The Month That Was in Baseball: June 2025

Sunday, June 1

A day after the death of his older sister, an emotional Elly De La Cruz insists on playing for the Reds at Chicago—and responds with a single, walk and a 423-foot home run, the 50th of his career, in the sixth inning. Yet the Cubs will prevail over Cincinnati, 7-3, as Pete Crow-Armstrong and Nico Hoerner each supply three hits. Genelis De La Cruz Sanchez passed after suffering through an extended series of health issues, though neither De La Cruz nor the Reds would elaborate, out of respect for his family’s privacy. She leaves behind two children. 

The Colorado Rockies become the first team in the post-1900 modern era to lose their 50th game before winning their 10th. At New York, the Rockies drop a tight 5-3 decision to the Mets as Francisco Lindor, Juan Soto and Pete Alonso all crank out solo homers for the opposition. 

In pre-modern times, only the Cincinnati Red Stockings, from the National League’s maiden 1876 season, had a worst start to a season after 59 games (8-51); they would finish their season at 9-56. 

The Arizona Diamondbacks are crossing their fingers that Corbin Burnes is okay. Just one out away from qualifying for his third win of the year, Burnes—in the first season under a six-year, $210 million contract—signals to the Arizona dugout that he’s experiencing discomfort in his pitching elbow and is promptly removed. Online lip readers believe that Burnes says “my elbow’s done, it’s dead” before walking off. After Burnes’ departure, four DBacks relievers group up to limit the visiting Washington Nationals to no runs on two hits the rest of the way, as Arizona secures a 3-1 win. All three runs are notched in the first inning, the last two on Eugenio Suarez’s 466-foot home run. 

Monday, June 2

On a night when the road team wins all seven games on the schedule, the visiting Los Angeles Angels get off to a booming start in Boston by becoming the first away team in the 114-year history of Fenway Park to hit three home runs in the first inning. It’s part of a six-run rally against Red Sox pitcher Richard Fitts that the Angels will need as they ultimately hold on to win, 7-6. Zach Neto, Mike Trout and Jo Adell launch the three long balls; it’s the 10th homer each for Neto and Trout—both of whom have missed significant time this season. Adell adds a second homer in the sixth, giving him nine on the year.  

At Chicago against the White Sox, Detroit’s Kerry Carpenter muscles up and achieves the Tigers’ first three-homer game since 2016 in a 13-1 drubbing. Carpenter’s clouts are hit in the first, fourth and sixth innings; the opportunity for a fourth homer is denied when he floats a lazy fly ball to center in the eighth. 

Carpenter’s last seven hits against the White Sox, over a span of five games, have all been home runs.

The Rockies are 4-0 when entering the day with an eight-game skid. Fighting back from an early 4-1 deficit at Miami, Colorado plates five unanswered runs and grabs a 6-4 decision over the Marlins, ending their fourth losing streak of eight losses this season. Catcher Hunter Goodman, with three hits including a pair of homers, is the star hitter for the Rockies in becoming the last team this year to secure their 10th win—four full weeks after the White Sox became the previous team to reach 10 victories. 

Authorities say they have found the person who sent death threats against Houston’s Lance McCullers Jr. and his family after a particularly bad outing for the Astros pitcher on May 10. He’s a guy living abroad in an unidentified country; not surprisingly, he made the threats toward McCullers after betting on him. When McCullers bombed instead—giving up seven runs on three hits, three walks and a hit batsman while getting just one out against Cincinnati—the bettor, fueled by a combination of anger and alcohol, fired off his threatening posts. Once discovered, the bettor apologized to authorities, asking to extend that apology to McCullers and his family. It’s reported that charges may still be levied against the man, the effectiveness of which will be determined if he’s living in a foreign country or is (was) traveling. 

Tuesday, June 3

The Rockies win back-to-back games for only the second time this season, and for the first time against the same team. Their 3-2 win at Miami also clinches a series win, ending an MLB-record streak of 22 straight series defeats going back to last September. Hunter Goodman, the offensive hero in Colorado’s previous win over the Marlins, features again with a double and eighth-inning home run that will prove to be the deciding run. 

