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. 41 · Tuesday, the Eighteenth of August, Two Thousand and Twenty-Six

Reporting 11 contests from the day prior.

The Game of the Day

THREE LETTERS FILL THE WRIGLEY NIGHT, AND THE TENTH INNING ANSWERS THEM: CROW-ARMSTRONG OPENS THE GAME WITH A HOMER, ENDS IT WITH ANOTHER, AND SEALS A SECOND STRAIGHT THIRTY-AND-THIRTY — CUBS 7, WHITE SOX 5

The crosstown engagement this paper billed last evening delivers everything promised and history besides — the center fielder leads off the first with his nine-and-twentieth homer, watches the South Siders seize the lead twice, and with a man aboard in the tenth dispatches his thirtieth over the right-field wall to win it outright, becoming the first Cub ever to post consecutive seasons of thirty homers and thirty stolen bases, and but the sixth man in all the game's annals to begin a game with a home run and end it with one

The chant rose out of the Wrigley Field night before the tenth inning was fairly begun — three letters, over and over, forty thousand voices strong — for the faithful had done the arithmetic and knew who was due. Pete Crow-Armstrong had opened the evening's account in the first inning with a leadoff thunderbolt to right, his nine-and-twentieth of the season; now, with Carson Kelly aboard and the crosstown affair knotted at five, he answered his own overture. The two-run blow that cleared the right-field wall was his thirtieth homer of the campaign, and as it carried he wheeled toward his own dugout and flung the bat with a violence the occasion excused entirely. 'I usually black out during those type of things,' the young man confessed afterward. 'I got a good bat flip in — I know that.'

Let the record state what the moment contained. With thirty home runs beside one-and-thirty stolen bases, Crow-Armstrong becomes the first Cub in the franchise's long history to fashion thirty-and-thirty seasons in consecutive years, and but the tenth man ever to do it, joining a register that runs from Willie Mays through Bonds father and son to Witt and Ramírez of the present age; he and Sammy Sosa remain the only Cubs to have done it even once. The Elias scribes add a garland: only five men before him — Vic Power the first, in 1957 — had ever struck a leadoff homer and a walk-off homer in the same game. 'It's been incredible to watch,' said the manager Craig Counsell, and his starter Shota Imanaga, who fanned ten South Siders across six innings in his own right, went further: 'You watch him play, and make the fantastic plays that he does, and you're not really surprised... he always passes it.'

The game deserved its finish. Seiya Suzuki had followed Crow-Armstrong's opening blast with one of his own, back-to-back before an out was recorded, whereupon the visitors clawed to the front on Randal Grichuk's three-run homer in the fourth — the lone blemish upon Imanaga's evening — and, after Nico Hoerner's two-run single (abetted by a Vargas throwing error) had restored the Cubs' advantage, Andrew Benintendi stunned the premises with a two-run go-ahead blow in the eighth. Hoerner, four hits on the night, singled home the leveler in the ninth; Jacob Webb escaped a bases-filled tenth without a scratch; and the stage was thus swept clean for the finale. The ledger takes its own notes: Chicago's North Side club stands at three-and-seventy wins against three-and-fifty defeats, holder of the National's first wild-card chair by six full games and four and a half behind the idle Milwaukees, while the Pale Hose — still masters of the American's Central by four and a half — were reminded that the rivalry keeps no standings. The two clubs reconvene at Wrigley this very evening.

News Around the League

THE CASE OF THE ABSENT SECOND BASEMAN: MARTE FAILS TO APPEAR AT FENWAY, AND ARIZONA INVOKES THE RESTRICTED LIST

The strangest wire of the morning issues from Boston, where the Diamondbacks took the field without Ketel Marte — not injured, not suspended, but simply absent. The second baseman did not appear at Fenway Park for the series opener, owing to what the club would later term a 'personal matter,' and was placed upon the restricted list. The manager Torey Lovullo allowed that he first caught wind of the possibility upon waking Monday morning, and declined to detail his communications with the man. The Herald notes that Marte's knee had already cost him time this month, as this paper's infirmary column has chronicled; what has cost him now is a mystery the club is in no hurry to solve publicly. The Arizonas could ill afford the distraction on the evening's evidence — the particulars of their eleven-to-one undoing are rendered upon the card below — and their grip on the wild-card scramble loosens by the day.

