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If I told you that there were three walk-offs on Thursday, and not one of them would be the lead story, what would you think? Something like a perfect game, perhaps? A no-hitter? A five-homer performance for the first time in league history? None of those things happened, but there was a miraculous comeback by the Arizona Diamondbacks in Atlanta, with the odds greatly stacked against them. If there was a better lead story, let me know. All in all, an exciting day around the majors. Let’s begin.
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Today’s Headlines
Atlanta Snakebitten by D’backs
I walked out of my room in the seventh inning, and Atlanta had a 9-3 advantage over Arizona. I returned for the start of the ninth, and the home team still led by six runs, 10-4. It was over for sure. There was no way Atlanta was going to blow a six-run lead in a game they needed to avoid being swept at home. The offense did their part, and every player in the starting lineup collected at least one knock. Things were going great for a team that had only scored four runs in the previous two contests. What could go wrong?
Let’s start with Scott Blewett. The right-hander had already surrendered a solo homer in the previous inning to Ketel Marte, and things got a whole lot worse after striking out Eugenio Suárez to start the final frame. Arizona cut the lead to 10-7 off homers from Lourdes Gurriel Jr. and Alek Thomas before Atlanta’s closer Raisel Iglesias entered with a 5.79 ERA and a chance at his ninth save of ’25.
After a Corbin Carroll double, Marte drove home Jose Herrera from third to make it 10-8 in favor of Atlanta. Next batter, Geraldo Perdomo, popped out to short with runners on the corners. It looked like Iglesias would get out of the jam until Ildemaro Vargas lined an RBI single to center to bring his team within one run.
Next up. Power-hitting third baseman Eugenio Suárez (no stranger to the big moment) smoked a 3-2 changeup to the left field corner to drive in the game-tying and go-ahead runs.
Arizona failed to score again, but it didn’t matter. The damage had already been done. Atlanta was snakebitten in the worst of ways and never recovered in the bottom half. Arizona’s Shelby Miller got Marcell Ozuna to ground into a game-ending double play. Final score: Diamondbacks-11, Atlanta-10.
Atlanta has lost four straight and is now seven games under .500 at 27-34. Arizona’s victory upped their winning streak to four games, and they’ll head into action on Friday at 31-31. Crazy game. It was the first time in 766 games dating back to 1973 that Atlanta had lost a game when leading by at least six runs after eight innings.
Alonso Homers Again, But Dodgers Rally Late to Earn Series Split
There’s no question who the MVP of this four-game series at Dodger Stadium was. Pete Alonso had already driven in seven runs entering the final contest in Los Angeles, and picked up where he left off after Wednesday’s two-homer performance with a second-inning solo shot to give the Mets an early 1-0 advantage and himself home run No. 15.
Brandon Nimmo and Starling Marte would also add solo homers in the third to give New York a 3-0 lead before a Brett Baty sacrifice fly increased the Mets’ advantage to four.
However, this was the defending World Series champs the Mets were visiting, and after the Dodgers answered with the three runs in the bottom of the third to cut New York’s lead to one, the teams remained scoreless until Alonso delivered his second RBI of the day on a single to right. Alonso finished the afternoon with three hits.
With the Mets ahead 5-3 in the bottom of the eighth, reliever Reed Garrett surrendered an RBI double to catcher Will Smith before Andy Pages reached safely on a fielder’s choice that brought home Smith from third courtesy of an errant throw by Baty.
The game was tied at five until Michael Conforto delivered a go-ahead single off Garrett, scoring Pages from second.
Closer Tanner Scott struck out two Mets in the ninth. The lefty earned his 11th save as the Dodgers rallied for a 6-5 win and series split.
Smith Delivers Big Hit For His New Squad
After the San Francisco Giants rallied from a five-run deficit on Wednesday to defeat the San Diego Padres and avoid going down 3-0 in this four-game set, they once again trailed early on Thursday. The Padres got the scoring started with a two-run homer off the bat of Manny Machado in the third inning. It was Machado’s 350th of his career.
Unfortunately for the Friars, the Giants had an immediate answer in the bottom half. After a Willy Adames bases-loaded sac fly cut the deficit in half, the next batter and newly acquired free agent Dominic Smith came through with a two-out ground rule double off starting pitcher Dylan Cease.
Smith’s knock plated two runs, and that was all the scoring San Fran would need the rest of the day, thanks in large part to another tremendous outing by Robbie Ray. The southpaw tossed seven innings of two-run ball for his eighth win, and added nine strikeouts to his season total as well. With the series split, the Padres enter the weekend two games back of the Dodgers in the NL West, while the Giants remain three games off the pace.
— SFGiants (@SFGiants) June 5, 2025
Fried, Yankees Take Rubber Game Versus Guardians
In his last start against the Dodgers on May 30, Yankees ace Max Fried surrendered six runs to claim his first loss of ’25. With the series on the line versus the Guardians, Fried delivered with six scoreless innings of one-hit ball as the Yankees shut out Cleveland 4-0. Outfielder Cody Bellinger led the Yankees offense with a two-hit-and-three-RBI day, including this fourth-inning two-run homer to put his team on the board.
