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  • Rockies’ late rally falls short against Padres, who pound out 16 hits at Coors Field

    Time to recycle Vin Scully’s classic quote about the beast that is Coors Field.

    “You don’t need an official scorer at Coors Field. You need a certified public accountant,” the late, great Dodgers broadcaster famously said.

    Quite apropos for the goings on in LoDo on Saturday night in front of an announced crowd of 43,461.

    The Padres blasted Rockies pitching for 16 hits on their way to a 10-8 win. Rockies starter McCade Brown was gone before the second inning was over, and manager Warren Schaeffer was forced to use six pitchers.

    But the Rockies, as is their wont, made the Padres squirm, belting 14 hits, including a solo home run by Mickey Moniak in the ninth off Robert Suarez. Colorado also got a three-run homer by Jordan Beck in its four-run seventh. Beck’s homer, his first since Aug. 3, came on the heels of catcher Hunter Goodman’s solo blast in the sixth.

    Did Beck know it had been more than a month since he last went yard?

    “I was pretty aware,” Beck said after hitting his 15th home run and tying his season-high with four RBIs. “It feels like it’s been that long to me. Maybe not to you guys, but it feels that long to me.”

    Beck hit a 0-2 fastball off of right-hander Jeremiah Estrada, sending the ball 447 feet.

    “He’s a big-time fastball pitcher and I feel like if you’re not on time for the fastball against him, you’re going to be in a tough spot,” Beck said. “I felt like he had me down two strikes on two fastballs, so I kind of figured he’d throw it again.”

    The Padres (77-65) snapped a five-game losing streak and moved to within one game of the Dodgers in the battle for the National League West crown. The Rockies lost their 102nd game and fell for the 12th time in 15 games.

    Friday night, the Rockies shut out San Diego, 3-0, behind a brilliant start by Kyle Freeland. However, Saturday night’s game highlighted the fragility of the Rockies’ pitching. They have a team ERA of 6.01, which matches the 1999 club for the highest in franchise history. Rockies starters have a 6.63 ERA, which obliterates the 1999 rotation’s 6.19 ERA. In fact, Colorado starters are nipping at the heels of the 1996 Tigers (6.64) for the highest starters’ ERA of the modern era (since 1901).

    San Diego’s four-run fifth inning against recently signed Rockies reliever Roansy Contreras was the difference maker. Contreras gave up four runs on three hits and a walk in two-thirds of an inning. Luis Arraez’s two-out, two-run single was the key hit of the inning.

    Goodman’s 419-foot homer to left off Padres starter Randy Vasquez was Goodman’s 29th home run of the season, setting a franchise record for homers by a primary catcher. He passed Wilin Rosario, who launched 28 in 2012.

    “I had some pretty good goals that I wanted to achieve this season, and getting to 30 (home runs) has been one of my goals since I’ve been in the minors,” Goodman said. “So it’s been one of my goals every year, and I have been blessed to stay healthy and get to play every day.”

    Goodman is on the verge of becoming the first Rockie to hit 30 home runs since Nolan Arenado (42), Trevor Story (35), and Charlie Blackmon (32) did it in 2019.

    The Rockies also received a highlight reel night from center fielder Brenton Doyle. He ripped an RBI double off Vasquez in the second and made two outstanding catches in the Padres’ fourth. He sprinted to the deepest part of the outfield in left-center field to rob Fernando Tatis of extra bases. Two batters later, he ran to right-center to steal a hit from Manny Machado.

    The Padres teed off on Brown like Bryson DeChambeau, scoring six runs on five hits in the second. Brown is 0-3 with a 12.54 ERA in three big-league starts this season.

    “It looks like he came out of his delivery a little bit, started speeding up and maybe yanking some (pitches),” Schaeffer said. “He just couldn’t put a foot down.”

    The second inning began with Brown plunking Ryan O’Hearn. Ramon Laureano followed with a single, and Brown hit Jackson Merrill to load the bases. Jake Cronenworth drilled a comebacker off Brown’s leg for an RBI single.

    San Diego’s onslaught continued with Freddy Fermin’s two-run double down the left-field line and continued with Fernando Tatis Jr.’s 441-foot, three-run bomb to left center.

     

    Originally Published:

    Patrick Saunders

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  • SF Giants’ winning streak snapped as Walker allows three runs in ninth to Cardinals

    ST. LOUIS — The Giants lost to the St. Louis Cardinals 3-2 on Saturday night at Busch Stadium as closer Ryan Walker allowed three runs in the bottom of the ninth without recording a single out, ending San Francisco’s winning streak at five games.

    Nolan Gorman and Mason Wynn led off the bottom of the ninth with back-to-back singles, then Walker loaded the bases by plunking Jimmy Crooks. The Cardinals brought the game within one run on an RBI single by Thomas Saggese, then Jordan Walker delivered a walk-off, two-run double.

    The Giants’ streak of consecutive games with at least one home run ends at 18, one shy of tying the 1947 New York Giants.

    With a strikeout of Nolan Gorman in the sixth, Justin Verlander recorded the 3,535th strikeout of his career to pass Giants Hall of Famer Gaylord Perry for eighth on the all-time strikeouts list. The next pitcher for Verlander to pass is Don Sutton, who totaled 3,574 strikeouts over 23 seasons. Verlander pitched six shutout innings with five strikeouts to no walks.

