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

THE MORNING HORSEHIDE HERALD

"Every Score Set Down, No Deed Unsung"

~ Being a Faithful Daily Chronicle of the National Pastime ~

Volume I · No. 37 · Friday, the Fourteenth of August, Two Thousand and Twenty-Six

Reporting 9 contests from the day prior.

The Game of the Day

MUNCY MAKES HISTORY, AND MILWAUKEE MAKES OFF WITH THE EVENING: THREE SINGLES IN THE NINTH FELL LOS ANGELES — BREWERS 5, DODGERS 4

Max Muncy passes Eric Karros for the most home runs ever struck at Dodger Stadium — with Karros himself at the microphone to call it — and for two innings the Ravine toasts its new record-holder; whereupon Chourio, Mitchell, and Bauers rap three straight singles off the unfortunate Díaz, Megill bars the door, and the Cream City nine departs with its five-and-seventieth victory and the National's finest ledger intact

The evening had written itself a page of history by the sixth inning, and the ninth tore it out and wrote a better one. The historic entry belonged to Max Muncy, summoned from the bench with two aboard and his club trailing by a run: he lifted his three-and-twentieth home run of the season into the right-center seats, and with it passed Eric Karros for the most home runs ever struck at Dodger Stadium — while Karros himself, seated at the broadcast microphone, described the surpassing of his own monument. The blow turned a two-one deficit into a four-two lead and seemed to settle an evening in which Sasaki had wobbled through six innings of two-run ball, the visitors' only scores having arrived by the humblest post: consecutive bases-loaded walks to Ortiz and Hamilton in the fourth.

Then came the ninth, and Edwin Díaz, and the sound of six-and-forty thousand souls falling silent by degrees. Jackson Chourio singled home Ortiz. Garrett Mitchell singled home Hamilton. Jake Bauers singled home Chourio. Three singles, three runs, and every one of the three struck to right field, where Kyle Tucker collected each in turn and could do nothing with any of them. It was the third save Díaz has spilled in his last four chances — a subject upon which the Ravine's management pronounced itself this morning, as the news column relates — and it handed the decision to Hall, who had faced six Los Angeles batters across the seventh and eighth and retired every one, three by strikeout. Megill closed the ninth without incident for his two-and-twentieth save.

The ledger stands thus: five-and-seventy wins against seven-and-forty for the Cream City nine, the National League's finest account, four games clear of the North Siders in the Central — while Los Angeles, at three-and-seventy and nine-and-forty, let slip its chance to draw level with the leaders and must content itself with an eight-game cushion over San Diego in the West. The same two clubs resume hostilities tonight at ten past ten Eastern, Gasser opposing Yamamoto, and the Herald recommends the reader lose no sleep deciding whether to stay up: the answer is yes.

News Around the League

THE CORN PARTS, AND SIX-AND-TWENTY IMMORTALS WALK OUT OF IT

Dyersville, Iowa, got its pageant at last, and the pageant did not disappoint. Before the third MLB at Field of Dreams game, six-and-twenty members of the Hall of Fame emerged from the outfield corn precisely as the ghost players did in the famous moving picture, a procession to raise the hackles on the flintiest scorer's neck. The game that followed belonged to Philadelphia — the score and particulars are set down upon the card below — and above all to Kyle Schwarber, who deposited two baseballs into that same corn, his six-and-thirtieth and seven-and-thirtieth of the campaign, the largest crop in the major leagues. 'Is this heaven?' the Philadelphia wires asked afterward, and answered themselves in the affirmative. The beaten Minnesotans were gracious in their turn, pronouncing the evening one they would cherish for a lifetime — which is, the Herald submits, the entire point of building a ballpark in a cornfield.

DEGROM DEPARTS AFTER TWO, AND ARLINGTON HOLDS ITS BREATH

The gravest news of the evening came from Anaheim, where Jacob deGrom left his start against the Angels after but two innings, the club citing fatigue of the right triceps. The Lone Star staff has absorbed one blow after another this season, and the timing of this one could scarcely be worse: the Rangers have now dropped three straight, sit two games behind Houston in the American's West, and cling to the wild-card scrum by half a game. Such comfort as exists arrives by rehabilitation wire — Jack Leiter has been dispatched to Round Rock to begin working his way back.

