7-28-25
Tonight’s MLB.TV Free Game between the Rockies and the Indians started two-and-a-half hours late because of a rain delay. Before the game started, they went to MLB multi-game coverage. (I forgot what it is officially called.) They were showing four games all at once. Interesting, but not the best way to watch a game. I was intrigued by the game in Cincinnati. There was this scary-looking red sky there. There wasn’t audio to find out what was going on.
The scoring started in the third. Tyler Freeman, traded from the Indians to the Rox recently, sac’d in a run on a line drive. Nolan Jones, who Freeman was traded for, made a great play on the drive. 1-0 Rox.
The game was in Cleveland and it was late. There were intermittent drunks heckling. There were a couple of loud little kids cheering for the entire game. It was obnoxious, frankly. The Rockies announcers were talking about Ryan McMahon, who was traded a couple of days ago. He was doing well with the Yankees.
There was some more great defense in the game, but in the fifth, Steven Kwan made a good play to catch ball off wall, but made a bad throw afterward that let in a Rockies’ run, 2-0. That was a hard error. The ball pretty much caught him off the wall and Kwan made a good attempt at getting it back into the infield. In the bottom, with two Indians on, Kyle Farmer made a great over the shoulder basket catch to kill the rally.
In the sixth, Warming Bernabel hit a solo home run to make it, 3-0 Rox. (I checked that name a couple of times, but it’s correct.) Pitching-wise, Bradley Blalock worked six scoreless innings with 7 strikeouts. That was a great start. The hardcore crowd there and the kids started getting louder and more unruly sounding.
Unfortunately, Rockies’ relief pitching was not so efficient. In the seventh, Bo Naylor pinch hit a three-run homer with no outs yet in the inning. The next Rockies’ reliever let two more runs. After an 11-batter inning, it was 5-3 Indians. In the eighth, All-Star Hunter Goodman solo homered to get the Rockies back within one, 5-4.
The Indians’ star closer, Emmanuel Clase, was not at the game. He was on suspension for gambling allegations. Wasn’t there another gambling suspension recently with another player? (Yes, and he was on the Indians, too.) Whatever gambling scandal is going on in the MLB has been fairly low-key to this point. However, Clase’s absence would have a major effect on tonight’s game.
In the top of the ninth, Bernabel led off with a double. The ball went into the chain link fence in front of the scoreboard and stuck. Brenton Doyle made sac bunt that the pitcher muffed the throw on and the tying run scored. Farmer was then hit on shoulder and went down in a frightening fashion, but he stayed in. Orlando Arcia tried to bunt the runners over, but got hit on the fingers. He let out a loud shot. Arcia not only stayed in (and stayed in to play defense), but managed to move both runners over on a grounder.
Freeman singled in a run and forced the Indians to change pitchers. Mickey Moniak sac’d in another run. Goodman doubled off the wall for another run. Surprisingly, it was now 8-5 Rockies. Before the end of the inning, the Rockies’ coverage found the Rockies’ PA in the crowd. Wow, this guy is a true fan! He takes his family on vacation to see the Rockies.
We’re not done yet. Seth Halvorsen came in to close. Some people in the crowd started annoyingly doing a countdown on the pitch timer. Halvorsen had trouble finding the strike zone and walked the first batter, but he was erased on a double play. Two of the guys in the booth started doing quotes from Major League, since they were in Cleveland. The play-by-play guy said, “It’s past you guys’ bedtime.” It was after midnight there. Another batter walked and Nolan Jones drove him in, but Halvorsen finally got a strikeout to end the game. Rockies win, 8-6. What a game! That was worth waiting for.
7-29-25
I’m not sure what the occasion is, but the MLB.TV is having all free baseball for the next couple of days. Let’s overindulge! Sure I was actually very busy with work, but you have to make time for what’s really important. These games overlapped and I had multiple games going, but I’ll cover them individually. I’ll just hit the highlights or the weirdness that I saw.