The Milwaukee Brewers’ eight-game winning streak is over, and they have TJ Friedl to blame. Down 4-2 at Cincinnati with two outs in the ninth and a man on base, Jake Bauers’ bid for a game-tying home run is stolen over the top of the wall by Friedl, ending the game in favor of the Reds. 

It’s a day of triumphant returns for injured hitters smoking home runs to help their team’s cause. At New York, Jazz Chisholm Jr. belts a critical solo homer in his first game in five weeks, boosting the Yankees to a 3-2 win over Cleveland; in Toronto, Bryce Harper, out the previous five games after getting hit by a pitch, goes deep in his first at-bat back in the Phillies’ 8-3 victory over the Blue Jays; and in Seattle, the Orioles’ Colton Cowser—absent for two months—strikes a solo long ball in Baltimore’s 5-1 triumph over the Mariners. 

Wednesday, June 4

It’s a rare sweep for the Rockies, who win their third straight for the first time this year and nab their first three-game sweep in over a year with a 3-2 win at Miami. Hunter Goodman continues as the team’s top hitter this week, collecting a double and triple, while Kyle Freeland gains his first win in his last 16 starts dating back to last September 8. Crowd at loanDepot park: 6,261. 

Mick Abel, called up by Philadelphia for his second start with Zack Wheeler on the paternity list, has another excellent outing for the Phillies. But it ends in defeat at Toronto, as Alejandro Kirk’s tie-breaking, walk-off single in the ninth off former Blue Jays closer Jordan Romano gives the home side a 2-1 win. The 23-year-old Abel allows a run on three hits through 5.1 innings; in his two starts thus far, he’s allowed just that one run on eight hits over 11.1 innings, with no walks. 

Romano continues a rough first season with the Phillies—after a rough last one with the Blue Jays. Since the start of 2024, the once top (and underrated) closer has a 7.43 ERA over 40 appearances. 

The San Francisco Giants are down 5-0 to the visiting San Diego Padres in the fifth inning—and being that they’re on a 16-game streak in which they haven’t scored more than four runs, prospects for a comeback don’t look enticing. But they quickly come back to life, plating six runs over the next three frames—the final three notched in the seventh to take the lead for good. Daniel Johnson, with one major league at-bat over the past three-plus years coming into the day—and one of numerous newcomers as the Giants shake up the roster in hopes of fueling their offense—has two hits, two runs, a stolen base, and makes an excellent running catch of a Luis Arraez deep fly to center in the ninth to help preserve the 6-5 win. 

The 16-game streak with four or fewer runs scored was the third longest in franchise history; the 1902 and 1965 Giants each went 19 such games, with the latter team managing to win 11 of those contests. 

Thursday, June 5

For the seventh time this season, both teams score at least 10 runs in the same game—and for the fourth time, the Arizona Diamondbacks are involved. And like the other three including the DBacks, it includes an outrageous comeback—never more so than at Atlanta, where the Snakes stun the Braves with a seven-run ninth to escape with an 11-10 victory. Braves reliever Scott Blewett lives up to his name and is charged with the first four DBacks runs in the ninth. But even closer Rafael Iglesias, thinking minutes earlier that he’d be witness to an easy Atlanta win from the bullpen, can’t put the fire out as he surrenders three more runs—including the game-winning stroke for Arizona as Eugenio Suarez doubles home the game-tying and go-ahead runs. It’s the biggest ninth-inning comeback in Diamondbacks history. 

The Braves’ ninth-inning meltdown—resulting in Iglesias’ fourth blown save of the year while raising his season ERA to 6.75—prompts Atlanta to make a call to former Braves All-Star closer Craig Kimbrel, promoted after 18 appearances in the team’s minor league system this year. 

The Athletics end a nine-game skid and win for just the second time over their last 22 games, blowing away the Twins at Sacramento, 14-3. Four home runs by the home side include a pair from Tyler Soderstrom, giving him 14 for the year. The 1-20 stretch was the A’s worst since 1943. When it began on May 14, the A’s were in second place in the AL West, just 1.5 games out of first; they’re now in the divisional cellar, 11 games back. 