THE INFIRMARY WARD: FRIED'S ELBOW SENDS HIM BACK, RODÓN STEPS INTO THE BREACH, AND SWANSON'S SENTENCE IS MADE OFFICIAL

The Bronx ward reports a revolving door. Max Fried has been returned to the fifteen-day injured list with a bone bruise in his left elbow, the move backdated to Friday — the same joint, be it noted, that cost him better than two months earlier this season, hyperextended rather than struck. The counterweight arrived within the hour: Carlos Rodón, shelved since the third of July with inflammation of his own left elbow, is activated to take the ball this very evening at Baltimore, stepping into the rotation turn Fried vacates. In Chicago, the verdict this paper's ward forecast on Sunday is now official: Dansby Swanson goes to the ten-day list with a strain of the left oblique, having felt his side seize upon a single swing — 'It just felt like my left side kind of tightened up on me,' said the shortstop — a hard subtraction from a Cubs infield in full stretch-run stride. And from Denver, a brighter entry: Shohei Ohtani, whose evening's carpentry is described below, may ascend a bullpen mound as soon as this day, the wires report, in the next step of his long march back to pitching.

COMMERCE AT THE HIGHEST TABLE: THE PADRES PASS TO NEW HANDS BY UNANIMOUS CONSENT

The owners of all thirty clubs have spoken with one voice: the transfer of the San Diego franchise to the group led by Kwanza Jones and José E. Feliciano has been unanimously approved, the league announced Monday, essentially completing a sale the Seidler family agreed to in May. Jones and Feliciano will jointly lead the ownership, with Feliciano designated the club's control person. The ballplayers marked the occasion in their own fashion, dropping a one-run decision at Flushing hours later — the new proprietors will learn soon enough that the franchise plays its closest games at the least convenient hours.

THE AWARDS DESK TAKES ITS STRAW POLL: SCHLITTLER AND MISIOROWSKI ALL BUT MEASURED FOR THEIR HARDWARE

The wire's latest canvass of five-and-thirty experts on the Cy Young question returns a verdict scarcely worth the suspense: Jacob Misiorowski of Milwaukee was the unanimous choice of every voter in the National, and Cam Schlittler of the Yankees claimed five-and-twenty of the five-and-thirty first-place ballots in the American. The ledger offers no rebuttal. Misiorowski proprietors a 1.75 earned-run figure and two hundred ten strikeouts, both the National's finest by comfortable margins; Schlittler's 2.19 leads the American, with his hundred eighty-nine strikeouts third besides. Six weeks remain for an upset, and the desk, having consulted the arithmetic, declines to predict one.

THE ALMANAC DESK: WILLIAMSPORT ON SUNDAY, AND SIX WEEKS TO THE WIRE

Two entries for the long calendar. First: the Little League Classic arrives Sunday next, the three-and-twentieth of August, when the Brewers and Braves repair to Williamsport to perform before the smallest and sternest jury in baseball — a fixture this paper has commended before and commends again. Second, the hourglass: the almanac fixes the final day of the regular season at the seven-and-twentieth of September, some six weeks distant — which, given the condition of the wild-card furniture described in the desk note below, is either far too long or nowhere near long enough, depending upon the reader's rooting interest.

The Rest of the Card

THE SWEEP IS FORBIDDEN, AS COMMISSIONED: RAYS 7, ORIOLES 6, WITH BAKER TAKING FIVE OUTS FOR HIS FIVE-AND-THIRTIETH

The commission this paper recorded yesterday — Shane McClanahan, activated expressly to prevent a four-game Baltimore sweep at the Trop — was duly executed, though hardly in the manner drawn up. The returning left-hander gave three and a third innings in his first appearance from the injured list, struck out three, and surrendered a four-hundred-sixty-eight-foot moonshot to Coby Mayo, whose evening also included a double and two runs batted in. The O's built a six-to-four lead upon the long ball — Alonso's eight-and-twentieth, Encarnacion-Strand's two-run blow atop a two-run single, four driven in for the young man in all — but the seventh undid them: Aranda singled home one and DeLuca two more, and then Bryan Baker, fresh and unbothered, recorded the final five outs without incident, the first save of such length in his career and his five-and-thirtieth of the season, the largest crop in the game. The Tampa Bay nine, at five-and-seventy wins, remain the American's class; Baltimore's punishment for the defeat is rendered in the desk note's arithmetic.

FIFTEEN STRIKEOUTS AND TWO EARLY RUNS CARRY THE OPENER: CARDS 2, CINCINNATIS 1

The first game of the Cincinnati doubleheader was settled in its opening minutes and defended for two hours thereafter. Alec Burleson lined a two-run double in the first — his two-and-ninetieth runs batted in keep him atop the National's table — and the St. Louis pitching corps spent the rest of the afternoon fanning Redlegs at a prodigious rate: fifteen strikeouts in all, the home nine held to three hits, with Gastelum taking the decision in relief and O'Brien closing for his one-and-thirtieth save, the National's largest count. The lone Cincinnati answer was Dane Myers' fourth homer; the reader is advised to remember the name for approximately one entry.

