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Washington 12 NYY 3

Washington sent 12 men to the plate in the 4th scoring 9 and Taylor Cole pitched five innings of scoreless relief and the Senators completed the sweep of the Yankees with a 12-3 thrashing.

It looked like the blowout would be a different direction in the 1st as it looked like Sean Newcomb might not get out of the 1st. Aaron Judge walked, Adeiny Hechavarria followed with a single as did Giancarlo Stanton loading the bases with nobody out. Gleyber Torres fly was not deep enough to score Judge but Miguel Andujar pushed him across without a swing as he drew a walk making it 1-0. After a strikeout to Greg Bird Austin Romine stroked a grounder to center scoring Hechavarria and Stanton and it was 3-0 with two men on and two men out. Brett Gardner loaded them again with a walk before Pitcher Lance Lynn (L 1-1) flew to out end Newcomb’s misery.

In the 2nd it looked like it would more of the same when Judge walked and Hechavarria singled to start the inning but Newcomb struck Stanton struck out and speared a screaming liner by Torres and pivoted with a perfect throw to Trevor Story to double off Judge and kill the rally and then would retire the next six in a row.

Meanwhle there was a sign of things to come in the 3rd when Lynn walked Corey Dickerson and then gave up a double down the line to right. Dickerson motored around 3rd but Aaron Judge came up with the ball cleanly and delivered a strike to Romine cutting down Dickerson to end the inning.

Then came the 4th. Jesus Aguilar led off with a walk. Story flew out but Hamilton singled to center and Reddick walked as well loading the bases with one out. DJ LeMeMahiu followed with a single to center scoring Aguilar and the speedy Hamilton but Reddick decided to test Bret Gardner’s arm and Gardner passed the test nailing Reddick preserving the Yankee lead. With 1st base open as LeMahieu moved to 2nd on the throw Lynn intentionally walked Swihart bringing up the pitcher’s spot.

For the 2nd time in the Series Nick Markakis came up to pinch hit and for the 2nd time he delivered smashing a bases clearing double and Washington was up 4-3.

They weren’t nearly done yet Corey Dickerson dropped a single just over the head of third baseman Miguel Andujar. Markakis didn’t slow down for a second and beat Andujar’s throw by a mile and it was 5-3. When Lynn walked Anthony Rendon and Aguilar Lynn was out and Johathan Story came in to face Trevor Story who had flown out earlier that inning to see if he could repeat that result, well Story hit another fly ball but this one carried 433 feet over the left field fence for a grand slam and the 3-0 Yankee lead was now a 9-3 defect. Washington fans were going wild…and then they saw Trevor Cole (W 1-1) come in from the bullpen.

Cole came in with an ERA of 9.59 having given up 5 runs in 5 1/3 innings and fan were hoping that he could eat at least two or three innings without giving up the lead so that the rest of the bullpen could do the job.

Cole managed to hit two of the 1st three men he faced in the fifth but he Sandwiched a double play ball in between getting out of the top of the 5th unharmed and even drove in a run on bases loaded sac fly in the bottom of the inning, scoring Reddick who singled to start the inning. Afer a Miguel Andujar error scored LeMahieu Cole had an 8 run lead with 4 innings to pitch.

It would be more than Enough Cole coxed ground ball after ground ball and even got some help from Josh Reddick who returned the favor to Aaron Judge by gunning him down at the place in the 7th. Cole pitched five innings and the rest of Washington’s Bullpen had another day of rest to enjoy

Notes: By the time Gary Sanchez grounded out to end the 9th Cole not only had had his 1st win but he had almost doubled his innings pitched (5.1 to 10.1) while more that haling his ERA 9.60 to 4.35. Meanwhile for the Yankees losing pitcher Lynn’s ERA exploded to 7.84. Corey Dickerson had 8 hits in the series and Trevor Story two home runs for Washington while Billy Hamilton who was called up at the start of the series hit .308 (4-13) with two runs scored. The final stop on the Yankee’s long opening roadtrip comes tomorrow in Boston While Washington packs their bags to visit division rival Rivertown.

Boston 6 LA 4

Boston clawed back from a 4-0 deficit and Rhys Hoskins provided the fatal 8th inning blow as Boston took the rubber game of their series against the Dodgers 6-4

Justin Verlander’s trouble came early. He managed to stand Cody Bellinger after a lead off double in the 1st bu in the 2nd Yasmani Grandal doubled with one out and Kike Hernandez followed with a walk and Chris Taylor with a single to center loading the bases with only one out.

David Freese followed with a single to center that drive in Grandal Hernandez rounded 3rd and Taylor rounded 2nd drawing a forlorn throw by Ronald Acuna Jr which wasn’t in time to get Hernandez and allowed Freese to get to 2nd with one out and the score 2-0. Cody Bellinger would single next driving in Taylor and sending Freese to 3rd where he would score on Yasiel Puig’s grounder making it 4-0.

That would however be all they would manage, as the Dodgers kept after Verlander putting on two in the 3rd & 4th with one out and getting men on in the 5th, 6th before Boston pulled him for Brandon Morrow (W 1-0) with one on and one out in the 7th, but each time LA came after the 2nd Verlander would bend, but not break.

That would be critical as Boston chipped away bit by bit against Clayton Kershaw (L 1-2) In the 2nd J. D. Martinez doubled and went to 3rd on an infield single by Kris Bryant. Acuna followed with a one out double that scored Martinez and would have cut the lead in half but for a perfect throw by Puig cutting him down for the 2nd out and leaving the score 4-1

In the 3rd Jose Altuve put a ball into the Monster making it 4-2 but a two out Bregman double went for naught as Kershaw pitched out of it again.