What’s happening to Jesus Luzardo? The Phillies’ Peruvian-born pitcher, who in his last start had a near-historically awful outing by giving up 12 runs, is blown apart again—this time by the Blue Jays, who slap eight runs on nine hits against Luzardo in just 2.1 innings. Toronto starter Chris Bassitt, buoyed with his teammates’ fast start against Luzardo, eases through seven solid innings as the Blue Jays triumph, 9-1. 

 In the last 100 years, no pitcher has given up more runs in as few innings through back-to-back appearances than Luzardo, who’s given up 20. 

The Tampa Bay Rays stun the Rangers, 4-3, on a two-run infield single to cap a three-run rally in the ninth. With one run in, the bases loaded and two outs, Taylor Walls’ routine grounder is fielded by Texas second baseman Marcus Semien, who looks to first—but first baseman Josh Smith has pulled away from the bag in pursuit of the ball as well. That leaves Semien unsure where to throw, as both Jonathan Aranda and Junior Caminero both score from third and second, respectively. 

No active MLB owner has run his team longer than Jerry Reinsdorf, who bought the Whtie Sox in 1981. The end to that reign looks to be officially on the horizon, as the Sox announce that billionaire private equity guru Justin Ishbia will invest in the team over the next two years with the promise that he will take over as head of the franchise sometime between 2029-34. This ensures that Reinsdorf will remain owner until at least the age of 93. 

Friday, June 6

The Diamondbacks’ worst fears are confirmed as it’s announced that ace Corbin Burnes—who signed a six-year, $210 million contract with Arizona before the start of the season—will undergo Tommy John surgery. Burnes was 3-2 with a 2.66 ERA in 11 starts in his first year with the DBacks, but left his June 1 start against Washington complaining that his elbow was “dead.” The procedure likely means that Burnes won’t return to the mound until the last half of the 2026 season. 

Kyle Hendricks joins 18 other active pitchers with his 100th career victory, allowing four runs over six innings but securing the win as the Angels defeat the visiting Mariners, 5-4. The 35-year-old right-hander’s milestone win is his third of the year, against six losses; his season ERA actually inches up to 5.40. 

The Dodgers are shut out at St. Louis by the Cardinals, 5-0—but not for a lack of trying. The defending champs knock out 10 hits including three doubles but fail to plate, leaving six men stranded in scoring position. This is only the 37th time in modern major league history that a team has been blanked despite gathering at least 10 hits, three of those for extra bases; nine of those 37 games went extra innings. 

Saturday, June 7

On the day Atlanta lets go of veteran closer Craig Kimbrel—whose return to the Braves lasted all of one appearance—one must wonder if the move was premature. The Braves’ bullpen once again flunks the late-inning test, as Pierce Johnson—who lost the previous night’s game at San Francisco by throwing a wild pitch that brought home the winning run—serves up a two-run, walkoff homer to the Giants’ Matt Chapman in the ninth to give the home side a 3-2 win. The meltdown wastes an excellent effort by Braves starting pitcher Bryce Elder, who allows a run on three hits through eight innings with 12 strikeouts and no walks. It’s the sixth straight loss for Atlanta, while it’s already the eighth walkoff and 15th one-run win for the Giants; both numbers lead all MLB teams. 

Kimbrel will find a new team four days later when the Texas Rangers sign him to a minor league contract. 

The Marlins survive a freak accident and bottom-of-the-order heat from the opposing Rays to wring out an 11-10 victory in 10 innings at Tampa. Just before the start of the Rays’ first, Miami starter Ryan Weathers completes his last warm-up toss, turns away—and is plunked in the back of the head by an all-too-low toss to second from catcher Nick Fortes. Weathers will last three innings, giving up four runs (three earned); the Marlins’ bullpen will prove to be no more effective. The Rays’ comeback to tie the game at 10-10 is powered by the bottom three batters in their order—Christopher Morel, Danny Jansen and Taylor Walls—who combine for eight of Tampa Bay’s nine hits, seven of which go for extra bases, including four home runs, two by Morel. Miami will win the game on pinch-hitter Heriberto Hernandez’s simple single to bring home the gift runner in the 10th. 

