A look at what’s happening at the majors today:
After a day off, the New York Yankees attempt their longest winning streak in 60 years when they open a four-game series in Oakland.
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New York has won 11 straight for the first time since 1985. The legendary Yankees haven’t won 12 in a row since Mickey Mantle and Roger Maris in September 1961.
Jameson Taillon (8-4, 3.94 ERA) plays for the Yankees against James Kaprielian (7-4, 3.25), who was drafted by New York in the first round of UCLA in 2015 before being switched to athletics in July 2017 Deal sending pitcher Sonny Gray to the Yankees.
Kaprielian is 2-0 with a 3.31 ERA in three starts since he came off the injured list, but the A have lost four in a row and eight out of 10 to in an AL wildcard race now held by the Yankees is listed as falling from the playoff position.
Taillon has been standing since his last loss on Dec.
One night after outlasting San Diego in 16 innings, the Dodgers head to a three-game sweep against their NL West rivals with Max Scherzer on the hill and Mookie Betts expected back on the line-up.
Yu Darvish (7-7, 3.70 ERA) is said to be removed from the Padres injured list.
Scherzer (11-4, 2.65) is making his fifth start since Los Angeles took him over from Washington at close of trading on July 30th. The three-time Cy Young Award winner is 3-0 with a 2.11 ERA and 31 strikeouts in 21 2/3 innings for the Dodgers.
Scherzer hasn’t lost since May 30th and will try to go 8-0 over 13 starts. But he’s allowed 11 runs over 10 2/3 innings in two starts against San Diego this season, both with no decisions.
Betts was sidelined with a hip injury, but the World Series defending champions barely missed a blow, winning 11 of their last 12 games. The slinging padres lost three straight and 11 out of 13.
AJ Pollock’s two-time homer in the 16th sent Los Angeles to a 5-3 win early Thursday in by far the longest major league game since pandemic rules were introduced last year. No game had lasted more than 13 innings since MLB began putting an automatic runner on second base to start additional innings during the shortened 2020 season.
The day after their 19-game loss ended, the Baltimore Orioles are trying to beat the Los Angeles Angels for the second time in a row.
Baltimore finally stopped its slide Wednesday night and rallied to beat Los Angeles 10-6 after a shaky start from Shohei Ohtani left the Angels’ bullpen with too much to deal with.
The Orioles were two defeats behind the American League record for longest skid, which they set themselves in 1988 when they started 0:21.
Keegan Akin (0-8) starts the series finals for Baltimore against Jaime Barria (2-2). Akin allowed four runs in three innings against the Angels on July 2.
The ailing Philadelphia Phillies can’t blame their schedule for failing to catch up with Atlanta in the NL East race.
Philadelphia receives NL Arizona worst to start a four game series. Of the Phillies’ 11 remaining series, nine are against teams that are currently losing records.
Philly has 36 games left and only six against winning teams: three-game sets at NL Central-leading Milwaukee and NL East-leading Atlanta.
In addition to the sad diamondbacks, the Phillies will host the even worse Baltimore Orioles next month. Philly also welcomes the Colorado Rockies, Chicago Cubs, and the last place to the Pittsburgh Pirates, and has two road series in Miami, one in Washington and one at the New York Mets.
Mets right-hander Noah Syndergaard is expected to set up an inning for High-A Brooklyn as he begins his second minor league rehab after surgery on Tommy John in March 2020. His first stay in rehab was stopped in May due to an elbow problem.
Acting general manager Zack Scott said Tuesday that New York plans to use Syndergaard for relief on his return in hopes that it will shorten the length of his rehab assignment. The 28-year-old Syndergaard can become a free agent after the season.
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