Phillies designated hitter Kyle Schwarber kept the power train rolling on Sunday, lining a go-ahead two-run homer in the seventh inning against the Mets for his league-leading 30th blast. Schwarber has already put himself on a 56-homer pace for 2025, and the numbers behind it are eye-catching: he reached 30 in just 356 plate appearances, which puts 60 in play.
The biggest team headline of the day came in Boston, where the Red Sox finished off a four-game sweep of the Yankees with a wild walk-off win on Sunday Night Baseball. It took extra innings to close it out after Aroldis Chapman couldn’t protect a two-run lead, and a strange error by right fielder Wilyer Abreu made the mess worse.
New York looked like it might salvage the finale after scoring twice in the 10th, but Boston answered right away with two hits and a sac fly. Then Jarren Duran ended it with a single over a five-man infield.
Lost in the chaos was a dominant outing from Sonny Gray, who took a no-hitter into the eighth, struck out nine, and finished seven innings for the third straight start.
Junior Caminero kept his own power surge humming in Tampa Bay. The Rays third baseman crushed a 463-foot homer off Merrill Kelly in the fifth inning of Sunday’s win over the Diamondbacks, giving him a homer in every game of the sweep.
Caminero has now gone deep in four straight games and has six homers in that span. The 22-year-old is pairing that kind of pop with better strike-zone control, cutting his strikeout rate to a career-low 17.5% while walking twice as often as he has in previous years.
He now sits seventh among qualified hitters with a 154 wRC+.
Luis Garcia Jr. joined the list of hot-handed infield bats, too. The Nationals first baseman hit two home runs against the Orioles on Sunday and finished the week with six despite starting only four of Washington’s seven games.
June has been a monster month for Garcia, who owns a 1.143 OPS in 79 at-bats. His 11 home runs are one shy of Rockies catcher Hunter Goodman for the month’s major league lead.
That sets up an interesting call for Washington this week, with a series against the Red Sox opening Monday and three straight left-handed starters lined up. Garcia has only 28 plate appearances against lefties this season, though he has produced a 114 wRC+ in those chances.
In Other News...
Trevor Williams Just Took A Step Nationals Fans Needed To See
Trevor Williams finally began the next stage of his comeback Tuesday with his first rehab start at Single-A Fredericksburg, a small but meaningful checkpoint for a Nationals rotation that has spent much of the season waiting on help to arrive. The right-hander was working back after his elbow procedure, and for Washington the headline was less about the box score than the simple fact that he was back on a mound in game action.
Williams outing was uneven, as his 26 pitches produced four runs on four hits over two-thirds of an inning, but he did record a strikeout without issuing a walk. The longer view matters more here: the Nationals still expect him to factor into the season at some point, and the question now is whether that comes in a starting role or in some other capacity once he is ready to rejoin the club. [Read more 🡒]
Nationals Face A Defining Chance To Finally Move Above .500
After a recent skid brought Washington back to .500, the Nationals are staring at one of those midseason measuring-stick spots where a single game can say plenty about where the club really is. They also keep showing why the record has felt a little deceptive: the offense has been the leagues most productive group in total runs, even while the overall run differential has stayed only modestly positive because the pitching staff has had to absorb damage from errors.
Now they turn to a game in which Zack Littell is lined up as the bulk pitcher, a setup that adds another layer of intrigue for a team trying to stop the slide and finally get above water. Blake Buteras recent praise for Foster Griffin underscored how much the Nationals have leaned on arms willing to carry them deep into games, especially after an extra-innings night forced the bullpen to cover the final stretch with little room to spare. [Read more 🡒]
Juan Garca May Be Becoming The Bat Nationals Fans Crave
Juan Garcas bat is starting to look like the kind Washington has been searching for, and Sundays 6-4 win over Baltimore was the latest sign. He went 3-for-5 with two home runs and five RBIs, giving him his third multi-homer game of the year and pushing his monthly homer total into double digits.
Blake Butera has pointed to a quieter but important change behind the surge: Garca is being more selective, working counts and waiting for pitches he can do damage against. The result has been a steadier run of production, with Garca now up to 55 RBIs on the season and carrying the sort of middle-of-the-order pop that can change the feel of Washingtons lineup. [Read more 🡒]