According to STATS, this is the first time in MLB history that the 7-8-9 hitters in the starting lineup each have multiple extra-base hits including a home run in one game. 

Sunday, June 8

It’s another excellent outing for Paul Skenes—but not another win, at least not personally. The young Pittsburgh ace is once again well deserving of a victory—allowing an unearned run on two hits and a walk through 7.2 innings against the visiting (and scuffling) Phillies, but after retiring the first two batters rather quickly in the eighth, he’s removed from a 1-1 game to a cacophony of boos from the PNC Park crowd of 25,261. Braxton Ashcraft takes over, gets the third out—and then the Pirates score the go-ahead (and ultimate winning) run in the bottom half of the inning. Because Ashcraft is the pitcher of record, he gets the win—and for Skenes, it’s a no-decision. 

In 14 starts this season, Skenes has a sterling 1.88 ERA—but his record remains at a subpar 4-6. Over his last eight starts, the disconnect is even more severe, as he’s 1-4 with a 1.52 ERA. Since earned runs became official in 1913, every other pitcher with a lower ERA over an eight-start stretch won more games, except one: The Cubs’ Justin Steele, who in 2022 authored a 1.48 ERA while going 1-2 over his luckless eight-game span. 

Clayton Kershaw has his most commanding effort since multiple injuries delayed the start of his 2025 season, allowing a run on six hits over five innings in the Dodgers’ 7-3 win at St. Louis. It’s the future Hall of Famer’s 65th career start with at least seven strikeouts and no walks, surpassing Curt Schilling for the most in MLB history. 

The Mets finish off a three-game sweep of the Rockies in Denver behind a pair of home runs each from Pete Alonso and Jeff McNeil in a 13-5 rout. Not only does Alonso pass Darryl Strawberry for the most multi-homer games (23) in Mets history, he also breaks a tie with David Wright for the sole #2 spot on the all-time home run list with his 243rd four-bagger. Strawberry is #1 on that list with 252. 

Seattle snaps a five-game skid behind an exceptional performance from George Kirby, who strikes out 14 with no walks over seven innings to pick up his first win in four starts this season in the Mariners’ 3-2 win over the Angels at Anaheim. Among Seattle pitchers, only Randy Johnson (twice) and Mark Langston had previously struck as many or more batters in a game with no walks. 

The Angels’ Mike Trout, who scores one of the two runs off Kirby on a Turner Ward home run, equals two all-time marks in games against Seattle: Rickey Henderson’s 145 runs, and Rafael Palmeiro’s 435 total bases. No one has hit more home runs (54) against the Mariners than Trout, who’s also batting .317 with 135 RBIs in 187 career games when facing Seattle. 

Monday, June 9

The Braves end a seven-game skid that was their longest in nine years, easily upending the Brewers at Milwaukee, 7-1. Chris Sale is dominant on the mound, striking out a season-high 11 over seven innings while lowering his ERA to 2.79, while Ronald Acuna Jr. hits one of three home runs for Atlanta. It’s Acuna’s fifth homer in just 16 games since returning to action; he had just four in 49 games last year before tearing his ACL. 

Miami’s Eury Perez makes his first start since undergoing Tommy John surgery at the end of the 2023 season—a campaign in which he won TGG’s NL Pitcher of the Month honors in June—and definitely shows the rust as he’s nailed for four runs over three innings and 70 pitches in a 10-3 loss at Pittsburgh. For the Pirates, it’s their fourth straight victory—their longest win streak of the year. 