MYERS TIES IT IN THE NINTH, AND ELLY ENDS IT IN THE TENTH — HIS FIRST WALK-OFF EVER: CINCINNATIS 6, CARDS 5

The nightcap repaid the afternoon with interest. Consigned to the designated hitter's post after an oh-for-four with four strikeouts in the opener — 'I think he knew he was going to lose that one anyway,' deadpanned the manager Terry Francona of the negotiation — Elly De La Cruz found himself at the plate in the tenth with Stephenson aboard and the game level, and laced a double to left that ended it: the first walk-off of the two-time All-Star's career. The road to that moment wound considerably: St. Louis led five-to-four in the ninth behind Herrera's fourteenth homer and Torres' go-ahead single, whereupon the aforementioned Dane Myers — he of the opener's only run — cleared the wall a second time in a single day to force the extra frame. Pagán took the decision; the clubs split the twin bill and remain locked together in the wild-card table's outer orbit, three games from the last chair.

SÁNCHEZ COLLECTS HIS SIXTEENTH, AND A REPLAY GLASS TAKES A RUN OFF MIAMI'S TABLE: PHILADELPHIAS 6, MIAMI NINE 5

Cristopher Sánchez — six-and-ten victories now against four defeats, the National's largest total — ground through six innings of one-run ball at home, and Philadelphia needed nearly every crumb of the lead its small-ball assembled: run-scoring singles by Turner, Arraez, and Bohm, a Schwarber sacrifice fly, and two driven in by Hill, the second upon a bases-loaded walk. The seventh inning supplied the controversy. Down three with the sacks full, Sanoja laced a ball down the first-base line, called foul upon the field; the replay glass ruled it fair, but the magistrates awarded only two runs, returning Lopez to third — a bases-clearing double by any natural reading — whereupon the Miami manager Clayton McCullough delivered his opinion of the proceedings and was invited to leave. Navarreto's first homer of the year and Lopez's ninth-inning single brought the Fish within one before Duran barred the door, his seven-and-twentieth save. The Phils have won four running and hold the National's second chair by a game; Miami departs three back, muttering about geometry.

McGONIGLE THUNDERS, SOMMERS SPRINTS, AND THE DETROITS REJOIN THE CHAIR FIGHT: TIGERS 8, ALLEGHENYS 5

Detroit built its evening at Pittsburgh early and generously: two in the first upon singles by McKinstry and Lee, Kevin McGonigle's two-run homer — his thirteenth — in the second, and a three-run sixth capped by Callahan's two-run single, fourteen hits in the visitors' ledger by night's end. The Alleghenys made their argument in their own sixth, Yorke's bases-clearing double the loudest word of a four-run reply, before Valdez handed matters to the relief corps and Jansen closed for his sixteenth save. The evening's curiosity belonged to the young reliever Drew Sommers, who broke off the mound on a chopper to Torkelson's right and won the footrace to the bag by a stride over Mangum and his elite wheels — 'Thankfully I was just a little bit faster than him,' the pitcher reported. The victory lifts Detroit level with Baltimore and Texas for the American's final chair, of which more below.

SIXTEEN HITS, AND THE ABANDONED ARIZONAS ARE BURIED: HUB NINE 11, DIAMONDBACKS 1

Whatever disorder attended Arizona's morning — see the news columns for the Marte affair — the evening offered no refuge. Boston battered the visitors with sixteen hits, Ceddanne Rafaela alone contributing three doubles to run his season's count to two-and-thirty, Sogard adding two more two-baggers, Contreras his five-and-twentieth homer, and Gasper his first of the year with two driven in. The pitching was arranged in the club's newest fashion: an opener to begin, then Brayan Bello in the bulk role he has lately made an argument in, four and two-thirds innings of one-run ball for the victory — fifty strikes among his six-and-seventy pitches. The Hub nine thus shake off a two-and-seven stumble in emphatic style; Arizona, held to four hits, has dropped two running and slips a game behind San Diego in the chair scramble.

TWICE THEY TESTED THE YOUNG MAN'S ARM, AND TWICE THEY DIED AT THE PLATE: METS 2, SAN DIEGO NINE 1

The whole of this taut affair at Flushing was contained in its first inning. New York scored twice — Bichette singling home one, Robert Jr. lofting home the other — and San Diego promptly ran itself out of the reply. With runners at first and second, France singled to right, whereupon Cronenworth was dispatched home and thrown out by Carson Benge, the ball arriving at very nearly a hundred miles per hour. One batter later Merrill singled to the same address, the third-base coach waved Machado around, and Benge threw him out as well — a hundred and three and nine-tenths miles per hour this time, the first Met ever to cut down two runners at the plate in a single inning. Thus armored, Nolan McLean worked six innings of one-run ball for his ninth victory, Buehler was hard-luck opposite with two hits allowed across six, and Duarte closed. The Metropolitans have won four running; the Friars, whose new owners are toasted in the news columns, were welcomed to the family with a lesson in outfield ballistics.

