The trade deadline has passed and we handed out grades for the teams that bought and the teams that sold. Don't miss it. It's now time to get back to the daily grind of regular-season baseball. Keep it here for all the latest news, notes, and scores.
Wednesday's scores
- Nationals 5, Mets (box score)
- Orioles 7, Yankees 5 (box score)
- Indians 2, Twins 0 (box score)
- Tigers 7, Reds 4 (box score)
- Athletics 8, Blue Jays 3 (box score)
- Astros 8, Mariners 3 (box score)
- Cubs 9, Pirates 2 (box score)
- Rays 7, Angels 2 (box score)
- Royals 10, White Sox 5 (box score)
- Cardinals 6, Rockies 3 (box score)
- Dodgers 6, Brewers 4 in 10 innings (box score)
- Marlins at Braves -- POSTPONED
A's catch Mariners for second wild-card spot
The hard-charging Athletics have finally caught the Mariners in the standings. The A's won for the 30th time in their last 40 games Wednesday afternoon while the Mariners lost for the 20th time in their last 38 games. As a result, the AL wild-card standings now look like this:
- Yankees: 68-38
- Mariners: 63-45 (6 GB)
- Athletics: 64-46 (6 GB)
The Mariners are one game up in the loss column and lead by percentage points but, for all intents and purposes, the A's and Mariners are tied in the standings. Seattle was 11 games -- 11 games! -- up on the A's as recently as June 15.
The A's whipped the Blue Jays on Wednesday thanks in part to rookie infielder Franklin Barreto, who came over from Toronto in the Josh Donaldson trade. Oakland lost that trade in a big way, but Barreto did go 3-for-4 with a double and a home run against his former team, so that's cool.
As for the Mariners, they dropped their series finale with the Astros on Wednesday afternoon as Wade LeBlanc's regression continued.
LeBlanc has a 5.76 ERA in his last eight starts after posting a 2.06 ERA in his first nine starts. His 3.95 ERA in 107 total innings this season is quite respectable -- more than the Mariners could've asked for when they signed LeBlanc off the scrap heap at the end of spring training. But still, he's crashing back to Earth at a bad time.
The Mariners and Athletics still have 10 head-to-head games remaining this season, including three games in Oakland from Aug. 13-15. Will they be tied in the standings when that series rolls around? Only if Mariners get their act together soon. They're 8-14 in their last 22 games, and I haven't seen anything that makes me believe the A's are about to slow down.
Gray bombed in loss to O's
If the Yankees don't win the AL East, two big reasons will stand out. One, they've been unable to beat the teams they should. And two, Sonny Gray has been awful.
Those two reasons came together Wednesday afternoon, and Gray got hammered by the lowly Orioles. Didn't even make it out of the third inning.
The Yankees are now 6-6 against the O's this season. Baltimore is 6-6 against the Yankees and 27-69 against everyone else.
Following the game, Yankees manager Aaron Boone did not rule out removing Gray, who now has a 5.56 ERA, from the rotation. The Yankees have a ready-made replacement in Lance Lynn. Lynn came over from the Twins at the deadline, and he threw 4 1/3 scoreless innings in relief Wednesday to spare the bullpen after Gray's short outing.
As terrible as Gray has been, the larger problem is the Yankees continue to play down to their competition. They're 12-10 against the Orioles, Royals, and Rangers this season, the three last-place teams in the AL. The Red Sox are 21-4 against those three teams. That's the difference in the AL East right there.
Dozier goes deep in Dodgers debut
Among the many players to make their debuts with their new teams following the trade deadline Wednesday night was new Dodgers second baseman Brian Dozier. He came over in a deal with the Twins.
Dozier had a bit of an uneven debut with the Dodgers. In the first inning -- in fact, against the very first batter he stood on the field against defensively with Los Angeles -- Dozier made a throwing error that allowed Lorenzo Cain to score on a Little League home run. It was scored a triple and an error when he threw the ball into the camera well:
Dozier atoned for the error in the fifth inning, when he hit back-to-back home runs with Yasmani Grandal to break up Chase Anderson's perfect-game bid. It was Dozier's second at-bat as a Dodger and he went deep to straight away center field.
A little bid of good, a little bit of bad. I reckon we'll see more home runs than errors from Dozier the rest of the way. Since 2016, his 49 second-half home runs are second most in baseball, trailing only Khris Davis (50).
Hamels makes Cubs debut
The biggest move the Cubs made at the deadline was landing Cole Hamels. He made his debut Wednesday night and, thanks to a big first inning for the offense, Hamels got his first at-bat as a Cub before he threw his first pitch with his new team.
Chicago scored four runs and batted around in the first inning against Nick Kingham and the Pirates. Hamels struck out in his first inning at-bat. He had a much better night on the mound.
Hamels went into the start with a 4.72 ERA on the season. That figure is bloated due to his home-run problems, as he's allowed nearly two per nine innings so far this year. The Cubs have to hope getting him away from Arlington will help, as 16 of his 23 homers came in home starts with Texas -- that despite him pitching about an even number of innings there and on the road.
Overall, a very successful debut for Hamels, who pitched well and helped the Cubs pick up a win.
Glasnow, Pham debut for Rays
On Tuesday, the Rays traded Chris Archer for three players, including Tyler Glasnow and Austin Meadows. Add in the Tommy Pham trade from earlier in the day, and the trade deadline brought plenty of new faces to Tampa. Both Glasnow and Pham made their Rays debuts Wednesday.
Glasnow got the ball as Tampa's "opener" and was damn near flawless aside from allowing a solo home run to Kole Calhoun in the first inning. It was Glasnow's first start after 34 relief appearances with Pittsburgh. He threw 48 pitches.
Pham started in left field and batted cleanup, and had a fairly uneventful game, going 0-for-3 with a walk and a strikeout. He also scored a run.
Meadows did not play Wednesday and won't make his Rays debut for a while -- Tampa sent him to Triple-A following the trade. Their current big-league outfield is rather full, and there's no sense in letting a talented kid waste away on the bench when he could play every day in the minors.
Overall, a very successful day for Tampa's new addition. Glasnow looked good in his abbreviated start -- given the way the Rays run their pitching staff, all his starts may be abbreviated -- and Pham had a productive enough day at the plate. He reached base and scored a run in the win.
Quick hits
- Giants RHP Johnny Cueto will undergo Tommy John surgery and miss the rest of the season. He may not return until 2020.
- The Nationals designated RHP Shawn Kelley for assignment after a tantrum on the mound. We examined potential landing spots.
- Mets activated RHP Noah Syndergaard from 10-day DL. He's been out with hand, foot, and mouth disease.
- Orioles OF Adam Jones sort of explained why he didn't want to be traded.
- New Cubs RHP Brandon Kintzler was dealt for unusual reasons.
