Yankees rally past Jays
Opens up on embarrassment of suspensions
BUFFALO, N.Y. — Clint Frazier snapped an eighth-inning tie with a pinch-hit double and the New York Yankees hit three solo homers in a much-needed 6-5 win over the Toronto Blue Jays on Tuesday night.
Frazier hit a grounder inside the third-base line to score pinch-runner Tyler Wade from second as the Yankees completed a comeback from a 5-2 deficit and won for the third time in 10 games. The game was played before a crowd of 7,145, mostly in support of New York.
Chris Gittens homered for his first major league hit, Gary Sánchez had two hits, including a leadoff homer in the second inning, and Brett Gardner added a leadoff shot in the seventh that brought the Yankees to 5-4.
Bo Bichette homered and had a two-run single for the Blue Jays. Santiago Espinal added three hits for Toronto, which has lost four of six.
Jonathan Loaisiga (6-2) worked one inning to earn the win. Tim Mayza (1-1) allowed a leadoff single to Miguel Andújar in the eighth and took the loss. Aroldis Chapman worked a perfect ninth for his 13th save.
White Sox 3, Rays 0 — Dallas Keuchel pitched seven innings of crisp four-hit ball to win his fifth straight decision.
Adam Engel hit a solo home run and Tim Anderson had three hits as the White Sox bounced back from a 5-2 loss on Monday in a matchup of the teams with the two best records in the majors.
Danny Mendick drove in a run and set up another as Chicago won for the fifth time in six and ended Tampa Bay’s four-game winning streak.
The White Sox and Rays entered with the two lowest team ERAs in the AL, but Tampa Bay’s rotation took a hit after an MRI showed ace Tyler Glasnow had a partial tear in an elbow ligament and a flexor strain. The righthander said he won’t have surgery for now, and instead will try to strengthen the area.
Keuchel (6-1) was sharp throughout this one, striking out five and walking one. Aaron Bummer pitched a scoreless eighth and Liam Hendriks worked around two singles in the ninth for his 18th save.
Rays rookie Shane McClanahan (2-2) allowed two earned runs on seven hits in five innings.
National League
Mets 3, Cubs 2 — Taijuan Walker struck out a careerhigh 12, Pete Alonso drove in three runs and the surging New York Mets threw out the potential tying run at the plate in the ninth inning of a victory over the Chicago Cubs.
Walker (6-2) allowed two runs and five hits in seven innings, and he walked none for the third time. Walker had struck out 11 seven times previously, all before he had Tommy John surgery on April 25, 2018.
After signing a $23 million, three-year contract with the Mets as a free agent, Walker has a 2.12 ERA, and the Mets are unbeaten in his six home starts.
Javier Báez put the Cubs ahead 2-0 in the third with his 15th home run, driving a sinker to the opposite field in right-center..
Seth Lugo got six outs for his first save since returning on June 2 from elbow surgery, and the NL East-leading Mets (34-25) won for the fifth time in six games to move nine games over .500 for the first time since the end of the 2019 season.
Major League Baseball released guidelines on Tuesday that will enforce rules and crack down on the use of foreign substances, and there’s a clear no-tolerance message from the league.
Red Sox manager Alex Cora is relaying a similar message to his players.
RED SOX NOTEBOOK
In the wake of Sports Illustrated’s report last week detailing a prevalent use of foreign substances across baseball, MLB sent a memo and communicated with all 30 teams new guidance on rules that will prohibit applying these substances to baseballs, effective starting with games on June 21, that will include regular checks of all pitchers during games by umpires.
The memo said that any pitcher who possesses or applies foreign substances will be ejected from the game and automatically suspended for 10 games. Repeat offenders will be subject to further discipline and clubs will not be allowed to replace a player on the roster who is suspended.
Cora said he had a meeting with his players on Tuesday and plans to have another one this weekend in Kansas City. A year after being suspended for his role in the Astros’ sign-stealing scandal, his message to them is clear.
“I come from suspension and I know how embarrassing that is and how tough that is, not only on you as a person but your family, your friends and the people that love you,” Cora said. “Ten games, a year, two years, three years, it doesn’t matter. Being suspended is hell and you don’t want to go through that. I was very open to them and hopefully they understand that.”
Cora said there was a meeting on Tuesday that included all 30 MLB managers, Michael Hill (MLB’s senior VP of on-field operations) and Theo Epstein (MLB consultant) as the new rules were explained, and said he and other managers will have more questions in the coming days about specifics going into Monday.
Cora said the rules might improve the quality of the game, but he’s looking forward to the day that this topic is in the past.
“Right now, it’s loud,” Cora said. “Everybody’s talking about it, but hopefully after a week or two weeks that it’s enforced, we can talk only about the game. Forget about sticky stuff or this and that, just talk about teams and what they’re doing and the players and their stories and it’s something in the past and we can keep moving forward.”
Sale, Houck progress
It’s a big week in Worcester for the Red Sox’ pitching staff. As the team left on a road trip this week, Chris Sale threw a bullpen session at Polar Park on Tuesday, and Tanner Houck will make his return on Thursday from a sore flexor muscle.
Cora said he hadn’t talked to Sale yet but that he’s been in a good place in his rehab from Tommy John surgery.