I started off a continuation of the Rockies at the Indians series from yesterday. In the top of the second, it was 2-0 Indians. One of their infielders intentionally dropped a ball in short outfield to throw out the runner at second in order to get the faster runner off the bases. The infield fly rule didn’t apply, I guess. It was a good decision, as the runner let on, Warming Bernabel, was picked off trying to take third later. In the bottom of the second, Ezekiel Tovar made a basket catch by the stands to end the inning. For some reason, he glared at the fans there. By the third, it was 7-0 Indians and I tapped out for another game. 10-4 Indians was the final. I guess the Indians recovered quicker from last night’s late game than the Rockies did.
I switched to the Rays at the Yankees. It was 2-0 Rays in the second and they added another run. In the third, Cody Bellinger’s three-run homer tied it at 3. The Yanks added on 3 more later. In that inning, Jazz Chisholm struck out with the bases loaded, so they could have added more. I switched games again. The Yankees won, 7-5. The Rays did make a comeback attempt.
The Cubs were at the Brewers and it was 2-1 Brewers in the fourth. I’m not sure I actually meant to click on the game, but I’ll take it. In the fourth, Aggie great, Joey Ortiz, hit a grounder off of the Cubs’ pitcher’s rear. Joey was out, but did advance the runner to second. Judging from some the cheering I head, there might have been more Cubs fans there in Milwaukee than Brewer fans. 9-3 Brewers was the final regardless.
The Blue Jays at the Orioles game I kept coming back to and it turned out to be the best of the night. It was 1-0 Jays in the second. The O’s loaded bases with two outs, but a strikeout ended the inning. In the booth, the broadcasters showed off a couple of hot dogs in baked rolls. “Too pretty to eat,” said one of the guys. The broadcasters were later discussing trades for the team at the deadline to tell you how well the team is doing.
In the fourth, the O’s tied it, 2-2. In the sixth, Colby Mayo made a great play at first by catching a liner and doubling off the Jays’ runner for a double play. In the seventh, Oriole catcher, Adley Rutschman, made a great throw from behind the plate on a steal of second, but Gunnar Henderson dropped the ball. (I didn’t recognize Gunnar. He’s gone clean shaven.) No problem. Jackson Holiday made a nice pick at second and fed Gunnar to start a DP to end the inning.
Still tied in the eighth, Holiday did about the same play again to end that inning. In the bottom of the eighth, Gunnar doubled off the right field wall. Adley then hit another one to wall. The fielder there dropped it and then couldn’t find it at his feet. Gunnar scored and it was 3-2 O’s.
For the ninth, Corbin Martin came in to close, though he had trouble getting the gate open to the field. Who? Where’s Felix Bautista? He’s injured. Seranthony Dominguez was traded from the bullpen between games. I didn’t realize that this was Game 2 of a double header (O’s won the first, 16-4), so the bullpen was already thin. This Martin guy was up from the Minors.
Martin hit his first batter and then issued a walk. After a successful bunt, Martin got a called third strike on the next batter. The crowd was into it. (I was into it.) Adley then gloved a wild pitch way outside. One of the commentators said, “Adley just saved the game.” That seemed premature, but Bo Bichette would strikeout on a pitch up at his eyes and end the game. 3-2 O’s final. This was Martin’s first Major League save. This season he’d been DFA’d, wasn’t picked up as a free agent, and then brought back to the Orioles’ organization. Martin credited the mound visit after the walk and talking to Adley to settling him down.
The Diamondbacks at the Tigers was audio-only, so I found myself listening to this game while watching others. It was 2-0 AZ and the Detroit starter was chased from game in the second. Tiger pitching locked it down after that. In the fourth, Tiger outfielder, Matt Vierling, caught a flyball, hit the wall, the ball popped out, he tipped it, and then re-caught it for the play of the night. The Tigers tied it on a two-run single in the bottom of the fourth. In the fifth, the Tiger pitcher threw out a runner at third. The color guy remarked, “The runner thought he was invisible and nobody would notice.”