    Verlander, who has a 3.52 ERA over 10 starts in the second half, benefitted from several excellent defensive plays. In the second, right fielder Drew Gilbert bumped into the wall in foul territory when tracking down Thomas Saggese’s fly ball, causing the ball to bounce out of his glove. Gilbert stuck with the play and corralled the ball to record the out.

    Along with Gilbert’s circus catch, second baseman Casey Schmitt made a leaping catch in the fourth to rob Iván Herrera of a hit in the fourth. Catcher Patrick Bailey helped stymie a rally in fifth by throwing out Victor Scott II trying to steal third.

    The Giants, as they’ve been wont to do over the last two weeks, struck first, plating a pair of runs in the top of the fourth on a sacrifice fly by Casey Schmitt and an RBI single by Drew Gilbert.

    Justice delos Santos

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  • Davey Johnson, who won 2 World Series as a player and managed the NY Mets to the 1996 title, dies at 82

    NEW YORK — When the winning run scored in Game 6 of the 1986 World Series, the New York Mets melted into a white-and-blue swirl near the plate, celebrating their implausible comeback from the brink of defeat.

    Right in the middle of all that humanity was Davey Johnson, who had arrived at the mob scene before many of his players.

    Those ’86 Mets — with all their brashness, belligerence and unapologetic brilliance — would not have been the same without their 43-year-old manager.

    Johnson died Friday at age 82. Longtime Mets public relations representative Jay Horwitz said Johnson’s wife Susan informed him of his death after a long illness. Johnson was at a hospital in Sarasota, Fla.

    “His ability to empower players to express themselves while maintaining a strong commitment to excellence was truly inspiring,” Darryl Strawberry posted on Instagram with a photo of him, Johnson and Dwight Gooden. “Davey’s legacy will forever be etched in the hearts of fans and players alike.”

    Strawberry and Gooden were the young stars of that 1986 team, and their talent and off-field troubles came to symbolize an era of Mets baseball. It was Johnson’s third World Series title after he won two as a player with the Baltimore Orioles.

    A four-time All-Star, Johnson played 13 major-league seasons with the Orioles, Atlanta Braves, Philadelphia Phillies and Chicago Cubs from 1965-78 and won three Gold Gloves at second base. He managed the Mets, Cincinnati Reds, Los Angeles Dodgers and Washington Nationals during a span from 1984-2013.

    “Davey was a good man, close friend and a mentor,” former Nationals general manager Mike Rizzo said in a text message. “A Hall of Fame caliber manager with a baseball mind ahead of his time.”

    Born Jan. 30, 1943, in Orlando, Fla., Johnson won World Series titles with the Orioles in 1966 and 1970 and also made the final out of the 1969 Fall Classic against the Mets — an irony given his future role with them. In 1973, Johnson hit a career-high 43 home runs with the Braves, joining Darrell Evans (41) and Henry Aaron (40) as part of the first trio of teammates in major league history to reach 40 in the same year.

    Johnson’s first managerial job was with the Mets when he was in his early 40s. In steering that famously rowdy group to a title in 1986, he earned a reputation for giving his players their freedom. When that team began to decline, he was fired in 1990, but his days as a manager were far from over.

    Mets manager Davey Johnson, center, holds the World Series trophy on the podium after his team defeated the Red Sox in Game 7 for the title on Oct. 27, 1986, at Shea Stadium in New York. (Ray Stubblebine/AP)

    Johnson’s tenure in Cincinnati ended unusually. He was a lame duck at the start of the 1995 season, with Reds owner Marge Schott prepared to give Ray Knight — the man who scored that winning run in Game 6 for the Mets in ’86 — the managing job once that season was over. After guiding the Reds to a division title in ’95, Johnson went back to Baltimore to manage the Orioles.

    “Davey Johnson was one of the best managers I ever had the privilege of working with in my career,” Jim Bowden, Reds general manager that year, said on social media Saturday. “He taught me so much about baseball specifically how to build bullpens, develop young pitchers and put together elite coaching staffs. He was a brilliant, kind leader and teammate.”

    When Johnson took over the Orioles, he had enough credibility to move Cal Ripken Jr. from shortstop to third base, and they made the playoffs each of his two seasons at the helm. It was the first time the Orioles had done so since 1983, and they wouldn’t qualify again until 2012.

    Like in Cincinnati, Johnson won a division title in what turned out to be the last year of his tenure in Baltimore. Amid a feud with owner Peter Angelos, Johnson resigned after the 1997 season — hours after receiving his first Manager of the Year award.

    He won it again in 2012, when he led the Nationals to baseball’s best regular-season record and the franchise’s first postseason spot since moving from Montreal to Washington.

    “Davey was a world-class manager,” Nationals owner Mark Lerner said in a statement. “I’ll always cherish the memories we made together with the Nationals, and I know his legacy will live on in the heads and minds of our fans and those across baseball.”

    Johnson studied math at Trinity University in Texas, and he had an innovative side. Even when he was a player, he was already using data to try to optimize the Orioles lineup, although Hall of Fame manager Earl Weaver wasn’t turning that duty over to his infielder.

    But when dealing with his players as a manager, Johnson had a blunt, old-school manner, according to Mike Bordick, the Orioles shortstop in 1997.