Tuesday, June 10

The Giants win their sixth straight game—each by a single run—this one in dramatic fashion as they strike four times in the ninth inning at Colorado to erase a three-run deficit and defeat the Rockies, 6-5. The late rally is aided by attempted Rockies closer Zach Agnos, who generously walks three Giants—all of whom score. The sixth straight one-run win is a Giants record and one short of the all-time mark set by the 1927 Cubs; it also brings San Francisco to within a half-game of the NL West lead, because… 

…The Dodgers are blown out at San Diego, 11-1, in a bullpen game that goes very sideways for Los Angeles. Opener Lou Trivino gets the job done for the Dodgers in his one inning of work, but he gives way to call-up Matt Sauer—who over the next 4.2 innings is pounded for nine runs on 13 hits, the latter figure the most allowed by a Dodgers reliever since 1945. An exhausted and (once more) thoroughly beat-up Los Angeles pitching staff is given the rest of the night off as utility man Kiké Hernandez pitches the final 2.1 innings, allowing a pair of runs on three hits and two walks as all of his pitches register at no more than 55 MPH—save for one fastball that clocks in at 85. For the victorious Padres, Dylan Cease throws seven shutout innings with 11 strikeouts while Manny Machado knocks in five runs, moving San Diego within one game of the Dodgers in the NL West. 

Cincinnati’s Andrew Abbott, rebounding from his worst start of the year six days earlier, regains the form that made him our NL Pitcher of the Month in May. The 26-year-old southpaw throws his first complete game and shutout—the first by a Reds pitcher in four years—as he silences the Guardians at Cleveland, 1-0, on three hits over 110 pitches. The Reds score their only run in support of Abbott on Spencer Steer’s fifth-inning RBI single, giving them a 5-0 record so far this season against the cross-state Guardians—the team managed for 11 years by current Cincinnati pilot Terry Francona. 

Elly De La Cruz steals his 20th base of the year after a single in the fourth; he’s the first Reds player with at least 20 in each of his first three seasons. 

Abbott’s gem is the 12th complete game thrown by a pitcher this season; MLB is on pace to match its total number of CGs (28) from a year ago, the all-time low figure for a full season. 

In the Diamondbacks’ 10-3 win over the Mariners at Phoenix, Corbin Carroll collects a pair of triples for the second time this season. He’s the first player since Michael Bourn in 2014 with multiple games of two triples in a season; he leads the majors with eight three-baggers this year, well on his way to notching at least 10 for a third straight season. 

Sometimes, you can strike it rich starting a little something online. MLB has acquired a financial stake in Jomboy Media, which began as a podcast by Jimmy O’Brien along with Jake Storiale in 2017 and rose to prominence in 2020 by brilliantly dissecting, via video, the Astros’ 2017 cheating scheme. Jomboy has only grown from there, specializing in an uncanny ability to read lips in breaking down key or controversial moments in games. But it has made its true money with a number of other online ventures, including the popular Warehouse Games series on YouTube. Terms of the partnership with MLB are not reported, but you can bet that the league’s infusion is well into the millions. 

Wednesday, June 11

The Mets win their fifth straight game and now own the majors’ best record at 44-24, shutting down the visiting Nationals, 5-0. David Peterson goes the distance for his first career shutout win, allowing six hits and no walks with six strikeouts over 106 pitches. Brandon Nimmo homers twice for the Mets, while Juan Soto goes deep for his second straight game; he’s 16-for-41 with five homers since his batting average dipped to a season-low .224 in late May. 

Peterson is not the only one pitching nine innings on the day. In Milwaukee, Atlanta’s Spencer Schwellenbach throws the first complete game of his career, spreading two runs on five hits with no walks and nine strikeouts as the Braves power past the Brewers, 6-2. Ronald Acuna Jr. belts his sixth homer of the year, among three total hits. 

Andrew McCutchen moves up to #3 on the Pirates’ all-time home run list, drilling his 241st to pass Hall of Famer Roberto Clemente in a 5-2 home win over the Marlins. Well ahead of McCutchen on the franchise’s long ball list is #1 Willie Stargell (475) and #2 Ralph Kiner (301). 

Detroit pitcher Jackson Jobe, who’s not related to Dr. Frank Jobe—the guy who performed the first Tommy John surgery, on Tommy John—is undergoing the procedure after going 4-1 with a 3.91 ERA over 10 starts this season. Jobe will likely not pitch again until toward the end of the 2026 season, at the earliest. 

