Nasim Nunez didn’t spend long lingering on his latest milestone. After setting the Nationals’ single-season stolen base record with his 48th steal on Wednesday, he swiped third base in the same at-bat. That pushed him to 49 steals, one more than the entire Astros roster, as Brian McTaggart of MLB.com noted.
Elsewhere, the AL home run race tightened again in a big way. Yankees first baseman Ben Rice launched two homers in a rout of the Rays on Wednesday night, while Orioles first baseman Pete Alonso went deep in Game 1 of yesterday’s doubleheader against the Blue Jays.
That left Rice and Alonso tied with Yordan Alvarez and Junior Caminero for the league lead at 41 homers. Alvarez and Alonso have been established power bats for years, while Caminero reached 45 last season.
Rice, meanwhile, has turned a breakout year into a real run at 40-plus homers. “ It’s a cool milestone,” Rice said (h/t Bryan Hoch of MLB.com).
“ It’s not something you go into the season really aiming for. You don’t really know how it’s going to go.
But as I was approaching that number, it’s definitely something I was hoping to achieve.”
Chris Sale also checked off a major number on Wednesday, and he did it while looking every bit like a pitcher built for October. Given 12 days between starts so the Braves could line him up for the playoffs, Sale came through with 10 strikeouts over 5 2/3 innings against the Reds, allowing one earned run and no walks.
His last punchout gave him 200 for the season, the ninth time he’s reached that mark. He is expected to get the ball in Game 1 of the Wild Card round next week.
“ I told myself before this game that I really wanted to kind of go into this making it feel like a playoff game,” Sale said (h/t Mark Bowman of MLB.com). “ I wanted to get locked in and try to put my best foot forward there.”
In the NL Wild Card picture, the Padres kept climbing. They beat the Dodgers with the help of 5 2/3 scoreless innings from their bullpen, and the combination of that win plus losses by the Cubs and Phillies moved San Diego into the top Wild Card position.
Their magic number is down to one. Manny Machado got the offense moving with a two-run homer off Yoshinobu Yamamoto in the fourth, and the Padres added two more runs in the fifth.
The two teams finish their series tonight, and San Diego will then close the regular season at home against Arizona for three games. The Diamondbacks remain the only club still alive in the NL Wild Card race, sitting three games behind the final spot.
In Other News...
Padres Win Came With Two Pitching Developments Fans Need To See
The Padres 5-1 win over the Dodgers on Sunday came with more than just another notch in the standings. Robbie Ray handled the early work by giving up one earned run over 3.1 innings, and five relievers finished the job with 5.2 scoreless frames as San Diego kept building toward October at 88-70.
The more interesting part for the Padres is what came with the roster churn around the victory. The club designated a veteran pitcher for assignment, sent another to the Arizona Complex League, and activated Jason Adam from the injured list, while Craig Stammen also offered fresh updates on Joe Musgroves recovery and Walker Buehlers postseason role. For a team already thinking beyond the regular season, those pitching developments may matter as much as the final score. [Read more 🡒]
Padres Answered The Dodgers In A Game That Meant Plenty
A night after the kind of result that can tilt a division race, the Padres responded with a win that carried plenty of weight of its own. Manny Machados two-run homer helped set the tone in a 5-1 victory over the Dodgers in the second game of the series, giving San Diego a needed answer in a matchup that rarely feels ordinary.
David Morgan provided one of the sharper late-game moments, striking out Shohei Ohtani to help preserve the lead and keep the Padres in control. The win also left San Diego a game ahead of the Cubs and Phillies for the top National League wild-card seed after other results broke in its favor, a small but meaningful cushion with the standings still tight. [Read more 🡒]
Dodgers Just Got A New Bullpen Problem In San Diego
The Padres are getting a key arm back at a timely moment, with right-hander Jason Adam set to come off the 60-day injured list ahead of the series against the Dodgers. San Diego plans to clear a spot by optioning Griffin Canning to Triple-A, with a corresponding 40-man move still to come, and Adam is expected to slide back into the bullpen mix quickly.
Even with the return, the picture is still a little unsettled because Adam has not been sharp in his recent rehab outings. The Padres are clearly betting that getting him back into a major league environment will help, and the timing only adds to the stakes with Los Angeles on deck, since San Diego will want every leverage arm available for what should be a high-pressure stretch. [Read more 🡒]