There is always baseball happening — almost too much baseball for one person to handle themselves.
That’s why we’re here to help, though, by sifting through the previous days’ games, and figuring out what you missed, but shouldn’t have. Here are all the best moments from last night in Major League Baseball:
What a way to lose a ballgame
The Phillies were ahead of the Giants, 3-1, in the bottom of the ninth in San Francisco. While the Giants were threatening with runners on the corners, there was already one out, so it’s not as if a comeback was guaranteed. Then again, this is the Phillies’ bullpen we’re talking about, and if the team has a real weakness… well, let’s just say that reliever Jordan Romano entered the game with a 6.82 ERA, and has allowed nearly two home runs per nine innings dating back to the start of 2024, when he was still with the Blue Jays.
Despite all that, it was Romano on the mound attempting to get the save, and while he successfully retired the two hitters he faced in the eighth, the ninth did not go so well. Casey Schmitt doubled, then headed to third on a single by Wilmer Flores. Brett Wisely would be tabbed to pinch-run for Flores, and Patrick Bailey came to the plate. He’d hit what looked like a home run off of the bat, but fell just short in right field… bouncing off of the wall instead of going over it. It was then off to the races for Schmitt, Wisely and Bailey.
There was nothing the Phillies could do. Romano, who went from a dominant reliever to one who simply cannot stop regularly allowing home runs over the past couple of seasons, got a gift from the cavernous dimensions of Oracle Park — that’s the only reason this wasn’t just a walk-off homer from the get go, as it would have been out in most parks. Oracle is not most parks, however: per Savant, it’s the second-toughest stadium for home runs both in general and for left-handed batters, with the combination of distance and height of the wall out in right-center playing a significant role in that. The left-handed Bailey’s fly ball hit high off the wall a bit to the right of the 415-foot marker in right-center, and stayed in the park. But the bounce gave Bailey an opportunity to make up for Oracle’s dimensions, and he very literally grabbed it and ran with it.
An inside-the-park walk-off home run was the result. The Phillies didn’t even do anything wrong here — well, aside from Romano throwing a 94 mph fastball right down the plate where even a guy slugging under .300 this season could crush it — as the bounce put the ball out of the reach of any of the nearby outfielders until it was too late.
The last time there was a come-from-behind, inside-the-park walk-off home run? That was in 2013, hit by Angel Pagan… who was also on the Giants.
Butler goes inside, too
Earlier in the day, the Athletics had their own inside-the-park home run. The first run in a 10-1 win against the Braves came on a Lawrence Butler fly ball that bounced off the fence in a way that made life hell for the Braves’ outfield, and he came around to score, too.
Not quite as dramatic as in San Francisco given the final scores, but still. Two in one day, and historic in its own right: Butler was the A’s leadoff hitter, and the homer came in the first: that’s the first time in MLB history that a leadoff inside-the-park homer and a walk-off inside-the-park home run happened on the same day.
Butler would add a more traditional homer later on, too, as part of the piling on.
Padres rob two (2) home runs in 1-0 win
While we’re on the subject of homers that were and were not, let’s turn our attention to the Padres, who defeated the Diamondbacks 1-0 on Tuesday night. A whole lot more happened in the game than that score suggests. For instance, the Padres robbed more home runs in the game than there were runs in it.
First up was Jackson Merrill in the top of the fifth. The Diamondbacks had a runner on, and Corbin Carroll launched a ball to center — if not for Merrill’s leaping grab, it would have been 2-0, D-backs right there.
Then, in the eighth inning, with the Padres up 1-0 — Luis Arraez had hit a solo shot in between to give San Diego the slimmest of leads — Josh Naylor came up with one out and the bases empty, and aimed to tie things up with one swing. Fernando Tatis Jr. denied him.
The Padres could have very easily lost 2-1 or 3-1, depending on how things shook out, but thanks to the defense of a couple of heavy hitters — who went a combined 1-for-6 on the day — they came away with the dub instead.
Miz dropped the Dodgers
Things started off great for Los Angeles, as Shohei Ohtani smacked a lead-off home run off Brewers’ rookie Jacob Misiorowski, his NL-leading 31st dinger of the year. The young starter shut the door on one of the best lineups in baseball the rest of the way, though.
Misiorowski held the Dodgers scoreless from that point forward, striking out 12 batters over six innings on Tuesday to earn the 3-1 win. After dropping their fifth straight game, the Dodgers are tied with the Pirates for the longest current losing streak in the MLB. It’s not panic time by any means, but the nine-game lead they had over the Giants in the NL West just last Friday is now five games.
As for Misiorowski, he’s had a fantastic start to his MLB career. Across five games, he’s now thrown 25.2 innings while striking out 33 batters and posted a 2.81 ERA. The walks (3.9 per nine) and home runs (1.4 per nine) could be a problem, but we’re also still in small sample territory all around.
Judge inches closer to 350 home runs
Yankees’ slugger Aaron Judge hit a solo shot in the seventh inning, the 349th home run of his career. It was also his 34th of the season — he’s two behind Cal Raleigh for both the AL and MLB lead, since Raleigh also went deep in this contest — and Judge’s blast helped the Yankees beat the Seattle Mariners 10-3 on Tuesday.
Judge’s next game will be the 1,085th of his MLB career. The fastest to 350 career home runs in terms of games played is Mark McGwire, who got there in his 1,280th game. Which is to say that Judge still has just a little bit of time left to make history, if he doesn’t successfully bash no. 350 on Wednesday.
Raleigh’s home run, by the way, passed Ken Griffey Jr. for the most before the All-Star break in Mariners’ history. The actual break doesn’t start until Monday — Raleigh has most of a week left to extend that record further.
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