[jksander]

July 7, 2026: Dylan Cease (4-4, 3.15 ERA, 97.0 IP, 108 K’s, 1.10 WHIP) pitched against Sem Robberse (1-2, 4.12 ERA, 24.0 IP, 21 K’s, 1.50 WHIP) in game one in St. Louis, and the Cardinals took a 1-0 lead immediately with a solo homer by Masyn Wynn in the botom of the first. But we hit them back in the top of the fourth with a leadoff homer by Heston Kjerstad, and we loaded the bases from there, taking the lead off a sac-fly by rookie Colson Montgomery in just his second major league at-bat! Yordys Valdes hit an RBI single to make it 3-1 heading into the bottom of the inning, and we were suddenly rolling. But Nolan Gorman hit a solo homer leading off in the bottom of the fourth to cut the lead to one, so we knew we wouldn’t get off that easy. We got the run back in the top of the fifth with a sac-fly by Kjerstad, but Gorman hit another homer in the sixth to keep this one close ... too close, as moments later Austin Meadows hit a two-run blast out of right to rocket them back into the lead 5-4. Sean Burke took over with one out and Willson Contreras on first, and J.J. Weatherholt lined into a U3 double-play to get us into the seventh just trailing by one. We loaded the bags in the top of the eighth, and with two outs Ha-seong Kim hit one into deep center, allowing him to leg out a three-run triple that put us right back into the lead by a pair! Ryan Helsley took over in the bottom of the ninth with the lead unchanged, and he did the job as we shut them down 7-5 to win and keep our streak going. Sean Burke, who Ozzie Guillen has moved into the bullpen, improved to 6-4 with a 4.60 ERA, lasting 2.2 innings with three hits and two strikeouts after Cease went 5.1 innings with eight hits, a walk, five runs and eight strikeouts. Helsley earned his fifth save of the year, allowing two hits but bringing his ERA down to 3.02. They outhit us 13-10, but we walked five times to their one, and Ha-seong Kim led the way with three hits, a run and three RBIs.

July 8, 2026: Zac Gallen (9-2, 3.03 ERA, 104.0 IP, 87 K’s, 1.10 WHIP) pitched against Chris Paddack (2-6, 4.74 ERA, 79.2 IP, 64 K’s, 1.29 WHIP) in game two in St. Louis, and the longball continued to be a plague ... in the bottom of the first they got on the board with a solo homer out of right by Eguy Rosario, but we stuck to our gameplan and an RBI triple for Bellinger in the top of the third tied us up! That’s when Ceddanne Rafela hit a two-run homer out of center-left, shooting us into the lead once again! We left two runners on the corners when the inning came to an end, but we’d built a 3-1 lead, and thus far this season Gallen’s been tough to beat once he gets a good lead. Lars Nootbaar hit a solo homer out of left in the bottom of the fifth to cut into the lead, but we got out of the inning without giving up our advantage. We brought out Eduard Bazardo in the bottom of the sixth still leading 3-2, and in the top of the seventh we loaded the bases on one out, setting up Tauchman perfectly -- he walked in a run with his patient approach, and we went into the stretch leading by a pair. With one out and Jordan Walker on first in the bottom of the inning we brought out Jose Alvarado, shutting them down with two quick outs to keep the lead safe. With two outs in the bottom of the eighth Masyn Wynn hit a solo homer out of right to cut our lead back to one run, but Alvarado got us out of the inning still ahead of the Cardinals. Unable to add any insurance, we brought Ben Joyce out to pitch in the bottom of the ninth, and with three quick outs he sealed it as we won 4-3! Gallen had five innings with two hits, a walk, four strikeouts and two earned runs, and we finished with nine hits against four for the Cardinals ... Bazardo (9) and Alvarado (6) had holds, and Joyce saved his 12th game of the year, improving his ERA to 5.18 after a one strikeout, no baserunner inning. Ceddanne Rafaela led the way with his two-run homer that set the tone for the rest of the game. He’s now hitting .244 and has hit 14 doubles and eight homers this season for 38 RBIs.

In a little deep-minors news, we promoted 16-year-old starting pitcher Abnar Marroquin from the International Complex to our Dominican rookie team, just three months after he was discovered by our scout Mike Shirley. And damned if the kid didn’t make a stellar impression right out of the gate ... he pitched a complete game two-hit shutout against the Cincinnati (DSL) Rojos this afternoon, striking out TWENTY batters, most of whom are already significantly older than him ... if he actually IS just 16, there’s been some debate about his birth certificate. We have to keep him in the DSL league until next summer when he’ll be 17, but if he dominates the competition at rookie level, he could very easily make it up to single-A next season ... definitely a young prospect we’re paying heightened attention to!
 
