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MLB News & Moments You Should Know: 6/27/2025

Pitching, shutouts, more pitching.

Justin Alston
MLB Morning News 6/27/2025

Stay updated on everything baseball with our morning MLB News & Moments articles. We’ve got you covered to keep you in the know.

Hello, everyone.

I’ll make today’s intro to Thursday’s action as clear as possible. There were nine contests around the majors, and five of them were shutouts. It would have been six if not for a Miles Mastrobuoni two-out RBI single in the ninth to give the Seattle Mariners their first run of the game in their 10-1 loss to the Minnesota Twins. Counting the Twins’ nine-run blowout, two other games involved the losing squad scoring only once. That left one match on the day that saw both clubs score more than one run apiece.  Folks, simply put, that is an unusual occurrence.

We’ll get to all the action in a moment, but first, some news from the Dominican Republic. The Tampa Bay Rays‘ former franchise player, 24-year-old Wander Franco, was found guilty of sexually abusing a minor, but will not face incarceration. At the Puerta Plata Collegiate Court on Thursday, Franco was instead sentenced to a two-year suspended prison sentence and must adhere to the conditions made clear by the three judges of the court, including not approaching minors for sexual purposes. There is more to this story, which you can read on numerous websites today.

Don’t forget to watch every game with the Pitcher List community on Playback!

 

Today’s Headlines

 

The Shutouts

 

If pitching is your thing, then Thursday was probably baseball heaven for you. Let’s go from top to bottom as far as individual pitching performances went in the one-sided affairs. I’m not including the four contests that saw at least one run by each team. We’ll get to those later. Now, of course, this is subjective, but I am going to take a jab at this based strictly on the pitching lines. If I’m wrong, then I’m sure Nick Pollack will correct me today in his Fantasy Baseball SP Roundup, in which he goes into greater detail on every starting pitcher’s outing.

Blue Jays-6, Guardians-0

#1: Toronto’s SP, Kevin Gausman, tossed eight shutout frames on the road to help the Blue Jays take the rubber game in Cleveland. Gausman allowed only two knocks and one free pass while striking out six. Now, I understand that the next name on this list will show a pitcher who threw just as many innings and had three more strikeouts, but Gausman’s performance in a game that also had a little flare to it after the stars for both squads were drilled early in the contest (see Injuries and Other Moves section below) made this the top performance on the bump for me on Thursday.

Rays-4, Royals-0

#2: Tampa Bay’s Shane Baz held the Royals to three hits over eight innings for his eighth win of the campaign. Baz matched the innings pitched by his AL East rival, Gausman, and many would probably put his line ahead of the Toronto right-hander. Baz struck out nine and walked only one to help Tampa secure a three-game road sweep, and most importantly, move to a half-game behind the Yankees in the AL East with a record of 46-35.

Cubs-3, Cardinals-0

#3: The Cubs welcomed Shota Imanaga back from the IL after missing most of May and June with a hamstring injury. The southpaw needed only 77 pitches to get through five scoreless frames to secure his fourth win of ’25. Imanaga struck out three and walked one, while yielding only a single knock. The game also saw the benches clear after Chicago’s closer Daniel Palencia struck out Nolan Gorman to end the contest. Players from both sides ran onto the field after Cardinals catcher Willson Contreras had a few choice words for Palencia following a 100 mph fastball off his hand with one man aboard in the ninth. Nothing else came of the situation. Chicago’s victory meant a 2-2 series split with their division foes.

Tigers-8, Athletics-0

#4: SP Dietrich Enns was called up from Triple-A to make Thursday’s start, and claimed his first win of the season with the Tigers, after holding the A’s to one hit over five shutout frames. Like Imanaga above, Enns is a left-hander and needed only 77 pitches to get the job done as Detroit took the series at home 2-1.

Mets-4, Braves-0

#5: It’s possible that New York SP Griffin Canning would have ended up higher on this list if not for a left Achilles injury he suffered in the third inning of his team’s series-tying victory over Atlanta. Canning was sharp through 2.2 frames, and had allowed one hit and struck out three before his departure. No further update on Canning’s condition at this time. The 4-0 victory for the Mets was their second straight and improved their NL East best record to 48-34.

