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Let’s be honest. Thursday’s four MLB games didn’t involve many playoff contenders. In fact, other than the Seattle Mariners and Cincinnati Reds, which of the other six squads in action have a legitimate shot at the playoffs? The answer is probably NONE, unless you’re counting the Miami Marlins‘ slim hopes entering the day at six games back of a wild card with a sub-.500 record. But, you’d probably have a hard time convincing most pundits. Despite the lack of high playoff intensity throughout the day, there were still plenty of noteworthy performances and entertaining highlights.
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Today’s Headlines
Mariners Sweep White Sox With Walk-off
Seattle entered Thursday’s action against the Chicago White Sox just two games back of Houston in the AL West and 1.5 games behind Boston for the top AL wild card position. The Mariners sent their ace, Logan Gilbert, to the bump with eyes on a three-game sweep against the American League’s worst team.
Randy Arozarena broke a scoreless tie with a two-run homer in the third inning off Sox rookie starting pitcher Shane Smith.
Gilbert looked to be in complete control after posting four innings of zeroes across the scoreboard. However, Chicago’s Michael A. Taylor put the Sox on the board with a fifth-inning solo homer to left.
Gilbert didn’t allow another run in the frame, but following 94 pitches, six strikeouts, and three walks, his day was finished after five innings. The Mariners’ pen took over from there, and if not for a game-tying solo blast by 24-year-old third baseman Brooks Baldwin to lead off the seventh, the home team would have won 2-1.
Instead, onto extras they went, tied at two apiece. Seattle called on relief pitcher Eduard Bazardo in the 10th, and just when it appeared the M’s would get out of the frame unscathed, the Sox went on a two-out rally that began with an intentional walk of Colson Montgomery, a Curtis Mead hit by pitch to load the bases, and a Bazardo wild pitch scoring Lenyn Sosa from third.
Chicago took a 3-2 lead into the bottom half of the frame, but unsurprisingly found a way to cough up that advantage after a beautiful sac bunt by Miles Mastrobuoni led to this throwing error to first by third baseman Josh Rojas, allowing ghost runner Arozarena to score the tying run.
Mariners RP Jackson Kowar kept the game tied at 3-3 with a scoreless top of the 11th, setting up a dramatic finish in the bottom half. After Sox reliever Brandon Eisert intentionally walked Mitch Garver to lead off the frame, right fielder Dominic Canzone stepped to the plate and delivered a walk-off single to right, plating Eugenio Suárez from second.
Seattle’s 4-3 victory increased their winning streak to four games. More importantly, they cut their deficit to 1.5 games on the idle Astros in the AL West.
Another Fantastic Start For Skenes
It’s been another dreadful campaign for the Pittsburgh Pirates. Entering Thursday’s series opener with Cincinnati, the Buccos had a 49-66 record. Other than their star pitcher, Paul Skenes, there has been very little to get excited about. The good news in this one, Pittsburgh’s offense actually gave the Cy Young contender enough run support to collect his seventh win of ’25. The Pirates scored three runs in the first frame, beginning with a solo homer by right fielder Bryan Reynolds.
Pittsburgh scored twice more in the inning and never looked back. Skenes was his usual dominant self, and despite yielding a career-high seven hits over six frames, he didn’t walk anyone and kept Cincy scoreless while striking out eight.
The Pirates’ bullpen tossed three scoreless frames and allowed two knocks the rest of the way. Final Score: Pitt-7, Cincy-0. The loss for the Reds dropped them to 60-56 and 3.5 games out of the final NL wild card spot.
Skenes improved to 7-8 on the year with a 1.94 ERA (best in MLB). Here’s Skenes talking about pitch execution after the game.
Best Moments From Yesterday
Lopez Dominates Nationals
There wasn’t much anticipation in an early afternoon contest between two last-place squads on Thursday. However, the A’s cruised to a 6-0 shutout victory to take the rubber match of this series, and there were a couple of noteworthy firsts.
Let’s start with the Athletics rookie southpaw Jacob Lopez striking out a career-high 10 batters over 7.2 scoreless frames. Lopez’s splendid outing included only three hits allowed over 114 pitches thrown. I know Skenes will get all the recognition today, given his fantastic season, but make no mistake, it was Lopez who had Thursday’s best outing.
Jacob 10pez. pic.twitter.com/PVKS0Owf7Y
— Athletics (@Athletics) Athletics/status/1953524338537213981?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw”>August 7, 2025
Not to be forgotten. A’s 24-year-old rookie outfielder Colby Thomas went yard for his first big league homer since being called up on June 30. The Athletics selected Thomas in the third round of the 2022 MLB Amateur Draft from Mercer University.
Baldwin’s Big Day
Folks, if there’s a more deserving NL Rookie of the Year candidate at the end of August 8 than Atlanta’s backstop Drake Baldwin, I’d love to hear the argument. The Marlins visited Atlanta on Thursday for the first of five contests (doubleheader on Saturday). Baldwin began the scoring with a solo homer in the first to give the home team a 1-0 advantage.
Miami led 6-2 after four innings until Baldwin cut the Atlanta deficit to one courtesy of this three-run homer over the right field wall for his second homer of the contest.
In the catcher’s next at-bat, he grounded a game-tying single to left, scoring Nacho Alvarez Jr. from second.
Next batter, Marcell Ozuna’s infield single led to the eventual winning run coming home on a throwing error to first by Marlins shortstop Otto Lopez.
Final score: Atlanta-8, Marlins-6.
Baldwin finished the day with two homers and five RBI. For the season, he’s hitting .287 with 13 long balls and 46 RBI. Again, I ask…who else is more deserving of the NL ROY Award at this time?
A Nice Catch With Phone in Hand
We can’t forget about fans who make nice grabs in the stands. I randomly caught this one live during the sixth inning of the Atlanta game.
Check out the one-handed snag by this @Braves fan 👀👏 pic.twitter.com/CqRhPoYvJt
— MLB (@MLB) August 8, 2025
Injuries and Other Moves
⚾ Toronto Blue Jays SP Alek Manoah made his third rehab start on Thursday since coming back from UCL surgery. Manoah hasn’t pitched in a big league game since 2024, and tossed three innings of two-run ball with Double-A New Hampshire. The right-hander threw 64 pitches and allowed five hits, while striking out two.
⚾ Mariners first baseman, Josh Naylor, exited Thursday’s contest versus the White Sox with shoulder soreness. Naylor is considered day-to-day at this time.
Articles You Should Read
Clayton Kershaw, Max Scherzer and a rookie-year meeting for the history books— Doug Haller, The Athletic
1 big question facing each team down the stretch — MLB.com
Fantasy Baseball Coverage