    “He was so easy to play for,” Bordick said. “He just knew the right buttons to push.”

    Ryan Zimmerman, who played for Johnson with the Nationals from 2011-13, said Johnson was an even better human than he was a baseball man.

    “He knew how to get the best out of everyone — on and off the field,” Zimmerman said in a text message. “I learned so much from him, and my career would not have been the same without my years with him. He will be deeply missed by so many people.”

    AP’s Howard Fendrich contributed. Noah Trister reported from Baltimore.

    Originally Published:

    Stephen Whyno, Noah Trister

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  • Dodgers place Dalton Rushing on injured list with bone bruise in right leg

    BALTIMORE – It was one of the harder balls Dalton Rushing has hit all season.

    “Yeah, 103 (mph),” Rushing said Saturday. “I barreled it right into my leg.”

    The foul ball during his sixth-inning at-bat Friday night left Rushing on the ground in pain. But X-rays that night and a CT scan Saturday revealed no fracture, just a significant “bone contusion to my tib-fib,” Rushing said.

    The rookie catcher was prepared to be told more bad news than that.

    “Watching the video, I’m surprised. The initial feeling – yeah, I’m surprised,” he said. “It numbed up pretty quick. Couldn’t really put any pressure on it. There was pain up and down my leg. Thank God I’ve got a strong tib-fib. I guess I drank a lot of milk as a kid. It sucks, though.”

    Rushing was officially placed on the injured list by the Dodgers Saturday, and journeyman catcher Chuckie Robinson was promoted from Triple-A Oklahoma City. Robinson, 30, has been with five organizations during his career but has only 51 games of big-league experience (25 with the Cincinnati Reds in 2022 and 26 with the Chicago White Sox last season). He joins Ben Rortvedt as the only healthy catchers on the Dodgers’ roster.

    Will Smith remains on the active roster and might be available to pinch-hit as soon as Sunday. He has a bone bruise in his right hand after taking a foul tip off the hand during Wednesday’s game.

    GLASNOW UPDATE

    Right-hander Tyler Glasnow returned to Los Angeles Friday after being scratched from his start with back stiffness.

    “He went and saw the docs back in Los Angeles, and nothing came of it,” Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said. “So I think we dodged a bullet. He was playing catch today. So we expect to pencil him in soon. But we dodged a bullet, so we feel good about that.”

    The Dodgers do not have a starter for Monday’s game against the Colorado Rockies. It could be Glasnow or Emmet Sheehan (on four days’ rest).

    SLUMP BUSTER

    Roberts said, “there were conversations that were had” with some team members about breaking out of the offensive malaise that has gripped the Dodgers for weeks now.

    “I think that when you’re mired in something, you have to kind of sometimes step back or have somebody allow you to step back and look at what’s going on,” Roberts said. “I think that we’ve done that.”

    Roberts said he didn’t want to give any specifics about those conversations. But he gave a hint.

    “There’s an approach, a mental part. I think that right now it seems like guys are trying to be a little too careful, trying to be perfect and trying not to fail,” Roberts said. “That kind of mindset doesn’t bode well when you’re trying to not make a mistake or be perfect.

    “I think those are things, the conversations I’ve had with the guys as far as giving them the freedom to just play freely. With that, the hope is you’ll see some more smiles and some more sunflower seeds and the energy. … There’s a balance between urgency and focus and being too tight. So just trying to find that fine balance where I do think that the conversation we all had, we found that balance.”

    REHAB ROUNDUP

    Left-hander Alex Vesia pitched a hitless inning for the second time for OKC, striking out two of the three batters he faced on Friday night to complete his rehab assignment. Roberts said Vesia will join the Dodgers in Los Angeles on Monday and be activated from the injured list.

    Max Muncy and Tommy Edman continued their rehab assignments with OKC Saturday. Both are expected to join the Dodgers and come off the IL during the three-game series against the Rockies.

    Roberts said the Dodgers have decided to have right-hander Roki Sasaki make another rehab start with OKC on Tuesday. Sasaki has a 7.07 ERA with 17 hits and eight walks in 14 innings over his first four starts for OKC.

    “Again, I think the main thing for Roki is just performance. Increasing his velocity and command. Just pitching well,” Roberts said. “We’re in a playoff race. So he’s got to continue to raise his level to be here.”

    ALSO

    To clear a spot on the 40-man roster for Robinson, right-hander Matt Sauer was designated for assignment. Sauer had a 5.86 ERA in 83 innings for OKC and a 6.37 ERA in 10 appearances with the Dodgers.

    UP NEXT

    Dodgers (LHP Clayton Kershaw, 9-2, 3.28 ERA) at Orioles (RHP Tomoyuki Sugano, 10-7, 4.41 ERA), Sunday, 10:35 a.m., SportsNet LA, 570 AM

    Bill Plunkett

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  • Davey Johnson, Mets managerial great, 1986 World Series winner dead at 82 | amNewYork

    Former New York Mets manager and 1986 World Series winner Davey Johnson has passed away at the age of 82, team historian Jay Horwitz announced on Friday. 

    For much of the franchise’s first 30 years of existence, Johnson was indelibly intertwined within its fabric. 

    As a star second baseman for the Baltimore Orioles, his deep fly ball to left field in Game 5 of the 1969 World Series at Shea Stadium was caught by Cleon Jones, serving as the final out of the Mets’ improbable title.