Thursday, June 12

Have the Brewers found their own Paul Skenes? At Milwaukee against the Cardinals, 6’7”, 197-pound Jacob Misiorowski allows no hits with four walks through five no-hit innings in his major league debut, before being forced to leave after rolling his ankle taking a step back toward the mound while facing his first batter in the sixth. Two relievers will take it the rest of the way and complete a three-hit, 6-0 shutout win, dealing St. Louis its fifth straight loss. 

The 23-year-old Misiorowski, a second-round draft pick in 2022, had compiled an 11-9 record and 3.04 ERA over 68 minor league appearances; over 233.2 innings, he allowed fewer hits (138) than walks (140), while striking out 320. Of Misiorowski’s 81 pitches against the Cardinals, 14 of them are clocked at 100 MPH and over; that’s six pitches more than all other Milwaukee starting pitchers combined since velocities became officially tracked in 2008. 

Misiorowski is the first starting pitcher in the 56-year history of the franchise to not allow a hit in his debut appearance. 

You can add Wade Miley’s name to the sad, sordid saga of late Angels pitcher Tyler Skaggs, who fatally overdosed on opioids in 2019. The 38-year-old left-hander, who’s recently returned to action with two starts for Cincinnati after undergoing Tommy John surgery last year, was said to provide pain-killing drugs to Skaggs while the two were teammates in Arizona over a decade ago, according to a deposition from Skaggs’ former agent as part of a wrongful death suit filed by the late pitcher’s family. Miley is the only pitcher outed as a source of drugs for Skaggs, as former pitcher Matt Harvey was also named during the trial of Eric Kay, the Angels’ communications director who supplied drugs to Skaggs and is now serving a 22-year prison sentence. 

A day later, Miley will respond to the accusation, stating: “I’m not going to sit here and talk about things that someone might have said about me or whatnot. I was never a witness for any of this. I was never accused of any wrongdoing.” 

Boston’s Fenway Park isn’t the only Fenway. The Red Sox’ minor league facility in Fort Myers, Florida mimics the fabled ballpark’s field dimensions but with a shorter Green Monster, while nearby in Delray Beach there’s a place called Little Fenway helped built by Bucky Dent, whose crucial, improbable home run over the Monster in 1978 helped the Yankees win the AL East; it features a replica of the Monster with the scoreboard paused at the moment Dent launched his legendary homer. Now, there’s a whiffle-ball version of Fenway called Home Run Ranch, a Bible study facility for high schoolers located northeast of Dallas near the Texas-Oklahoma border. It’s basically a mini-me replica; while the dimensions are proportional to the real Fenway, it’s much smaller with the deepest part of the field 94 feet to right-of-center. But there is a Green Monster with some 40 Fenway-style seats atop it, a Pesky Pole, and even a miniature version of the Citgo ad sign standing tall beyond left field. The Athletic recently wrote up a piece on this little slice of Fenway, which you can read here. 

Friday, June 13

The Giants and Dodgers finally face off against one another for the first time this season, and at night’s end they’re both in the same spot as they were on Opening Day—tied in the standings with one another. Casey Schmitt’s third-inning grand slam off an ineffective Yoshinobu Yamamoto is the big blow in the Giants’ 6-2 win at Los Angeles, leaving both teams tied for first in the NL West with 41-29 records. Logan Webb allows both Dodgers runs on just two hits through seven innings for his sixth victory. 

This is the latest date in any (full) season in which the Giants and Dodgers have met for the first time. 

Baseball’s other historic arch-rivalry is the setting for one of the season’s great mano a mano moments. At Boston in the top of the ninth, Garrett Crochet is trying to finish off a 1-0 shutout over the Yankees—but with one out, up to the plate steps Aaron Judge, who had struck out in all three of his previous at-bats against the Red Sox ace. Fed one 100-MPH fastball after another, Judge on a 3-2 count takes advantage of a heater in his sweet spot—and cranks it 443 feet, high above Fenway Park’s Green Monster. That ends Crochet’s night, but the Red Sox rebound in the 10th as catcher Carlos Narvaez’s RBI single wins it for Boston, 2-1. 