THREE THOUSAND INNINGS FOR THE OLD LION

Let the milestone desk record that Max Scherzer, laboring in Toronto flannels against Boston last evening, crossed the threshold of three thousand career innings pitched — only the second active practitioner to reach that figure. The evening's decision went against him, as the card below relates, but five innings of one-run ball from an arm with three thousand frames upon its odometer is its own kind of testimony. The Herald tips its cap to endurance itself.

THE INFIRMARY WARD: TWO ELBOWS, A KNEE, AND SOME BRIGHTER BULLETINS

The overnight admissions: Boston has placed Garrett Whitlock on the fifteen-day list with inflammation of the right elbow; Detroit has lost James Outman to the seven-day concussion list; and Pittsburgh's Endy Rodríguez goes down with an ailing hip. In Milwaukee the ranking worry is Brice Turang, who sat out the Dodger engagement with a balky knee while the club seeks a second reading of his examination. The brighter bulletins: Byron Buxton was activated in time to patrol the Dyersville corn and doubled for good measure; Carlos Rodón struck out seven in a rehabilitation outing and stands on the verge of rejoining the New York rotation; and Shohei Ohtani has progressed to long toss, with work off a mound reported the next station on his return to pitching.

WIRES FROM THE RAVINE: THE CLOSER KEEPS HIS OFFICE

Two dispatches from Los Angeles beyond the evening's defeat. First, the management declared this morning that Edwin Díaz, his three spilled saves in four chances notwithstanding, remains the club's closer — skipper Dave Roberts professing his faith undiminished. Second, on the matter of the club's possible sale: a source tells the Eastern wire that Ohtani would likely decline to exercise the so-called key-man clause in his contract — the escape hatch permitting him to opt out should Mark Walter sell the franchise. The deed to the ballclub may change hands or may not; the great man's services, it appears, are not going anywhere either way.

The Rest of the Card

SCHWARBOMBS AMONG THE CORNSTALKS: PHILS 7, MINNESOTANS 1

The particulars of the Dyersville festival, pageantry aside: Schwarber opened the scoring with a solo blast in the first and added a two-run shot in the fourth — numbers six-and-thirty and seven-and-thirty, both swallowed by the corn — while Nola dealt five innings of one-run ball with nine strikeouts for the victory. Marsh added a two-run homer, his seventeenth, and Harper and Stott singled home a run apiece. Young Keaschall's solo shot was the whole of the Minnesota reply, charged ultimately to Bradley, who fell to nine-and-five. The Phils, at five-and-sixty wins, keep their grip on the National's final wild-card chair.

STEWART IS STRUCK, THE BENCHES EMPTY, AND CINCINNATI HAS THE FINAL WORD: REDLEGS 9, PALE HOSE 8

A rough evening on the South Side by every measure. The Redlegs struck three times in the first — Sal Stewart's six-and-twentieth homer followed by Suárez's two-run blow — and tempers followed the baseballs out of the yard: Davis Martin was ejected after striking Stewart with a pitch, the benches emptying for their airing. Chicago twice clawed level or ahead behind Grichuk's pair of doubles, but Stephenson's three-run homer in the fourth restored Cincinnati's command at eight-four, and Suárez — four runs driven in, one of them forced home by a bases-full plunking — kept the hosts at arm's length. Chicago crept within a single run on Quero's third hit of the night in the ninth before Garcia shut the gate for his second save. The Pale Hose still hold the American's Central by two and a half over Detroit; Stewart's nine-and-eightieth run driven in stands second in the National.

NOT ONE STRIKEOUT, AND NOT ONE RUN EITHER: BENGALS 3, LAKE ERIE MEN 0

The Detroit pitchers — Montero across six and a third, Holton in relief, Jansen for the fifteenth save — achieved a whitewash without recording a solitary strikeout, a feat the wires pronounce among the rarest in the pitching art. The runs arrived modestly: a groundout by Dingler, a solo homer by Valencia, a single by Torkelson. Messick deserved better than his defeat, five and two-thirds innings of two-run ball leaving his 2.59 mark third among the American's pitchers. The Bengals sit two and a half behind the Pale Hose and hold the league's final wild-card chair.