    He played 13 years in the majors from 1965-1978, garnering four All-Star selections, three Gold Glove Awards, and championships in 1966 and 1970 — a regular within some of the powerhouse Baltimore clubs built by the legendary manager, Earl Weaver. 

    Following his playing days, Johnson was the manager of New York’s Triple-A affiliate in Tidewater, VA, before getting the big-league job in 1984 and taking over the reins of a team that had won just 68 games the year before. 

    But he championed for the organization’s star prospects, Doc Gooden and Darryl Strawberry, to follow him to the big leagues. Coupled with the acquisition of Keith Hernandez, the Mets won 90 games in 1984. 

    It was the first of five consecutive 90-plus-win seasons for the Mets, which rounded out its championship core in 1985 by acquiring Gary Carter.

    While their off-field antics are memorialized in perpetuity, the on-field product was undeniable. The Mets won 108 games in 1986 and pulled off one of the game’s most famous comebacks in Game 6 of the Fall Classic to defeat the Boston Red Sox in seven games. 

    It was the franchise’s second and still most recent championship. Johnson won 100 games in 1988, but the Mets fell to the Dodgers in the NLCS. While the franchise’s foundation unraveled with the departures of Hernandez and Carter, coupled with the troubles of Gooden and Strawberry, Johnson was dismissed following a 20-22 start in 1990. 

    His 595 wins rank No. 1 in franchise history, as does his .588 winning percentage. 

    Johnson went on to coach the Cincinnati Reds, Orioles, Los Angeles Dodgers, and Washington Nationals following his stint with the Mets. He won the AL Manager of the Year in 1997 with Baltimore and again in 2012 with Washington, though he never returned to the World Series again. 

    His 1,372 managerial wins rank 33rd in MLB history.

    For more on Davey Johnson and the Mets, visit AMNY.com

    Joe Pantorno

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  • Phillies prospect watch: Aidan Miller and Justin Crawford hitting like future roster cornerstones

    The Phillies are not the only team in the organization in a playoff hunt right now. Both the Iron Pigs (Triple-A) and Threshers (Single-A) have a chance to join the big league club in their respective postseasons. 

    And that’s because a lot of the franchise’s best prospects are playing pretty well as summer turns to fall and the 2025 season nears its conclusion.

    While the trade deadline is firmly in the rearview and big league promotions the rest of the way are unlikely, the players we’ll document below could be names to keep an eye on in spring training next March. 

    Here’s our latest check in with the Phillies’ top 15 prospects (according to MLB.com):

    Who’s hot?

    Aidan Miller, SS (No. 2)

    Philly’s top positional prospect has been everything the team has been hoping for so far, as he earned the farm systems hitter of the month honors for his performance in August — which was simply electric. The 21 year old slashed .348/.454/.629 (1.083 OPS), going 31-for-89 with 22 runs scored, 13 doubles, four homers, 16 RBI, 13 walks and 13 stolen bases in 22 games for double-A Reading.

    Justin Crawford, OF (No. 3)

    Crawford is also handling the bat very well, as he and Crawford both could factor into the team’s offseason plans and roster construction. The former first rounder is hitting .334 with a .411 on base percentage this season, numbers scouts are drooling over. He’s also finding more power in Triple-A — he had three homers in a four game stretch from August 24th to 28th.

    Aroon Escobar, IF (No. 5)

    Escobar has jumped from being the 13th top prospect in the organization to sixth, then to fifth after the trade deadline. He has a five-game hit streak right now over at Jersey Shore, and two nights before the streak started he went 3-for-5 with a two-run homer. He’ll have to prove it in the higher minors before the Phillies pencil him in as a future big league contributor.

    Dante Nori, OF (No. 6)

    Nori recently made the leap, like Escobar, from Clearwater to Jersey Shore and he’s shown worthy of the promotion. In 10 games there, he’s hit .308 with 13 stolen bases. The team desperately needs outfield talent in the near future and if he can keep playing like a first round pick he could factor into their plans quickly.

    Gabriel Rincones, OF (No. 9)

    An older prospect at 24, Rincones has been on an absolute tear the last 10 days, hitting .447 in Triple-A. Over that span he has five homers, 14 RBI and a crazy .895 slugging percentage.

    Keaton Anthony, 1B (No. 15)

    Anthony is another older prospect whom you may not have heard of, but he’s on a hot streak in the minors and handled a promotion with gusto from Double to Triple-A. After slashing .330/.380/.522 in Reading, he’s hit .313 over 33 games in Lehigh Valley.

    Who’s not?

    Andrew Painter, SP (No. 1 prospect)

    Painter has been disappointing to fans, and probably to the organization too as each expected the top prospect in the organization to make a major league impact this summer. But he’s simply not ready for the majors — as he continues his return from TJ surgery. His most recent start Wednesday for Lehigh Valley saw the 21-year-old pummeled for 10 hits and seven runs (six earned) in 5.1 innings against Toledo. Painter will finish the season in Triple-A and attempt to compete for a roster spot next spring. His ERA this year is 5.45.

    Jean Cabrera, SP (No. 11)

    Cabrera has been one of the best pitchers in Double-A Reading this season, but after what seemed like a very consistent start to the year he’s had some blips over his last 10 starts. Three times he’s allowed four or more runs, and four times he’s earned a loss in the ledger. He still has a pretty solid 3.75 ERA over his 25 starts this year.

