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Every season I end up with some weird piece of “Hey, did anybody else notice this?” type of weird trivia and I think I already know what 2026’s is. Did anybody else notice that Texas Rangers fans are incredibly dedicated to the whole Tarps Off thing? Maybe it’s just that other teams’ broadcasts have been told to stop showing hundreds of men in various states of undress on a nightly basis but every game in Arlington features extended shots of a full section of dudes chanting and spinning their shirts and honestly: I’m impressed.
Today’s Headlines
Fried Fettle
Tuesday’s Yankees/Pirates game got called on account of the ridiculous bands of thunderstorms and rain that blew through the city, and things got off to a weird start on Wednesday when Gerrit Cole went seven full innings, striking out 11 and giving up three runs en route to an extra-innings loss for the Yankees. It’s been a rough two tough-luck games for Cole, although he didn’t take the L (that went to Fernando Cruz.)
The Pirates took that 3-0 lead into the seventh inning before Ben Rice (who else?) smacked a three-run dinger into the second deck in left field to tie things up.
Ricewater in his veins.
— New York Yankees (@yankees.mlbbsky.com) 2026-07-22T19:06:57.000Z
Pittsburgh added their final two runs in the 10th thanks to a Marcell Ozuna walk, a Jared Triolo RBI single:
BIG TRI BREAKS THE TIE! 🌳
— Pittsburgh Pirates (@pirates.com) 2026-07-22T20:01:02.328Z
and then a Jake Mangum RBI bloop:
MANNNNNGUM
— Pittsburgh Pirates (@pirates.com) 2026-07-22T20:03:50.562Z
But the night game was the return of Max Fried, and while he didn’t put up nearly as gaudy a strikeout total, nor a full seven innings, it was a pretty stellar return from the IL:
Return of the Max. #RepBX | @MaxFried32
— New York Yankees (@yankees.mlbbsky.com) 2026-07-23T00:19:21.000Z
OK, sorry, that’s not helpful and mostly just repeats the pun from the title but I don’t run the Yankees social media (thankfully) so here’s the actual pitching line: 5 IP, 1H, 1 BB, 7 K. No runs allowed. The Yankees did win the later half of the doubleheader 2-0 thanks to an RBI double from Jasson DomÃnguez:
Okay, hello, it's the Martian 👋
— New York Yankees (@yankees.mlbbsky.com) 2026-07-23T01:01:21.000Z
which was followed up by an RBI single from Anthony Volpe to bring him home:
Anthony adds on 👊
— New York Yankees (@yankees.mlbbsky.com) 2026-07-23T01:02:55.000Z
That’s a series win! I didn’t know they were allowed to do that!
High Dirty Water Mark
Boston also saw their hopes of Tuesday baseball cruelly dashed by the weather. The stakes were higher for Boston than New York, however, as the Red Sox were chasing franchise history as they came into Wednesday with a 14-game win streak, only one short of the best the Sox have ever put up in their 125 year history.
Well, they got off to a hot start, scoring four runs in the bottom of the first, with the initial two coming off the bat of Caleb Durbin:
Durbin can't be stopped!
and the next two coming from a Jarren Duran triple:
Make that 4 runs in the first!
Durbin has been on a tear since the All-Star Break, huh? Duran added another run with a sac fly in the third, and Ceddanne Rafaela capped off the Boston scoring with a solo homer in the fourth:
Ceddy to the Monster!
The O’s scattered three of their own runs, including this solo shot from Christian Encarnacion-Strand:
I love his rec spex, is that a new thing this year? Anyway, the Sox came away with the win, 6-3, giving them a 15th straight win.
A franchise record tying 15 in a row!
There would be no record-breaking yesterday, though. The Orioles took the second half of the doubleheader with a 5-1 win, with two of their runs scoring on wild pitches. Separate wild pitches, to be clear. I still do really want to see multiple runs score on a single wild pitch, I’m sure I have seen it at some point, right? But you’d think I would remember.