ASHCRAFT GOES THE FULL ROUTE AND THE CORSAIRS RUN RIOT: CORSAIRS 13, FISH 1

Braxton Ashcraft delivered the completest of complete games — nine innings, three hits, ten strikeouts — for his twelfth victory, and his confederates buried Miami beneath sixteen hits. Triolo homered (the reviewing magistrates upheld it), Rafael Flores Jr. cleared the wall twice, and Jacob Gonzalez crowned a five-run ninth with a two-run shot. Caissie's thirteenth homer, in the ninth, spared the Fish the indignity of a blanking. Miami slips to two-and-sixty wins and sits two and a half from the wild-card scrum.

ONE SWING FROM WILSON, SIX INNINGS FROM GILBERT, AND NOT A RUN TO SPARE: M'S 1, BRONX BOMBERS 0

In the Bronx, on the mound he confesses he dreamed of pitching upon, Logan Gilbert dealt six scoreless innings with seven strikeouts, and Weston Wilson's second-inning homer off Fried — his fourth of the year — stood as the game entire. Bazardo, Ferrer, and Muñoz, the last for his one-and-twentieth save, carried the single run home like porcelain. The victory arrests a Seattle slide that had reached six games; New York, for its part, wasted five sturdy innings from Fried and still holds the American's first wild-card chair, six and a half behind the streaking Rays.

TOLLE THROWS EIGHT BLANK FRAMES AND DURBIN CLEARS THE SACKS: HUB NINE 7, TORONTOS 0

Young Payton Tolle permitted Toronto two hits across eight scoreless innings — an evening that drew rave notice even from the opposing manager — and Caleb Durbin supplied the thunder: a grand slam in the eighth, his twelfth homer, and five runs driven in altogether. Contreras opened the scoring with a first-inning double. The defeat went to Scherzer on his three-thousandth-inning night, chronicled in the news column above. Boston's second straight victory since arresting its five-game slide keeps the Hub nine in the second wild-card chair at five-and-sixty wins.

CAVALLI CARRIES A NO-HITTER INTO THE SEVENTH AT WRIGLEY: CAPITAL NINE 7, NORTH SIDERS 0

Cade Cavalli held the North Siders hitless into the seventh inning and finished with a single hit allowed across eight, ten strikeouts, and his tenth victory — the latest and loudest chapter in the young man's ascent. Crews doubled home the first run, and Abimelec Ortiz struck a three-run homer in a five-run fifth that settled matters; Gausman absorbed the defeat, his eleventh. The whitewash trims Chicago's account to four games behind Milwaukee in the Central, though the club still holds the National's first wild-card seat by a comfortable six and a half.

TROUT RAPS THREE AND THE HALOS MAKE IT THREE RUNNING: HALOS 7, LONE STAR NINE 0

Mike Trout, the old lion of Anaheim in full August voice, collected three hits and a run driven in — the wires liken his current stretch to the vintage of 2018 — while Ureña spun six scoreless innings for the victory. Josh Lowe and Siri drove home two apiece as the Halos ran their winning streak to three. The evening's costlier news for Texas was deGrom's early departure, set down in the news column above; the Lone Star nine has now dropped three straight and holds the wild-card cellar door by its fingernails, half a game behind Detroit.

A card of nine produced five whitewashes — the arithmetic desk begs the reader to check it, and it holds: three by the count of seven-nought, one by three, and one by the barest one-nought. Tonight the schedule swells to fourteen engagements, and the desk directs the connoisseur thus: the heavyweight rematch in Los Angeles at ten past ten, Gasser opposing Yamamoto and his 2.65; a pitching bill of rare quality at Cincinnati at ten past six, where Alcantara, thirteen-and-six, meets young Burns, thirteen-and-two; the Rays, riding nine straight, at home to receive Baltimore; and in Detroit, young Jobe — unscored upon in the young life of his return — takes the hill against Newcomb of the Pale Hose. Until the morrow's dispatch, keep your scorecards near and your enthusiasms nearer.

~ THE HERALD ~

The Herald Acknowledges Its Debts