    Carson DeMartini, 3B (No. 13)

    DeMartini, last year’s fourth-round pick, was raking in Jersey Shore to start the year, prompting a promotion to Reading in June. He’s not made the jump well, hitting just .202 over 66 games for the Fightin’s. 

    Devin Saltiban, 2B (No. 14)

    At just 20, Saltiban is having a rough go of it this season. With 66 games under his belt now for Jersey Shore, the infielder is hitting .188 — though he does have a decent walk rate and has hit five homers.

    Who’s not playing…

    Gage Wood, (No. 4)

    The Phillies took Wood with their first round pick earlier this summer and he’s slated to make his pro debut Saturday afternoon. For now, he’s got juice and good vibes surrounding him — he did toss an epic College World Series no-hitter.

    Cade Obermueller (No. 7)

    Obermueller is the Phillies’ second round pick from June and hasn’t yet thrown a pro pitch, though it is anticipated his 98 MPH fastball and killer slider could make him a future major leaguer.

    Moisés Chace, SP (No. 8)

    After a decent start to 2025, Chace’s season ended when he got Tommy John surgery late in the spring. 

    Matthew Fisher, SP (No. 10)

    Does it reflect poorly on the Phillies farm system that three of their top 10 prospects have yet to play and were drafted just this year? The consensus from experts is that the prospect pool for the Phillies is top-heavy and thin. Fisher is a talented HS pitcher drafted in the seventh round who will likely have a longer road to the majors.

    Griffin Burkholder, OF (No. 12)

    Burkholder was last year’s second-round pick is currently on the 60-day IL where he’ll be for the rest of the year. He did not play well in just second pro season, hitting .197 over 34 games.

    Follow Evan on Twitter:@evan_macy

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    Evan Macy

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  • Cal Ripken Jr. joins WTOP on 30th anniversary of record 2,131st consecutive game – WTOP News

    It was 30 years ago Friday that Baltimore Orioles legend Cal Ripken Jr. officially became MLB’s Iron Man by playing in his 2,131st consecutive game to surpass Lou Gehrig’s record.

    It was 30 years ago Friday that Baltimore Orioles legend Cal Ripken Jr. officially became MLB’s “Iron Man” by playing in his 2,131st consecutive game to surpass Lou Gehrig’s record.

    During the iconic game, Ripken received a 22-minute standing ovation from the Baltimore crowd and swatted a home run on the way to a 4-2 Orioles win, cementing the night as one of the most special in the game’s storied history.

    The Orioles will hold a ceremony Saturday in honor of Ripken’s record during their home game against the Dodgers.

    Ripken joined WTOP’s Shawn Anderson and Anne Kramer to reflect on that night. Listen to the conversation or read the transcript below.

    Cal Ripken Jr. speaks with WTOP’s Shawn Anderson and Anne Kramer on the 30th anniversary of his record-setting 2,131st consecutive MLB game.

    The following transcript has been lightly edited for clarity.

    • Anne Kramer:

      So take us back — 30 years! What is going through your mind right now?

    • Cal Ripken Jr.:

      That I’m older. I’m 35, that happened, now I’m 65.

      No, in some ways, these memories just come flooding through you. I mean, Bobby Bo and Raffy pushing me down the line; me catching my dad’s eye up in the box one of the times that I came out for a curtain call; my kids throwing out the first pitch, showing them that I had a T-shirt on that they gave me — a lot of really cool things.

      We played really well. I really enjoyed the fact that we weren’t just celebrating showing up and playing the game, it was still about winning the game and excellence in which you play. I played well, and we won. We won that series. So a lot to be proud of.

    • Shawn Anderson:

      To get to 2,131 games, and then the 500-plus, you kept going for the next three years after that. Obviously, it was a day-to-day thing. Now that you’ve had a chance to look back on it, on all this time, are you amazed at yourself? Can you give us some more perspective on just how incredible that was?

    • Cal Ripken Jr.:

      Well, I didn’t want to think about it when you’re doing it. Granted, now that you’re out of the game, and you’ve had time to sit down and analyze what happened and how it happened, it does seem a whole lot bigger accomplishment now than it did when I was doing it. That’s why I say that if I can do it, certainly someone else can.

      It has to be a certain set of circumstances. It’s over a long period of time. There’s a little bit of luck involved in doing it, but there’s a lot of desire to play, and I think physically, the athlete probably can do it now. Mentally is probably the challenge of, when you get nicked up a little bit, can you still compete? Can you still play? Do you feel that you can give something to the team? And I always felt like I could.

      And I laughed internally a lot of times, when some people think that I had total control over whether I played or the streak, and I was thinking, well, the managers created this thing called the streak. They kept writing my name in the lineup. I just kept performing. Granted, at some point, maybe it became too big for the manager, but certainly it was created by the managers wanting me to play.

    • Anne Kramer:

      Cal, I’ve always wondered this, so many of us were watching that night. We were there for the lead up. We were in the news business. Some of us, meaning myself, were in Baltimore. But I often think about, all these years later, 30 years later, what would you say to 35-year-old Cal then?