The Athletics snap a 14-game road skid—the longest such streak by an MLB team since the 2023 A’s lost 15 straight—with a 6-4 victory at Kansas City. Conversely, it’s the Royals’ fifth consecutive home loss. Luis Severino allows a run over 7.2 innings for the A’s, while the Royals get close at the end—tallying three times off A’s closer Mason Miller in the ninth before running out of outs. 

Pitcher Aaron Civale, upset over being demoted to the bullpen at Milwaukee, has his wish for a trade granted as he’s shipped to the White Sox for first baseman Andrew Vaughn. Civale was 1-2 with a 4.91 ERA over five starts for the Brewers; Vaughn, struggling in his own right, was batting .189 for Chicago with five home runs and 19 RBIs over 48 games. 

Saturday, June 14

The Braves set a modern-era team record by striking out 19 Rockies in a 4-1 win at Atlanta. Spencer Strider, picking up his first win since 2023 after an 0-5 start this season, is responsible for 13 of the K’s through six shutout innings; Rafael Montero (four) and Dylan Lee (two) provide the remaining punchouts over the final three innings. 

The Braves will strike out 16 more Rockies the next day in a 10-1 loss, tying an NL mark with 35 K’s over back-to-back games. 

The loss drops the Rockies to 13-57; no team since the beyond-gutted Cleveland Spiders of 1899 (who finished 20-134) had fewer wins in their first 70 games of a season. 

Mike Trout achieves one of three round-figure milestones he expects to reach in the next month or so, becoming the first player in Angels history to draw 1,000 career walks. The future Hall of Famer also belts his 389th home run and knocks in two runs to give him 981 lifetime RBIs, but it’s not enough on this day as the Angels fall to the Orioles at Baltimore, 6-5. 

Shohei Ohtani is a quarter-way to 1,000—not walks, but home runs. At Los Angeles against the Giants, Ohtani immediately sets the pace with a leadoff home run in the first, then adds another solo shot the sixth, getting plenty of help along the way as the Dodgers smash their way to an 11-5 win. Clayton Kershaw throws seven shutout innings and strikes out five, as he closes to within 12 of 3,000 for his career. 

In the “Oh, by the way” portion of the game, the Giants score all five of their runs in the ninth—four of them on a grand slam by Casey Schmitt, making him the first player in franchise history to hit slams in consecutive games. However, the achievement denotes something of an asterisk; Schmitt’s slam is hit off frequent Dodgers exhibition pitcher Kiké Hernandez, who by rule can pitch as the Dodgers are so far ahead. It’s Hernandez’s fourth appearance of the year on the mound (and second this week); in five total innings, he has a 9.00 ERA. 

For only the second time in MLB history, a pair of brothers each hit home runs in the same inning in the same game, playing on opposite sides. It happened in 1933 when Rick and Wes Ferrell both went deep (Rick’s blast actually was hit off Wes, who was pitching for Cleveland), and it happens today in Milwaukee, where the Cardinals’ Willson Contreras and Brewers’ William Contreras exchange long balls in the ninth inning. Both home runs are solo shots, and neither change the trajectory of the result, an 8-5 St. Louis win to end a six-game skid. 

In their 71st game of the year, the Rangers go extra innings for the first time. Texas is three outs away from victory in the ninth, but the Rangers’ bullpen can’t hold a 4-3 lead as a Michael A. Taylor RBI double ties the game. Yet the Rangers’ first overtime affair of the year ends triumphantly, as Adolis Garcia brings home the gift runner in the 11th to walk off a 5-4 victory. 

The fewest extra-inning games played by the Rangers in a full season is six, accomplished twice. 