“The way he felt after the one he threw at Fenway, the last one, he was really good,” Cora said. “He keeps feeling better and this thing about being a big leaguer, it’s very important for him. Little by little, he’s becoming a big leaguer again.”
Houck, who was shut down in early May, will start Thursday’s game for the WooSox with the expectation that he’ll pitch two innings.
“He said the way he’s moving on the mound, the way he’s throwing the ball, the way the ball is coming out of his hand, it’s been amazing,” Cora said. “It’s been amazing. I don’t know if the rest actually will benefit him. Hopefully it actually kind of refreshes him or resets him, but he’s in a great spot. The fact that he’s pitching already is a positive for everybody.”
Home, sweet home
As the Red Sox face the Braves for two games in Atlanta this week, Garrett Whitlock gets to return home. The rookie standout pitcher grew up in Georgia and went to Braves games regularly at Turner Field, where he has fond memories of players like Chipper Jones, Rafael Furcal and Javy Lopez. He said he’ll have a number of friends and family on hand this week at Truist Park.
“This is really cool,” Whitlock said. “I’ve got a lot of family here, I’ve got a lot of friends coming back. I grew up going to Turner Field all the time, so it’s a dream come true to be able to play on this field. It’s quite a remarkable day for me. I don’t have a number, but my family, my in-laws, friends from high school. A large amount of people, but obviously because of COVID, I’ll just be able to wave.”
Glasnow hits shelf
There was potentially American League-altering news on Tuesday as Rays ace and early Cy Young candidate Tyler Glasnow was placed on the injured list with a partially torn ulnar collateral ligament. For now, he’s avoiding surgery in hopes to potentially return in time for the playoffs.
“Obviously it’s a hit for them but for the game, too,” Cora said. “This guy, he’s one of the best pitchers in the league and I know people enjoy watching him play.”
Alex Cora has said that Alex Verdugo is the Red Sox’ most complete hitter. Over the last week, he’s showing that he’s also one of their clutchest.
Verdugo, who hit a walkoff single to beat the Blue Jays last Friday, one-upped himself on Tuesday night in Atlanta.
The outfielder created his signature moment in two years in Boston, belting a dramatic, tiebreaking threerun homer in the eighth that lifted the Red Sox to a 10-8 victory over the Braves.
The Red Sox had jumped out to an early 5-0 lead before pitching struggles and sloppiness let the Braves tie it at 7 late. But they stayed resilient. Christian Vazquez and Bobby Dalbec opened the eighth with back-to-back singles before pinch-hitting Marwin Gonzalez moved them over with a perfect sac bunt.
Verdugo made that moot. After Kiké Hernandez grounded out, Verdugo hammered a 2-0 changeup that kept carrying and carrying. When it finally landed in the seats, Verdugo raised his arms high in the air as he rounded the bases in a celebration fit for the moment. Verdugo, who always wears his emotions on his sleeve, pumped his chest a few times, fired up as he looked back at his teammates in the dugout.
As All-Star Game voting heats up, Tuesday’s blast will only help Verdugo’s case for his first appearance. The outfielder is now hitting .319 with a .923 OPS over his last 25 games as he’s fast becoming a fan favorite in Boston.
More takeaways from Tuesday’s win:
Eduardo Rodriguez, in desperate need of some positive momentum, saw his struggles continue in an uneven start. He looked good early, recording five strikeouts in two shutout innings to start the game, and induced a season-high 17 swings and misses, but it ended in familiar fashion.
Given a 4-0 lead in the first and a 5-0 lead as he entered the third, Rodriguez nearly coughed it all up. He surrendered back-to-back doubles to start the fourth, and after allowing a two-out walk to Ehire Adrianza, Ronald Acuna Jr.’s two-run double made it a 5-4 game.
Rodriguez struck out Freddie Freeman to end the fourth but his night was over after that. Even with Rodriguez
at 80 pitches, his fourth-inning struggles forced Cora to turn to Garrett Whitlock for the fifth. For the fourth time in his last five starts, Rodriguez couldn’t complete five innings. His ERA during that span is 9.13 as he’s seen his ERA for the season jump to 6.21, the highest among Red Sox starters.
The Red Sox restored their lead to 7-4 in the fifth and it looked like Whitlock’s homecoming would be storybook, as he pitched a 1-2-3 fifth before delivering his first career hit in the sixth in front of friends and family.
But a sloppy bottom half erased it, as the Red Sox committed two errors and Whitlock allowed an RBI single and walk that loaded the bases. Whitlock struck out Acuna, but Cora turned to Darwinzon Hernandez for the lefty matchup with Freeman. Hernandez proceeded to throw a wild pitch on his first pitch that scored a run before Freeman tied it at 7 with a sacrifice fly.
The Red Sox’ 5-6 hitters of Rafael Devers and Hunter Renfroe provided their primary sources of offense. A night after delivering the game-winning hit in their walk-off win, Devers stepped to the dish in the first and blasted a three-run homer. Renfroe followed him with a solo shot to make it 4-0.
The duo stayed hot. In the fifth, after Xander Bogaerts homered, Devers hit a double before Renfroe scored him with a single. The two combined for five hits and six RBI on the night.