    • Cal Ripken Jr.:

      Maybe I would think about what my dad’s advice always was: You approach the game a certain way. You show up ready to play and that’s the best thing you can do for your team, is that they can count on you. You try to meet the challenge of the day, and then when all that’s over, you absorb whatever learning is from that, and you go on to the next day. So it is truly taking it one game at a time.

      I remember dad saying, we can’t replay yesterday’s game. So take some education, probably some wisdom from what happened yesterday. And you can’t play tomorrow’s game until it gets here. So you might as well play this game today. And I think that single minded approach allowed the games to add up.

      And after the record was broken, the 2,131 games, I didn’t want to change that approach. I thought it was the right approach, and so it just happened to go on another 500 games. So I thought you would bring more tribute to the authenticity of wanting to play every day if you just continue that same approach.

    • Shawn Anderson:

      Cal, I don’t know if you think of yourself this way, but you’ve become the modern day Joe DiMaggio now. I mean, when Joe DiMaggio was alive, he was considered the greatest player of all time. He was always introduced that way.

      You are perhaps the most beloved figure in baseball. Talk about the connection between you and the fans and that love.

    • Cal Ripken Jr.:

      Oh, my God, that’s a complicated question. Joe D was at that game, 2,131, and I thought it was the coolest thing that there was a link between Lou Gehrig and me. I often wondered, if you ever had a chance to have a conversation with Lou, what would you ask him? And I was thinking, I’d want to know that he approached the game the same way I did, that it wasn’t about a streak.

      I know there were a couple of times where he continued the streak by just playing an inning or doing something like that on an injury, but I think for the most part, he played the game because they wanted to be out there, and he was in the middle of the lineup, and the team counted on him to be there. And that’s how I think about it.

      As far as the fame and all that kind of stuff, that drew a lot of attention, and I think a lot of fans relate to the concepts of persevering and getting yourself back up and showing up after things aren’t going so well. I’ve had a lot of people relate their streaks to me in their own lives, and I think that’s a really cool thing.

      I always try to keep things in perspective. I always try to involve the fans in the game. Try to bridge the being in the stands to the field. And 2,131, after the strike, was an opportunity to kind of say, I’m sorry, I know the business side showed itself, but baseball is a great game. Let’s all get back together again. The popularity, I don’t know all those things. I just tried to do what I thought was right.

    • Anne Kramer:

      Cal, it is going to be a packed Camden Yards there where you made the magic happen 30 years ago. What’s going to be going through your mind? And tell us about who’s going to be there with you?

    • Cal Ripken Jr.:

      Rumor has it that Bobby Bo and Raffy are there, so I suspect, redo the lap without the lap, and a lot of people coming back for it. There’s some little surprises that the Orioles have in store to enhance the celebration. I’m looking forward to it.

      I mean, it’s the Dodgers, and the Orioles have a nice, young team, and I’m looking forward to the actual game itself, and that creates its own environment, its own atmosphere. It’ll be a little bit like a playoff atmosphere, or a combination of playoffs and an opening day, and the festivities will be pretty cool. I think it’ll touch a few emotions that happened 30 years ago.

      I know I’ve been thinking about my mom and dad a lot more lately, and so they always seem to come up when you reflect on the good things in your life. I’ve got to be prepared, in case the emotion comes over me, but I’m really looking forward to it. I’m not someone that really liked anniversaries or looking back when I move forward. But at this age, you kind of realize that you look back on them, and it’s not the moment itself, it’s the people that you did it with.

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    Thomas Robertson

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  • Rockies’ Kyle Freeland pitches eight brilliant innings in win over Padres days after ejection

    Kyle Freeland wasn’t perfect, but he pitched a masterpiece on Friday night in the Rockies’ 3-0 victory over the Padres in front of 30,073 at Coors Field.

    Just days removed from throwing only eight pitches in his last outing, the Rockies’ veteran left-hander threw eight shutout innings, allowed just two hits, and tied a career-high with 10 strikeouts. Freeland did not walk a batter.

    He threw just 88 pitches, but the decision not to let him chase a complete game was likely because of his abbreviated start on Tuesday night against the Giants — one that saw him ejected without recording an out.

    Of course, nothing comes easy for the 101-loss Rockies. Closer Victor Vodnik gave up a walk and a single in the ninth before getting a flyout and a double-play grounder to third to notch his seventh save.

    The Rockies entered the night having lost 11 of their last 13 games, but led by Freeland and catcher Hunter Goodman, they put a crimp in the Padres’ playoff path. San Diego, in a race with the Dodgers for the National League West division title, lost its fifth game in a row.

    Freeland has never pitched a complete game. The closest he came was on July 9, 2017, when he pitched 8 1/3 no-hit innings against the White Sox, the longest no-hit bid for a Rockies pitcher at Coors Field in franchise history.

    Friday night, Freeland pitched a perfect game until Ramon Laureano ripped a one-out double to left in the fifth inning. No worries, he got Jackson Merrill to fly out to left and struck out Jose Iglesias with a wicked knuckle curve to end the inning.

    San Diego’s only other hit off Freeland was a two-out single by Jose Iglesias in the eighth.

    Patrick Saunders

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  • Dodgers lose Dalton Rushing to injury and another game to a last-place team

    BALTIMORE — Remember when the Dodgers were accused of having collected so much talent they were ruining baseball? That luxury vehicle is dropping parts like a high-mileage Ford Taurus.

