Freddie Freeman is back on track after a frightening spill into the visitors’ dugout Wednesday against the Royals. He initially stayed in the game before being lifted for a pinch hitter, and he later told reporters he would be in the lineup for the series opener against the Brewers.
Elsewhere, Alex Bregman put on a show in Chicago’s win over Washington. The Cubs were held quiet for four innings by Nationals lefty Jackson Kent, making his big-league debut, before the fifth inning flipped everything.
Chicago broke through for four runs, and Bregman finished the rally with a three-run homer. He wasn’t finished there.
In the sixth, he launched a two-run shot to cap another five-run burst, then came back in the eighth and went deep again to close out the scoring. It was the first three-homer game of Bregman’s career, and he’s now carrying a huge 1.123 OPS in August with five home runs and 14 RBI.
Tampa Bay, meanwhile, just kept winning on the road. After dropping a series to the White Sox to open August, the Rays embarked on a trip through Colorado, Seattle, and Sacramento and came home with a spotless record.
They swept the Rockies, Mariners, and A’s to finish 9-0, the kind of run that changes the look of a standings race in a hurry. The Rays now own the best record in baseball at 74-46, a half-game in front of the Brewers, and they’ve opened up a six-game cushion over the Yankees in the AL East.
And tonight’s schedule brings one of baseball’s most unusual annual stops: the Phillies and Twins will meet in Dyersville, Iowa, near the site of Field of Dreams. The first version of the event came in 2021, when the Yankees and White Sox played there and recently retired shortstop Tim Anderson delivered the walk-off homer into the cornfields.
The Cubs and Reds followed in 2022, with Chicago winning 4-2 in the most recent edition of the game. Philadelphia and Minnesota will continue the tradition on Thursday, with the game airing on Netflix.
In Other News...
Rays Add Infield Help As A Roster Squeeze Suddenly Hits
The Rays are adding some infield insurance in Jorge Mateo, agreeing to a major league contract with the utility man after his release from the Braves. Tampa Bay has valued players who can move around the diamond and help on the bases, and Mateo fits that mold as the club navigates another sudden roster shuffle. His arrival also means the Rays will need to clear a spot on the 40-man roster before the move can become official.
Ben Williamsons move to the injured list is part of what opened the door, and the timing adds to the sense that Tampa Bay is juggling more than one middle-infield issue at once. Carson Williams is also in line to be squeezed out of the current mix, leaving the Rays to sort through a fresh set of roster decisions as they try to keep the bench flexible and the defense covered. [Read more 🡒]
White Sox Deadline Fix Has Already Become A Catcher Problem
The August 3 trade deadline was supposed to give several contenders a cleaner path into October, but some of the headline additions have already turned into different kinds of problems. In Chicago, the White Soxs catcher upgrade quickly lost its shine when Joey Bart was sidelined by injury, and the club has been left patching together a position that was meant to be stabilized for the stretch run.
The Rays were looking for a postseason boost of their own when they brought in Freddy Peralta, a move designed to deepen the rotation and sharpen the margin for error. Instead, his early outings have not provided the steadying presence Tampa Bay was after, leaving the team with another deadline question to solve as the games start to carry more weight. [Read more 🡒]
Taylor Walls Gave The Rays A Lift They Desperately Needed
Taylor Walls gave Tampa Bay a much-needed jolt against the Athletics, and he did it in a way that stood out even for a player known more for his glove and legs than his power. In his 97th game of the season, the Rays shortstop went deep twice, once from each side of the plate, adding a rare burst of offense to a lineup that had been looking for any kind of lift.
For a player batting .217 this season, the outburst carried extra weight. Walls came into the night with modest power numbers and 18 stolen bases, but his swings helped push the Rays to a 9-2 lead entering the seventh inning, exactly the kind of cushion they have been needing as they try to steady the offense around him. [Read more 🡒]