WITT DRIVES IN THREE AND THE MISSOURIANS MAKE IT TWO RUNNING: ROYALS 9, ATHLETICS 5

Kansas City spotted Jeff McNeil a leadoff homer and then buried the gesture beneath thirteen hits: three in the first upon Garcia's single and Perez's two-run knock, Bobby Witt Jr.'s two-run homer — his fifteenth — in the second, and steady contributions thereafter, Witt finishing with three driven in, a double, and his three-and-thirtieth stolen base, with Caglianone singling home a pair for good measure. The Athletics kept a respectable countenance through White's and Serven's middle-inning homers — three round-trippers in all for the visitors — but Wacha weathered the lot across five innings for the decision and Cruz closed. The Kansas City nine, whatever their station in the ledger, have won two straight; the wandering Athletics have not been so fortunate, and the clubs go again this evening.

FOUR IN THE FIRST FROM THE NEW LEADOFF MAN'S SPARK: MINNESOTANS 4, BRAVES 2

Luke Keaschall, handed the leadoff post for the first time all season, opened the home first with a double and set a four-run rally going before the Atlanta starter had found his footing: Josh Bell's ground-rule double cashed two, Lewis and Clemens singled home the others, and that, remarkably, was the evening's entire Minnesota offense — and enough. The Braves' reply was confined to Acuña Jr.'s two-run single in the fifth, whereupon the Twins' relief corps pitched four and two-thirds scoreless innings to seal it, Adams taking the decision and Gómez his eighteenth save. 'It was good to get the bats going in the first,' offered Keaschall, a man unlikely to be evicted from his new post soon. The Dixie nine, still masters of the National's East by a comfortable margin, have dropped two of three; Minnesota lurks half a game from the American's final chair.

EIGHT HUNDRED SEVENTY-EIGHT FEET OF OHTANI, AND ONE SOUVENIR FOR THE BULLPEN: TROLLEY DODGERS 11, COLORADANS 5

The thin air of Denver received the full Shohei treatment. Ohtani collected four hits — the eleventh four-hit evening of his career — and cleared the fences twice, a leadoff blast in the fifth and a two-run drive in the sixth totaling eight hundred seventy-eight feet of flight, the second of them a four-hundred-fifty-two-foot artifact that landed in the glove of the Dodger reliever Kyle Hurt, stationed in the bullpen and clearly delighted with his keepsake. Muncy's three-run homer, his five-and-twentieth, had opened the breach in the third; Betts drove in two, Pages likewise; and Blake Snell, in the quietest headline of the night, delivered six innings of two-hit, one-run ball for his first victory of the season. The defeat fell to Sugano, roughed for seven runs across five innings, his ledger falling to twelve-and-six. Los Angeles, at five-and-seventy wins, stands two and a half behind Milwaukee for the game's best ledger; the Coloradans' evening is best measured in the souvenirs.

The arithmetic desk reports that the furniture has been rearranged again: the American's final wild-card chair, in Baltimore's sole keeping but four-and-twenty hours ago, is this morning shared by three tenants — the Orioles, the Rangers, and the Tigers, each at one-and-sixty wins against four-and-sixty defeats — with the Twins and Blue Jays half a game astern, Cleveland a full game, and Seattle two: seven claimants, and still not one of them at the break-even line. In the National the seating is more orderly: the Cubs hold the first chair by six, Philadelphia the second by a single game over San Diego, with Arizona one behind the Friars and Miami and St. Louis three back. This day's card runs to the full fifteen engagements. The bill of fare: at Baltimore at 6:35, Rodón makes his return from the injured list for the Yankees, opposite Baz; at Philadelphia at 6:40, Wheeler and his 2.89 receive the Miami nine; at the Trop at 6:40, Martinez — twelve victories against three, a 2.74 figure — takes the ball for Tampa Bay against Toronto; and at 8:05 the crosstown engagement resumes at Wrigley, Gausman handed the ball for the Cubs and the South Siders under every obligation to answer for the tenth inning. Until the morrow's dispatch, keep your scorecards near and your enthusiasms nearer.

~ THE HERALD ~

The Herald Acknowledges Its Debts