In the 4th Christian Yelich put a ball onto Landsdowne Street to start the inning and Acuna walked with one out but once again Kershaw left the runner there and clung to the lead 4-3.

In the 5th Boston threatened again. Zobrist walked and took out Muncy breaking up a double play. on Bregman’s grounder. J. D. Martinez walked to put the go ahead run on 1st but Kershaw stuck out Yelich to end it.

In the 6th his luck finally ran out. After a Kris Bryant leadoff double and a K of Acuna, Grandal missed a 2-1 breaking ball in the dirt to J. T. Realmuto sending Bryant to 3rd with only one out allowing Realmuto to drive in the tying run with a groundout to short.

Still LA stuck with their ace until he gave up a leadoff single to Yelich in the 8th. Josh Fields came in to relieve him and Rhys Hoskinds hit for Kris Bryant. Yelich stole 2nd on a called strike putting the go ahead run in scoring position and getting enough of Field’s attention that he grooved his next pitch to Hoskins who put the ball over the Monster seats for the 6-4 final that the game would end on.

Notes Brandon Morrow pitched 2 1/3 innings of one hit ball for the win. Tests on Max Muncy (knee) came back negative and he is listed as day to day. Both teams managed 10 hits in the game and 3 with runners in scoring position but Boston’s 3 came in 9 chances while LA 3 came with 13. The Red Sox welcome the Yanks for a two game set (Servino 1-0 vs Blake Snell 0-1) while the Dodgers will visit King Ragnar’s Vikings.

Texas 4 Juneau 2

Nelson Cruz hit a tiebreaking homer in the 8th and and Edward Diaz pitched a perfect 9th as Texas compleated their sweep of Juneau 4-2

Juneau took a lead in the 2nd thanks to an error by Chris Sale (W 2-1) who tried to hurry a throw to nail Matt Chapman at first which put him on 2nd with a single and error. He moved to 3rd on an Andrew Benintendi and scored on a Deep fly to center by Salvador Perez.

Rivertown tied it in the 4th. After retiring the 1st two batters Nelson Cruz doubled off Trevor Bauer (L 0-1) and Jose Martinez followed with a 2nd double to almost the exact same spot in left center making it 1-1. Juneau took the lead back at once as Andrw Benintendi hit a one out Solo shot to right, but Rivertown again rallied with two out Lorenzo Cain singled and stote second, Ramirez walked and Paul Goldschmidt stroked a single to left scoring Cain and it was all even at two.

It stayed that way as both teams stranded runners in scoring position in the 6th and 7th but in the top of the 8th Cruz hit his solo homer and while in the bottom of the inning Matt Chapman walked and Benintendi singled to right putting runners on 1st and 3rd with one out, reliever Diego Castillo came in to relieve Sale and coxed a double play ball out of Salvador Perez to preserve the 3-2 lead. When Goldschmidt was thrown out at the plate to end the 9th after Cain scored on a David Peralta RBI double the game was still in reach but Edwin Diaz (S4) retired three in a row and Juneau was done.

Notes: Mgr Carden was not in the dugout for today’s game after yesterday post game tirade against the umpiring behind the plate yesterday. No definite word has come from the front office on why. Both Cruz (Rivertown) and Benetendi (Juneau) had three hits including a solo shot each and at least one double, Cruz had 2. Mookie Betts and Lorenzo Cain each stole a base. Rivertown faces off against Washington in a battle for 1st place in their divisions while Juneau travels to Texas in the hope of reversing their current fortunes.

Texas 10 Vikings 4

Texas scored ten unanswered run after being down 4-0 winning a battle of big innings downing King Ragnar’s Vikings 10-4 in the rubber game of the series.

It’looked like it would be a short outing for Zach Wheeler (W 1-1) when in the 2nd Anthony Rizzo’s leadoff homer was followed by an Eddie Rosario single. One out later Whit Merrifield followed with is one and Jean Segura doubled scoring Rosario and Merrifield and Elias Diaz singled to left making it 4-0. After retiring Mallex Smith Gerardo Parra singled to center and Juan Soto to right but with the bases loaded Wheeler managed to keep Rizzo’s 2nd fly of the inning in the park.

Having been spotted a 4-0 lead it looked good for Jacob deGrom (L 1-1) but the thunder came right back. Freddie Freeman doubled to right and Nolan Arenado homered to cut the lead in half. Javier Baez followed with a single and Francisco Lindor doubled to left and it was 4-3. Lindor moved to 3rd on a flyout and scored on a single by Tucker Barnhart tying the game. Michael Brandley hit and infield single and it looked like the tye would be broken but Charlie Blackmon grounded into a double play and the game remained 4-4.

In the Thunder 4th Baez lead off with double and Lindor doubled him in making it 5-4 which after a k of Jackie Bradley chased deGrom but the Thunder weren’t finished. Oliver Perez struck out Barnhart for the 2nd out but Michael Brantley homered to right and it was now 7-4.

That was the Boost that Wheeler needed. Once given the lead he kept it pitching into the 7th handing it off to the pen who were given three more runs to play with in the 8th via another Baez single, Lindor double a Jacke Bradley triple and a Blackmon single to keep the game in hand.

Notes The vikings (10) and Thunder (15) combined for 25 hits and both teams did great with runners in scoring position Vikings 3-4 Thunder 6-17 and both teams grounded into a pair of double plays . Third basemen was ejected in the 8th arguing with umpire Cousins who called Bradly safe at third on a very close play. It was Cousins’ 2nd ejection of the series. Ragnar’s Vikings head home to play LA while Texas welcomes the struggling Muffen Men to town.