 

The Best of the Rest

 

Now we get to the games that saw at least one run scored by each team. We’ll start with some more terrific pitching performances in Houston.  The Astros completed a three-game sweep of Philadelphia after a two-out go-ahead RBI single by right fielder Cam Smith broke a 1-1 tie in the eighth.

Sadly, neither starting pitcher in this contest earned the win despite Philadelphia’s Cristopher Sánchez and Houston’s Hunter Brown combining for 20 strikeouts over 13 innings. Sanchez accounted for 11 of those punchouts, but gave up one run over six innings as compared to Brown’s seven scoreless frames with nine strikeouts. A terrific pitcher’s duel ends with two no-decisions. Houston’s 2-1 victory was their fourth straight.

Elsewhere, Houston was also celebrating after Minnesota earned a series split at home with the Mariners, as mentioned in the intro. Simeon Woods Richardson earned his third W after striking out six over five scoreless frames.

In the only other contest that saw the losing team score one run on Thursday, the Los Angeles Dodgers outlasted the Colorado Rockies at Coors Field to finish off a three-game sweep. Starting pitcher Clayton Kershaw improved to 4-0 after a six-inning quality start in which the southpaw allowed one run and struck out five. Kershaw ended the day with 2,997 strikeouts and could reach the 3K milestone in his next start, possibly coming against the White Sox at home next week. Shohei Ohtani hit home run No. 28 in the seventh for the final run of the contest. Final score: Dodgers-3, Rockies-1.

 

We’ve come this far, so why not mention the only game of Thursday that witnessed both clubs score more than two runs apiece? In what was certainly the most shocking sweep of the week, the Marlins smoked the Giants 12-5 in San Francisco to complete a surprising 3-0 series win. Giants starting pitcher Hayden Birdsong undoubtedly had the worst pitching line of the day after surrendering seven runs over four innings. Birdsong’s record fell to 3-2, while San Fran fell to 3-7 over their last 10 games, and 6.5 games behind the Dodgers in the NL West.

 

Best Moments From Yesterday

 

Judge and Ohtani Earn Automatic Bid to All-Star Game

 

As if the juggernauts really needed help from the fans to justify their entrance into the 2025 MLB All-Star game next month, both New York’s Aaron Judge and Ohtani were the highest vote-getters in Phase 1 of balloting. Judge finished with over four million votes to lead the American League, while Shotime finished a hair behind the four million mark with 3,967,668 to lead the National League. What more is there to say about the reigning MVPs other than the fact that both are top contenders for the award once again this season?

 

Witt Jr. Announces He’ll Play for Team USA

 

It’s been a bit of a struggle at the plate for the Royals’ star of late, but regardless, Bobby Witt Jr. announced on Thursday that he’ll suit up for Team USA in next year’s 2026 World Baseball Classic. Witt talked to the MLB Network crew, including his Team USA manager, Mark DeRosa. Check it out below.

 

Injuries and Other Moves

 

⚾ Toronto Blue Jays first baseman Vladimir Guerrero Jr. was removed from Thursday’s game against Cleveland after being hit in the wrist by a Tanner Bibee sinker in the third frame. X-rays came back negative. In what many would consider retaliation, the Blue Jays then plunked José Ramírez in the following inning after the Guardians star was drilled in the forearm on a first-pitch fastball by Gausman. Ramirez exited the contest at the start of the fifth, and X-rays were also negative.

⚾ The Los Angeles Dodgers activated reliever Luis García Jr. from the 15-day IL. Garcia hasn’t pitched since early June due to a right adductor strain. 

 

Articles You Should Read

 

The All-IL team: As more MLB stars go down, building an All-Star team of injured players — Chad Jennings, The Athletic

As Kyle Schwarber approaches free agency, the Phillies’ window to win is now— Deesha Thosar, foxsports.com

 

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Justin Alston

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Justin has been a passionate baseball fan since the early 90s. His sports writing journey began in college, shortly after he and a group of friends started a fantasy baseball league in 2004, which is still active today. Alston's blog, Baseball Fan Perspective, can be found at baseballfanperspective.substack.com.

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