In the bottom of the fifth, the Tigers lit it up. Gleyber Torres homered, Riley Greene hit a two-run homer, and Zach McKinstry hit a two-run homer. (An AZ fan got that last one. He was still excited.) The Dbacks changed pitchers. The play-by-play guy was reading out-of-town scores this inning thought there might be a correlation with the Tigers scoring. The color guy said, “Keep reading! Are there some Arizona Fall League scores?” The Tigers did keep scoring and won, 12-2. This was a blowout, but I stuck with it till the end, because I was enjoying it, especially after the Tigers’ losing slide this month.
I tuned into the Dodgers at the Reds in the seventh because the Reds were winning, 4-3. Immediately, the Dodgers tied it. Will Smith doubled in a run in the ninth for a 5-4 Dodgers’ win. Well, that was a waste of time.
It was “Oppressively hot” in St. Louis, as I heard from the broadcasters there for the Marlins and Cardinals’ game. The home plate ump had severe cramps early in game, but stayed in. In the fifth, it was 3-0 Marlins. Sandy Alcantra was pitching for the fish. The bases were loaded with two outs and he got the strikeout to end it. I was surprised he was pitching this close to the trade deadline. Are they not trading him or were they putting him on display to get better bids? 5-0 Marlins was the final.
The Mets were at the Padres. In the fifth, the Mets loaded the bases with one out. On a sac fly to the outfield, Fernando Tatis Jr. jumped in front of Jackson Merrill, the centerfielder, to make the catch and throw the ball home, but he didn’t get the runner. It was tied at 1-1. In the sixth, Merrill tripled in Luis Arraez to make it, 2-1 Padres. I stopped keeping track of the game after that and the Padres won, 7-1. I saw Jake Cronenworth at short make a great leaping play and throw for the first out of the ninth. It was a sellout crowd in San Diego again.
I joined the Pirates at the Giants late. It 1-1 at the eighth. I missed Aggie great, Nick Gonzales, getting a single. The bases were loaded after that. There was an odd play with a grounder that was fielded, but there was no play at second. The second baseman threw to first, but the pitcher covering was looking at second for the throw. The throw ended up hitting the runner. Nick was driven in on a hit by Joey Bart, the former Giants catcher. Another runner scored on a fielder’s choice and the Pirates won, 3-1.
I finally tuned into the Mariners at the A’s. It was 6-1 A’s in the ninth, which would be the final score. The game was kind of over, but I wanted to see more of “Big Amish” Nick Kurtz. I didn’t know this guy was also an awesome fielder at first. He made a great play going vertical for the second out. He ended the game on a pick on a hard liner. It’s way early, but this kid may be special.
The Rangers at the Angels was the last game to finish. The Angels got 2 in the second. The second run came in via an error on the ball coming into the infield. In the fourth, Kyle Higashioka took Yusei Kikuchi deep to make it, 2-1. In the bottom of the fourth, Adolis Garcia got in front of another fielder to make a catch and dropped the ball. An Angel run scored to make it, 3-1. It wasn’t an error, because Adolis did get a force out on the bases on the play.
In the top of the fifth, Adolis drove in a run to make it, 3-2. Wyatt Langford, with two on and one out, was picked off second. Kikuchi had already stepped off twice, so Wyatt thought he could get away with it. In the bottom of the fifth, Adolis went over the wall to bring back a home run ball with a runner on. He waited a moment before showing the ball just to add to the drama.
I missed the Rangers getting the lead in the sixth, 4-3, on a play with an error. Jon Gray came in in relief. He’s grown out his hair like he’s in the Allman Brothers band. He gave up 4 runs after getting 2 outs. There were some bad plays in the outfield, including a slip on the lousy-looking turf in Anaheim. In the bottom eighth, Mike Trout was hit on the hand by a pitch. The opposing managers almost went at it, as the teams joined in. The scuffle was averted. The Angels would win it, 8-5. There was enough strangeness in this game that the Rangers’ broadcasters kept commenting on it. I probably missed a lot of it.
I forgot all about the Chihuahuas. Sorry, guys. They lost 4-3 to Round Rock. I did peek in on a couple other games, but they weren’t worth writing about. This was fun. We’ll see about getting more tomorrow.
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