    With All-Star catcher Will Smith sidelined by a bone bruise in his right hand, Dalton Rushing was handed the chance at regular playing time the top prospect no doubt craved. That might have ended in the sixth inning Friday night when Rushing fouled a ball off his right shin, dropped to the ground in obvious pain and had to be helped from the field.

    The most talented team ever assembled – allegedly – finished the game with journeyman Ben Rortvedt (a career .186 hitter in scattered major-league at-bats) as the only healthy catcher on the roster – and nothing clearly better behind him at Triple-A. Does anyone have Austin Barnes’ phone number?

    The day started with a more predictable injury – Tyler Glasnow was scratched with back stiffness. That set Shohei Ohtani up for a heroic ‘flu game.’ He came through with 3⅔ scoreless innings on the mound, but the Dodgers needed a hero to emerge on offense. He never did. Instead, rookie catcher Samuel Basallo hit a walk-off home run against Tanner Scott with two outs in the ninth inning to give the Baltimore Orioles a 2-1 victory.

    The Dodgers have now lost four consecutive games to last-place teams on this trip (the Pittsburgh Pirates and Orioles) and 13 of their past 17 games against teams with losing records.

    Despite fighting a chest cold all week and not learning he would start Friday until the afternoon, Ohtani had seven pitches from 99.8 mph to 100.6 mph in the first three innings. When he got in trouble in the fourth, he really stepped on the gas.

    Orioles DH Ryan Mountcastle led off with a double then moved to third base with no outs on a wild pitch. Ohtani struck out Colton Cowser and Emmanuel Rivera, throwing six pitches over 100 mph, topping out at 101.6 mph to Rivera.

    That was it for Ohtani. Dodgers manager Dave Roberts pulled him after 70 pitches in 3⅔ innings and let Anthony Banda pick up from there.

    The Orioles finally broke the scoreless tie and didn’t need a hit to do it. Two walks put runners at first and second with two outs in the fifth. Jackson Holliday took off from second base on the front end of a double steal – then kept going when Ben Casparius’ pitch was in the dirt and got away from Rushing.

    It was the fifth wild pitch in the past two games with Rushing struggling to block pitches.

    But it only took one pitch for the Dodgers to tie the score. Freddie Freeman led off the top of the sixth with a home run.

    That was a brief break from the offensive malaise that continues to infect the Dodgers’ lineup. They went 0 for 5 with runners in scoring position and stranded eight runners on base. The totals for this winless trip are 4 for 27 with RISP and 30 LOB. They have scored four runs in their past 27 innings.

    The Dodgers’ bullpen followed Ohtani with 4⅓ scoreless innings. But Basallo turned a 1-and-2 fastball over the heart of the plate from Scott into a 433-foot celebration. It was the 10th homer Scott has allowed this season.

    More to come on this story.

    Bill Plunkett

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  • Angels drop series finale to Royals on Bobby Witt Jr.’s late homer

    KANSAS CITY, Mo. — The Angels flirted with a series sweep to cap their 10-game road trip, but they were denied by a clutch swing from an All-Star.

    Bobby Witt Jr. hit a two-out solo home run in the eighth inning and the Kansas City Royals rallied to beat the Angels, 4-3, on Thursday night.

    The Royals hit four solo homers in a game in which all seven runs came via home runs.

    Lucas Erceg (7-4) struck out two in one inning and Carlos Estévez picked up his major league-best 37th save.

    Angels starter Kyle Hendricks allowed two runs on three hits in six innings, while Kansas City starter Noah Cameron allowed three runs on five hits in five innings.

    The Angels got on the scoreboard in the first inning on a three-run homer by Luis Rengifo. With two outs, Taylor Ward singled, Jo Adell walked and Rengifo hit a slider 384 feet down the left-field line.

    The Royals answered in the second on Adam Frazier’s home run, the 1,000th hit of his MLB career. Vinnie Pasquantino connected on his 29th home run of the season leading off the fourth inning to trim the deficit to 3-2.

    The Royals tied it when Salvador Perez hit his 24th home run of the season, leading off the seventh inning.

    Erceg retired the Angels in order in the eighth to set the stage for Witt’s go-ahead blast off of Ryan Zeferjahn (6-5) in the bottom of the inning.

    UP NEXT

    Athletics (RHP Mason Barnett, 0-1, 11.25 ERA) at Angels (RHP José Soriano, 10-9, 3.68 ERA), Friday, 6:38 p.m., FDSN West, 830 AM

    Staff and news service reports

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  • Jo Adell propels Angels past Royals again

    KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Jo Adell was a one-man gang for the Angels.

    Adell homered and drove in every run for the Angels in their 4-3 victory over the Kansas City Royals on Wednesday night. He hit a go-ahead homer in the sixth inning for the second consecutive game, his three-run shot to center field on the first pitch he saw from reliever John Schreiber giving the Angels a 3-2 lead in this one.

    Yoán Moncada, aboard on a single when Adell went deep, doubled off Lucas Erceg (6-4) in the eighth before scoring when Adell hit a soft dribbler to the left side of the infield for a 4-3 advantage. Adell, whose 33 home runs and 90 RBIs are career highs, clubbed a go-ahead two-run home run in the sixth inning of a 5-1 victory on Tuesday.