New York enters the weekend with a 5.5-game lead in the AL East and will host the struggling Red Sox for three contests beginning on Friday. The Guardians dropped to 33-28 with the loss and trail Detroit by 6.5 games in the AL Central.
Best Moments From Yesterday
Orioles Beginning to Roll
Despite another big day at the dish from Seattle’s Cal Raleigh, it wasn’t enough for the suddenly hot Baltimore Orioles.
After Raleigh began the scoring with an RBI single in the first, he blasted a go-ahead two-run homer over the right field wall for his MLB-leading 24th homer.
However, Raleigh’s bat wouldn’t be enough as the once-struggling Orioles rallied from a 3-1 deficit in the sixth inning behind back-to-back taters from Adley Rutschman and Gunnar Henderson.
Baltimore’s 4-3 win completed a three-game sweep at T-Mobile Park and increased their winning streak to six games. The O’s still have a lot of work to do at 25-36 if they have hopes of getting back in the playoff picture, but this is certainly looking more like the team that many thought they’d see from Day 1. We’ll see if the streak continues when they head to Sacramento to face the last-place A’s.
A’s End Nine-Game Losing Streak
Speaking of those Athletics. The Minnesota Twins were unable to complete a four-game road sweep after the home team got out to an early 7-0 lead after three frames. The scoring wouldn’t stop there, and in the end, the headliner was first baseman Tyler Soderstrom’s two homers and six RBI to lead the A’s attack.
Final Score: Athletics-14, Twins-3. The victory for the A’s ended their nine-game slide.
The Walk-offs
As mentioned, there were three walk-offs on Thursday. We’ll begin in Tampa Bay, where it looked like the Rangers had the game in hand, leading 3-1 in the bottom of the ninth. That was until their lefty reliever Robert Garcia surrendered an RBI single to Junior Caminero.
Three batters later, with the bases loaded and two outs, Taylor Walls hit a grounder to second baseman Marcus Semien, who couldn’t make an out at first and inexplicably wasn’t paying attention to the runner Caminero on second after the tying run had already scored from third.
A strange play that helped the Rays to a three-game sweep. Final score: Rays-4, Rangers-3.
🎆🎆🎆 pic.twitter.com/WpWAjaGI3s
— Tampa Bay Rays (@RaysBaseball) June 6, 2025
The Cardinals and Royals split their doubleheader on Thursday. St. Louis won the first game 6-5 in extras thanks to a 10th-inning walk-off single by catcher Willson Contreras.
The Royals answered with a 7-5 victory in the second match to take the series 2-1. The highlight of Game 2 came on the defensive side. Check out this diving catch by shortstop Bobby Witt Jr.
Bird? ❌
Plane? ❌
Bobby Witt Jr.? ✅ pic.twitter.com/mx0VmrGZl5— MLB (@MLB) June 6, 2025
Finally, we end the day with a 10th-inning walk-off win for the White Sox courtesy of Tim Elko.
The Sox beat Detroit 3-2 and split their series with MLB’s top squad.
Injuries and Other Moves
⚾ LHP Andrew Saalfrank was reinstated by the Diamondbacks after a one-year suspension for violating MLB’s gambling rules. Saalfrank was optioned to the Arizona Complex League. Three other players were also reinstated on Thursday for betting on baseball, including San Diego’s SP Jay Groome, Philadelphia’s infielder Josè Rodriguez, and A’s reliever Michael Kelly.
⚾ Diamondbacks first baseman Josh Naylor was removed from Thursday’s game versus Atlanta with hand and shoulder soreness. He’s considered day-to-day. Naylor has a .289/.345/.448 slash line so far in ’25.
⚾ Mets shortstop Francisco Lindor has a fractured pinky toe, which he suffered in Wednesday’s game versus the Dodgers. Lindor did not play on Thursday and is considered day-to-day.
⚾ The White Sox are calling up their No.2 prospect, Kyle Teel, from Triple-A Charlotte. Teel is the No. 26 overall prospect, according to MLB Pipeline. Teel hit .295 with eight homers and 30 RBI in 50 games with Charlotte.
⚾ Atlanta will be calling up 15-year veteran reliever Craig Kimbrel from Triple-A Gwinnett. The move was announced after Atlanta’s ridiculous ninth-inning collapse on Thursday versus the Diamondbacks. Kimbrel began his big league career with Atlanta, and led the NL in saves for four consecutive seasons from 2011-14 before signing with San Diego in 2015. The 37-year-old had a 2.45 ERA with Gwinnett and struck out 17 batters over 14.2 frames.
⚾ Padres first baseman Luis Arraez exited Thursday’s game versus the Giants with knee soreness. No word as of this writing on his status for the weekend. Arraez is hitting .282 this year.
⚾ A’s catcher Shea Langeliers was replaced mid-game on Thursday due to a left flank injury. MRI results are pending. Langeliers was the DH in this game and was 1-for-4 at the plate before the removal.
Articles You Should Read
MLB’s unluckiest hitter? For Juan Soto, it’s about ’staying the course’ — Deesha Thosar, foxsports.com
How Rockies are handling all-time worst start to MLB season — Jesse Rogers, espn.com
They were suspended for betting on baseball. Now their teams are welcoming them back— Sam Blum, The Athletic
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