RESOLVING THE LEDGER
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See the full story · 1 sourcesTuesday night was destined to be the George Lombard Jr. Show in the Bronx once news broke that he would be promoted following an ugly loss on Monday to St. Louis. The 21-year-old made an immediate impact, showing off some slick defense while also belting his first career homer off Hunter Dobbins in a still-all-too-familiar, tight 2-0 Yankees win . As it turned out, the Yanks needed what Lombard and the pitching staff provided because their biggest opponents kept the heat on them. The Rays remain 3.5 up on New York and Boston is a mere couple games behind.
Here’s what was going on around the Junior Circuit yesterday.
Tampa Bay Rays (67-46) 9, Colorado Rockies (45-69) 7 – 11 innings
Ah Coora, you beautiful bastard, you’ve done it again. The Rays were sitting pretty early on Tuesday night in Denver, thanks to in-state Trade Deadline acquisition Liam Hicks. Making his debut for Tampa Bay, the catcher crushed a pitch from Gabriel Hughes 402 feet for a grand slam that changed the score from a 1-1 tie in the third to 5-1, Rays.
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Hughes did at least get back on track to get through 5.1 innings without surrendering another run, and then the odd trio of Brennan Bernardino, Parker Mushinski, and Juan Mejia held the Rays off the board into the ninth.
That was swell for Colorado because Freddy Peralta did not have nearly as good a debut as his batterymate. Perhaps it was just a tough draw for him to start a new chapter at Coors or perhaps he isn’t that different yet from the offseason prize who was awful for the Mets. Regardless, his 2026 ERA inflated to 5.37 as the Rockies mounted a comeback, hanging seven runs on nine hits off Peralta, who recorded just 11 outs. Ezequiel Tovar chipped away with an RBI knock in the home half of the third before the just-extended Mickey Moniak (alrighty then, Rockies) tied it up with a three-run bomb.
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The next inning, Willi Castro put Colorado ahead with a two-run homer to make it 7-5, Rockies. Thanks to the yeoman work of the bullpen, the score stayed their until the ninth. Unfortunately, the Rockies’ closer is apparently Jordan Romano, who Yankees fans know all too well and has also been run out of town as a high-leverage guy in Toronto, Philadelphia, and Anaheim within the past few years.
A walk, an infield hit, two stolen bases, and a Jonathan Aranda laser later, the game was tied at 7-7. Romano did fan Junior Caminero and get a groundout by Ryan Vilade to strand Aranda in scoring position and keep the score even. The Rockies had multiple chances to walk this off. Tovas doubled against Kevin Kelly with two outs in the bottom of the ninth, but Jake McCarthy hit a comebacker to force extras.
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Jimmy Herget’s scoreless 10th opened the door for an easy game-winner. Tyler Freeman bunted the winning run to third with one out for All-Star catcher Hunter Goodman, who could win it with a hit or a deep fly ball. He didn’t hit it far enough to right, and the zombie runner McCarthy had to hold at third. T.J. Rumfield then lined out to left and it went to the 11th. There, the Rays stopped playing with their food and won the damn thing. A bunt and a wild pitch plated their zombie runner, and they tacked on insurance with a Yandy Díaz double and Caminero RBI single. Bryan Baker pitched a perfect 11th to put the Rockies away.
Other Games
Boston Red Sox (61-51) 14, Chicago White Sox (59-53) 2: This all-Sox battle got bad for the Pale Hose in a hurry. The Regression Monster continued to do a number on Davis Martin, as those scalding-hot Red Sox obliterated him with a six-run first inning that featured back-to-back homers from Caleb Durbin (a grand slam) and Jarren Duran. Wilyer Abreu hit one out off Martin as well, and he had nine runs to his name by the time he left the mound. Abreu homered again in the eighth, and he was one of seven Red Sox to register a multi-hit game. Cripes! Since losing a series in Coors in mid-June to fall to 32-46, Boston is 29-5. I don’t care for it, personally.
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Cleveland Guardians (57-57) 2, New York Mets (48-66) 6: Don’t look now, but the Guardians might be squandering not only their absolutely-coveted spot in this daily feature, but also playoff position. The AL Central in general (see the White Sox score above) has been sagging to the point where it could be neck-and-neck between them and the AL West down the stretch for MLB’s worst division. A universe exists where there could be two sub-.500 division winners in October. I don’t think it will happen, but it’s quite sad that it’s plausible.
Despite getting José Ramírez back on July 21st, Cleveland has played horribly since then, dropping 9 of 12 games. You can’t be losing home games to the post-sale Trade Deadline Mets, and yet they did just that. Luis Torrens clobbered a three-run homer against Joey Cantillo to start the scoring in the second, and Bo Bichette played long ball in the third. A resurgent Sean Manaea spun six innings of two-run ball to hold off the Guardos. Cleveland is .500 but remains three games behind the White Sox in the AL Central, but they’re now only one up on the Twins and Rangers and a game and a half ahead of the Orioles and Tigers (yes, really to both) for the final Wild Card spot.
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Houston Astros (59-56) 7, Toronto Blue Jays (53-61) 2: With an assist from the Giants’ Jung Hoo Lee, Baby Bomber alum Ezequiel Duran walked it off for the Rangers on Tuesday night, so the heat was on Houston to bounce back from a loss to Toronto on Monday and maintain their 2.5-game AL West lead. The Astros were up to the task, aided by the unfortunate news of Trey Yesavage leaving the mound for Toronto with left knee discomfort (an MRI is on deck). Perhaps appropriately, Houston was not intimidated by his replacement, Chad Dallas. The ’Stros scored six runs on seven hits in three innings against Dallas, with Taylor Trammell launching a three-run homer as part of the attack. One-time Yankees pitching prospect Hayden Wesneski tosse...
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