    Kyle Isbel was on second base in the eighth on Wednesday when Angels reliever Andrew Chafin struck out Bobby Witt Jr. for the second out. Chafin then fanned Vinnie Pasquantino in a 12-pitch duel to maintain the one-run lead.

    Reid Detmers struck out two in the ninth for his third save.

    Angels star Mike Trout sat out again after getting scratched from the lineup Tuesday night because of a skin infection on his left arm.

    Caden Dana, recalled from Triple-A Salt Lake to start for the Angels, allowed two runs (one earned) on two hits and a walk while striking out four over five innings.

    Dana, making his first start this season and the fourth of his career, retired the first six batters he faced. In the third, he allowed a bloop single to Michael Massey and walked Jac Caglianone. Isbel then laid down a bunt that Angels first baseman Oswald Peraza fielded, but he threw wildly to Luis Rengifo covering the bag, allowing the game’s first run. Caglianone scored on Mike Yastrzemski’s sacrifice fly for a 2-0 Royals lead.

    Royals rookie Ryan Bergert allowed just one run on one hit and three walks while striking out six over five innings. He left with a 2-0 lead after issuing a leadoff walk to Zach Neto in the sixth. Schreiber came on and allowed an infield hit to Moncada but struck out Taylor Ward. However, Adell followed with his go-ahead blast.

    The Royals answered in the bottom of the seventh, as Salvador Perez and Adam Frazier hit back-to-back doubles off Angels relieved Robert Stephenson (1-0) to tie the score at 3-all.

    With the back-to-back wins, the Angels (66-73) secured their first winning road series since July 18-20 and improved to 5-4 on their 10-game trip.

    Kansas City (70-69) has lost three in a row and seven of 11.

    UP NEXT

    Angels (RHP Kyle Hendricks, 6-9, 4.89 ERA) at Royals (LHP Noah Cameron, 7-6, 2.92), Thursday, 4:40 p.m. PT, FDSN West, 830 AM

    Staff and news service reports

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  • Kyle Freeland on Rafael Devers home run trot that started brawl: “Extremely disrespectful”

    Kyle Freeland barked, but the Rockies didn’t have enough bite.

    Falling behind 2-0 and losing their starter to a self-inflicted ejection eight pitches into the game, the Rockies never fully recovered Tuesday in a 7-4 loss to San Francisco — their 100th of the year.  That makes Colorado the first franchise since the 2011-13 Houston Astros to lose 100 games in three consecutive seasons.

    “Was tonight 100?” manager Warren Schaeffer said.

    With dozens of dogs among an announced Coors Field attendance of 18,934, the Giants scored all seven runs via the long ball, none more dramatic than the first. After Freeland served up a towering two-run shot to Rafael Devers two batters into the game, the Rockies lefty interrupted Devers’ slow home run trot, aggressively urging him to hurry it up.

    “Extremely disrespectful to show me up like that in the first inning after hitting a home run. Standing there, watching it, taking your sweet time getting down to first base,” Freeland said afterward, emphasizing that he would understand if the celebration occurred after a clutch home run in the late innings. “I’ve been in this league quite some time, and I know he has as well. I just find that extremely disrespectful, and I felt that I needed to let him know about that.”

    Devers hadn’t even reached first base yet. His freshly flipped bat barely had any time to cool down on the grass before tempers heated up around it. The former Red Sox slugger shouted back at Freeland and veered away from the base path. Dugouts and bullpens emptied.

    What followed probably wouldn’t qualify as a brawl according to the old-school definition of the word — but it did include a series of shoves, instigated by Giants first baseman Matt Chapman on Freeland. Then it was a mess of hands indistinguishable from one another. In the end, Freeland, Chapman and Giants shortstop Willy Adames (responsible for a second mini-skirmish) were thrown out.

    “I was slightly surprised to be ejected,” Freeland said. “I understand that I was the one who instigated it, so that right there is grounds for ejection. I understand that. Slightly surprised, but also not, because I understand the rules.”

    Devers was sent back to first base to belatedly finish his home run trot while Antonio Senzatela warmed up to replace Freeland, even though Freeland said afterward that Devers also shoved him.

    “I don’t know why Chapman and Adames got ejected. I’m assuming it was because they came up and shoved me,” Freeland said. “Devers also shoved me. That’s the spot that I don’t understand why he wasn’t ejected.”

    Schaeffer commended the umpires for how they handled the conflict, saying he expected Freeland to be ejected after the benches cleared. When asked if he thought Devers’ celebration was excessive, the Rockies manager said he didn’t see that part.

    “Happens a lot in today’s game, but those things are subjective,” Schaeffer said. “A guy like (Freeland) has been pitching a long time. I think he felt disrespected, and he did what he did. At the end of the day, when your starter doesn’t get an out in the first inning and he’s out of the game, that hurts the ballclub. That hurts the ballclub. And he knows that.”

    Bennett Durando

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  • Aaron Boone Sends 2-Word Aaron Judge Message as Yankees Enter Key Stretch

    By

    Aaliyan Mohammed is a Newsweek contributor based in Atlanta, GA. His focus is MLB content. Aaliyan has been with Newsweek since 2024 and previously worked at MLB.com, Wisconsin Sports Heroics and Heavy.com. He is a graduate of Mississippi State University. You can get in touch with Aaliyan by emailing a.mohammed@newsweek.com


    Aaliyan Mohammed

    Contributing Sports Writer