGEST LINEUP EVER ASSEMBLED IS ALSO THE MOST PRODUCTIVE: THE CAPITAL NINE LEAD ALL CREATION IN RUNS

The wires observe a marvel in Washington: the Nationals are fielding the youngest everyday lineup the game has ever recorded, and that same company of youths presently leads all thirty clubs in run production. Sunday the children completed their first sweep since April (the particulars sit upon the card below), behind an overhauled relief corps that has lately made a habit of blank innings. The Herald, which has watched Abrams and the prodigy Nuñez — he of the National's best forty stolen bases — all season, confesses no surprise, only admiration.

The Rest of the Card

SALE IS EJECTED BEFORE A PITCH IS THROWN, AND THE DUEL GOES TEN: ATLANTAS 2, PINSTRIPES 1

The afternoon's first casualty was Chris Sale, not engaged to pitch and expelled before the first pitch was thrown — Saturday's balk quarrel, evidently, being unfinished business. The game that followed was a jewel: Schlittler struck out eleven across seven innings for New York, Holmes answered with six scoreless frames, Olson's four-and-thirtieth circuit in the seventh was matched by Grisham's thirteenth in the eighth, and in the tenth Michael Harris II singled home Kim to spare Atlanta the sweep. Iglesias took the decision, Kinley his first save, and the Atlantas guard the National's East by eight and a half games.

HEIM LEVELS IT IN THE EIGHTH, MUNCY WINS IT IN THE NINTH: MACKMEN 4, HUB NINE 3

On the weekend of Wilson's record-keeping (see the news column), his club made it two straight at Fenway: Jonah Heim doubled home the levelling run off Whitlock in the eighth, and Max Muncy doubled home Walton off Chapman in the ninth, with Harris sealing his eleventh save. Ginn gave six innings of one-earned-run ball, and Boston — five and a half games clear yet in the wild-card ledger — has now lost two running since its nine-game streak perished.

TWELVE INNINGS, TWO SCHWARBER CIRCUITS, AND HILL DELIVERS THE VERDICT: PHILS 7, CANADIANS 6

Kyle Schwarber ended his brief homer famine emphatically — a three-run blow in the third and a solo in the fifth, his four-and-thirtieth and five-and-thirtieth, restoring him to the summit of the National's home-run column — and Luzardo struck out twelve across seven innings besides. Toronto clawed level by Giménez's two-run single in the eighth and nosed ahead in the twelfth, whereupon Philadelphia answered with two: Stott's single to level, and Derek Hill's single to end it. The Phils hold the wild-card line alongside Arizona, eight and a half behind Atlanta.

ELEVEN STRIKEOUTS FOR MANAEA AND FOUR RUNS DRIVEN BY ROBERT: AMAZINS 11, BUCS 1

One evening after being blanked on three singles, the Flushing men administered fifteen hits' worth of correction: Luis Robert Jr. drove home four with a circuit and a sacrifice fly, Bo Bichette struck a pair of doubles among three runs driven in, Alvarez added his thirteenth homer, and Sean Manaea struck out eleven Pittsburghers across seven innings of three-hit ball. Jones was charged with eight runs in three frames, and the Bucs have now surrendered twenty runs in two nights of this series.

CONINE TWICE, SANOJA THRICE, AND A SIX-RUN FIFTH: GULF STREAM NINE 12, HALOS 3

Griffin Conine struck two circuits, the eleventh and twelfth, and drove home three; Javier Sanoja singled home three more; and a six-run fifth turned a one-run affair into a rout. The Miami nine have won two straight and stand three games shy of the wild-card table at sixty wins — while the Halos, their evening's offense confined chiefly to Siri's seventh homer, remain the American West's rearmost tenant.

THE BROOM COMES OUT IN THE CAPITAL FOR THE FIRST TIME SINCE APRIL: CAPITAL NINE 7, REDLEGS 1

The sweep the news column celebrates was completed without suspense: Dion, three innings of one-hit relief, took his first victory behind Ortiz's homer, and a three-run eighth crowned by Chaparro's two-run double put the matter beyond debate. Cincinnati managed a single tally and nine strikeouts against Washington's assembled youth, and the Redlegs' pursuit of the wild-card table has now lost three steps running.

EIGHTEEN HITS AND AN EIGHTH VICTORY AGAINST ONE DEFEAT FOR BOYD: NORTH SIDERS 10, MISSOURIANS 2

Matthew Boyd went seven workmanlike innings for an eight-and-one ledger while his fellows collected eighteen hits: Bregman singled home two, Happ struck a two-run twentieth, Amaya a three-run blow in a three-run seventh, and Hoerner kept the machinery turning throughout. The North Siders, at nine-and-sixty wins, hold the National's first wild-card chair by a comfortable six games — and the Kansas City nine, awaiting their famous new fireman (see the news column), were reminded why he was sent for.