Boston’s win streak is over, but it got them three games over .500 and they’re now two games ahead of Seattle for the third AL Wild card slot. With the loss on Wednesday night, the current longest win streak in baseball belongs to Houston and Tampa Bay, who have won…three games in a row. The longest streak in baseball is actually Miami’s, who have lost nine games in a row. They probably aren’t as proud of that, though.
These Arms Are Snakes
Both Yankees games we’ve talked about were close, and both Boston games were…not close but not absolute runaways. So let’s swing out west to take a look at the largest run differential of the Wednesday slate as the Diamondbacks took the A’s down by a score of 15-5. 10 runs! Ah, ah, ah!
Things really got out of hand for Gage Jump and the Athletics in the fifth inning, when Arizona scored seven runs, all with two outs! Five of the six hits (plus a walk) all came with two outs, too. Here’s a recap of just the home runs:
That trio includes the first MLB homer for Ryan Waldschmidt, who definitely didn’t get cheated for his milestone dinger. The Snakes didn’t rest on their laurels, though, as they added another five runs in the sixth, which included this triple from Corbin Carroll:
He leads MLB with 11 triples, second place is…Luis Arraez?! Yeah, sure. Arizona is currently four games over .500 which gets them a whole lotta nothing in the NL West as they still sit 11.5 games behind the Dodgers. Womp womp. (Well, they do currently have half game lead on the Cardinals for the third wildcard spot in the NL. Anti-womp womp?)
By The Numbers
7 triples for Luis Arraez this year so far, in case you were wondering.
.300/.343/.479 is the slash line for the 5-9 hitters in the Tampa Bay lineup. That leads all of baseball in AVG and SLG, and the best OBP in the AL.
34 coffees picked up by Kevin McGonigle and the other Detroit Tigers rookies in Chicago on Wednesday. They should try getting decent coffee next time, though.
Best Moments From Yesterday
Yordang Right
While he’s not running away with the f or bWAR lead even in the AL, Yordan Alvarez is absolutely wrecking the field on offense this year:
Yordan Alvarez with MLB ranks:34 HR (1st)77 RBI (1st).328 AVG (2nd)
His slash line after Wednesday’s game sits at .328/.433/.656 which is good for a staggering 194 wRC+. His league-leading 34th dong came in the bottom of the eighth inning at the expense of Sandy Alcantara:
Streaky Henderson
While the O’s only managed to split the doubleheader in Boston yesterday, it marked a continuation of an unheralded streak for Gunnar Henderson:
Here's a fun one from the game notes: Gunnar Henderson has reached base in 28 consecutive games at Fenway Park to begin his career. That ties Bernie Williams for the longest career-opening streak by a visitor at Fenway (1991-1997 for Williams)
— Andy Kostka (@afkostka.bsky.social) 2026-07-23T03:04:38.686Z
It’s been a down year for Gunnar so far, but Bernie Williams is good company to have on any type of offensive stat.
Injuries and Other Moves
âš¾ The O’s put catcher Samuel Basallo on the IL due to right shoulder inflammation. The stint is backdated to July 20th.
âš¾ Atlanta brought MartÃn Pérez back from the IL and optioned JR Ritchie to AAA as the corresponding move.
âš¾ Bobby Witt Jr. has been placed on the IL due to low back tightness. There’s no timetable for his return yet.
âš¾ The cycle of Carlos Carrasco being DFA’d, outrighted, called back up by Atlanta, DFA’d, outrighted, and called back up is finally at an end (for this year, at least) as he was signed by the LG Twins of the KBO League.
Articles You Should Read
A Bat Tweak — the Size of a Hockey Puck — Has Made All the Difference for Soto – David Adler, MLB.com
Nobody Told the Tigers It’s The Year of the Bunt – Davy Andrews, FanGraphs
Fantasy Baseball Coverage