July 9, 2026: Jonathan Cannon (2-0, 3 SV, 3.38 ERA, 40.0 IP, 37 K’s, 1.12 WHIP) got the start in game three, facing the Cards’ Ranger Suarez (5-7, 4.92 ERA, 91.2 IP, 87 K’s, 1.15 WHIP) in a game where we have a mostly rested bullpen. Bellinger hit a leadoff triple in the top of the second to give us our first spark of the evening, and he scored off a sac-fly by Tauchman to put us on the board. Cannon had great control through the first four innings, and in the top of the fifth we added on with a run off a wild pitch, and another off a sac-fly, going into the botom of the fifth leading 3-0. That gave Cannon room to stay out in the fifth and avoid the long bullpen innings. We loaded the bases in the sixth, but failed to add on when Yordys Valdes grounded into a 3-2-3 double play to squelch the potential reaming in its tracks. Noah Syndergaard took over in the bottom of the inning, and it was not a great appearance for him ... with one out, Nolan Gorman hit a two-run double to put St. Louis right back in contention, and even with him having to leave the game after a collision sliding in, suddenly all the momentum was with the home team. Jake Merryweather took the ball from there, and it went from bad to worse when Jordan Walker hit a two-run blast out of left to steal the lead back 4-3 for the Cards. Merryweather got us into the eighth inning still trailing just by a single run, and Sean Burke took over in the bottom of the eighth, striking out the side to keep us in it. But we’d need to score in the ninth if we wanted to finish the job ... and this time it wasn’t in the “cards” for us as St. Louis held on to win 4-3, snapping our winning streak at five games. Merryweather gave us 1.2 innings with a hit, a walk, a strikeout and the earned run that lost the game, so he is now 0-4 (all off blown saves) despite a 3.68 ERA through 32 appearances. We outhit them 8-6, led by Bellinger and Valdes, each of them with two hits and a run scored.

We’ll take a stellar 51-35 record into our three-game weekend series against the Royals, who are 44-43 and in third place in the division, seven games behind us and two back of the Guardians. Miguel Vargas is going to need at least another week on the IL before he’ll be ready to return, and we could have Matt Canterino and Brandon Pfaadt back in the rotation soon after the All Star game, though all three players will likely go through at least a short rehab assignment before I consider bringing them back up.

Two days till the draft, and it’s getting a bit harried around here ... bring it on, though, we’re ready for the challenge!

July 10, 2026: Noah Schultz (7-4, 2.26 ERA, 107.1 IP, 131 K’s, 0.76 WHIP) started in game one against the Royals, facing Seth Lugo (5-4, 4.02 ERA, 105.1 IP, 92 K’s, 1.25 WHIP). It took a bit, but we took the lead first in the bottom of the fourth with a solo homer out of center by Bellinger, his 19th homer of the season, and we followed that with a pair of doubles, Ceddanne Rafaela coming in to score our second run while Tauchman took immediate scoring position. Gary Sanchez batted in a third run with a single, and a pair of walks loaded the bases for Ha-seong Kim who promptly walked in a run, our fourth of the inning! Meidroth grounded into a fielder’s choice to get the Royals out of the hellish inning, but we’d done our damage. Bazardo came out to pitch with two outs and nobody on in the top of the sixth, quietly striking out Jace Jung to keep the shutout intact into the bottom of the inning. Bellinger hit an RBI single on two outs to add on in the bottom of the seventh, and we brought Merryweather out in the eighth. He got two outs in the ninth only to then allow a three-run double ... Ben Joyce came in leading by two with Yunior Severino coming to the plate as a potential tying run, but we got the groundout we needed and got out of here with a 5-3 win. None of Merryweather’s runs were earned, and he had two hits and a walk in his 1.2 innings ... we kept him out too long, and we were lucky Joyce was able to come out quickly and get that 13th save. Schultz, meanwhile, continues to impress -- he’s now 8-4 with a 2.15 ERA, going 5.2 innings tonight with five hits, two walks and five strikeouts in his 19th start of the season. We outhit the 13-7, led by Ceddanne Rafaela who had three hits and a run, while Bellinger had two hits a run and two RBIs.

Tomorrow we draft, and then play game two againt the Royals with a 7:35 p.m. first pitch!