TWO HITLESS INNINGS IN HIS FIRST HOUR AS A MAJOR LEAGUER: HAGEN SMITH WINS HIS DEBUT, SOUTH SIDERS 5, FOREST CITY NINE 3

The debutant Hagen Smith walked four men and allowed none of them a hit across two innings, and for his nerve was handed the victory when Colson Montgomery's three-run circuit — his six-and-twentieth, level with Murakami among the American's leaders — capped a four-run third. Richards survived a nervous ninth for his first save, the South Siders claimed the series from Cleveland, and their lead in the American's Central stands at three and a half games over Detroit.

GOODMAN'S FOUR-AND-THIRTIETH IS ANSWERED INSIDE THE HALF-HOUR: MOUND CITY NINE 7, ROX 4

Hunter Goodman levelled the game at four apiece with his four-and-thirtieth homer in the eighth, and St. Louis replied with three in the bottom half — Wetherholt's two-run double the decisive blow, Herrera singling home the third. Burleson had earlier struck his nineteenth, O'Brien sealed his nine-and-twentieth save to stand level with San Diego's Miller atop the National's column, and the Cardinals return to the even mark of nine-and-fifty wins apiece, three and a half from the wild-card table.

ALONSO STRIKES TWO IN AN ORIOLE UNIFORM FOR THE FIRST TIME: BALTIMORES 10, LONE STAR NINE 5

Pete Alonso struck his four-and-twentieth and five-and-twentieth circuits — his first two-homer afternoon in Baltimore colors, the wires note — and drove home four, while Cowser and O'Neill added blows of their own and Rocker was excused after three innings and six runs. The defeat returns Texas to the exact even mark of nine-and-fifty wins and as many losses, half a game behind Houston in the West and clinging to the American's final wild-card chair with Detroit a single game astern.

WEBB'S EIGHT FINE INNINGS ARE BURIED IN THE TENTH: MOTOR CITY NINE 3, JINTS 1

Logan Webb allowed one run across eight innings and got nothing for it: in the tenth, Hao-Yu Lee singled home Greene and Max Clark's force-out fetched a third run, while Detroit's relief corps — Jansen striking out three in the tenth for the victory, Holton three more in the bottom half for the save — barred every door. The Bengals of yesterday's dispatch, now the Motor City nine of today's, have won two straight, and head home from their western journey one game shy of the wild-card table.

RODRIGUEZ SPENDS ONE HUNDRED AND FIFTEEN PITCHES AND BUYS A SEASON SERIES: DESERT NINE 4, ANGELENOS 2

Ketel Marte's twentieth circuit put Arizona two runs to the good before an out was recorded, and Eduardo Rodriguez did the rest — seven innings, nine strikeouts, one hundred and fifteen pitches, an eleventh victory against four defeats — in a duel of eleven-and-four men wherein Wrobleski blinked first. The wires observe that the Desert nine have thus secured the season's series from Los Angeles for the first time since eighteen, and the champions' division lead is pared to seven and a half games — with their new ace's answer scheduled for this very evening (see the news column).

A BROOM IN SEATTLE, A SIXTH STRAIGHT VICTORY, AND FOUR HITS FROM THE THIRD CHAIR: SUNSHINE NINE 4, M'S 1

Promoted to third in the batting order, the fleet Chandler Simpson answered with four hits, and Liam Hicks' two-run double crowned a fourteen-hit afternoon behind Seymour's seven-strikeout work. The Sunshine nine thus complete the sweep, run their streak to six, and hold the American's finest ledger at one-and-seventy wins — while Seattle, four defeats running, watches the wild-card table recede.

FOUR CIRCUITS, ONE FROM THE NEWEST MAN IN HIS FIRST TIME AT BAT: FRIARS 7, HOUSTON NINE 2

San Diego answered Varsho's early two-run homer with four of their own: Merrill's eighteenth, Tatis Jr.'s three-run eleventh, Sheets' fifteenth, and — the flourish — a blow from Austin Hays in his first time at bat since signing on, by the wires' delighted account. Vásquez held Houston to two hits over five innings, the Friars have won two straight to draw within one game of the wild-card line, and the Houston nine's grip on the American West is down to half a game over Texas.

Ten games adorn this Monday's card, and the connoisseur should arrange the evening thus: at seven minutes past seven, Boston opens in Toronto behind Gray and his fourteen-and-two ledger, the American's most victories — with the catcher Rutschman's debut in new colors possibly on the same bill; at a quarter past seven the Metropolitans call upon Atlanta; at 7:45 the Phillies open in St. Louis; at forty past nine the Brewers, owners of the game's best record, open in San Diego against the surging Friars, Henderson and his 2.70 against Mize; and at ten past ten the night closes upon Skubal's first Dodger Stadium start in Los Angeles flannels, Kansas City the visitor. The sentimentalist is reminded once more of Thursday, when the Twins and Phillies repair to the Iowa corn at Dyersville for the Field of Dreams game. Until the morrow's dispatch, keep your scorecards near and your enthusiasms nearer.

~ THE HERALD ~