The Rays had three triples over their first 11 games—then none over their next 58. That streak ends in New York, as Yandy Diaz reaches third on a ninth-inning RBI triple to cap the scoring in an 8-4 victory over the Mets. The record, by the way, for the most consecutive games by a team without a triple is the 2022 Oakland A’s, who went 81 contests sans a three-bagger. 

For the first time since 2022, Seattle pitcher George Kirby walks three batters in a game, a negative note in an otherwise decent start in which he allows a pair of runs over five innings in the Mariners’ 4-3 comeback win over Cleveland. Kirby had started 68 straight games in which he pitched at least three innings and gave up no more than two walks in each; that set the major league mark by two over the previously record-holder, Cy Young from 1904-05. The Mariners’ final two runs are notched during a ninth-inning rally with the winning stroke coming off the bat of Jorge Polanco on a two-out single off Guardians closer Emmanuel Clase. It’s the first time since September, 7, 2023 that the Guardians had lost a game in which they led after eight innings; in between, they had won 121 straight games when taking a lead into the ninth. 

There’s life once again in the Royals’ pursuit of a new ballpark. Missouri Governor Mike Kehoe signs a bill authorizing funds that would cover up to 50% of the budget for a new Royals ballpark and a renovated Arrowhead Stadium for the NFL’s Chiefs. The bill also includes financial aid for a section of downtown St. Louis recently struck by a tornado, causing $1.6 billion in damage. The financial package comes as politicians on the other side of the Missouri River in Kansas are teasing the Royals and Chiefs with 70% public funding for new facilities in Kansas City, Kansas. The two teams have until June 30 to agree to the deal. 

The Royals’ lease at Kauffman Stadium, their current home, lasts through 2030. 

Sunday, June 15

In the regular season’s first blockbuster trade, the Red Sox send disgruntled slugger Rafael Devers to San Francisco for pitchers Jordan Hicks, Kyle Harrison and two minor league prospects. The deal gives the Giants their first legitimate All-Star power presence since Barry Bonds. While the trade helps the Red Sox shed payroll—Devers is owed nearly $270 million from his current deal, with no opt-outs—the Giants clearly get the advantage on talent, and helps keep them more than relevant in the NL West race. 

Devers has gone through a turbulent first half with Boston. He was angry over the team’s decision to move him away from third base in favor of free-agent acquisition Alex Bregman; he later refused a move from the DH spot to first base. Despite a horrendous start to the year at the plate—going hitless over his first 19 at-bats with 15 strikeouts—Devers has been productive overall with a .272 batting average, 15 home runs, 58 RBIs and an Al-leading 56 walks. 

Monday, June 16

For the first time since August 2023 while he was still with the Angels, Shohei Ohtani takes the mound as the opener for the Dodgers, allowing a run on two hits while topping 100 MPH in his one inning of work against San Diego. Ohtani will later help his teammates’ cause at the plate with an RBI double in the third and a run-scoring single in the fourth, as the Dodgers go on to defeat the Padres, 6-3. 

Ohtani is only the second NL pitcher in the last 124 years to bat leadoff while getting a starting assignment. The other player was Al Dark, the infielder who in 1953 also pitched just the first inning in the New York Giants’ regular season finale at Pittsburgh. He gave up two runs on a walk and Frank Thomas home run. It was Dark’s only major league appearance on the mound. 

One would think that a game featuring Aaron Judge, Mike Trout and Giancarlo Stanton (making his season debut) would generate something more than a 1-0 result in 11 innings. The three aforementioned star hitters do combine for five hits in 11 at-bats, but everyone else in the game goes 10-for-68, with the only run coming home as Angels gift runner Christian Moore scores on a Nolan Schanuel leadoff double to defeat the Yankees at New York. 

In his first game back after experiencing tendinitis in both of his elbows, Stanton has two hits including a double. The 2017 NL MVP has missed an average of 66 games per full season since 2018. 

No team had gone longer without experiencing a 0-0 game going into extra innings than the Angels, who last had that happen to them in 2017. 

In what may be the most dominant performance by a pitcher in the 78-year history of the College World Series, Arkansas’ Gage Wood no-hits Murray State while striking out 19 batters. The only baserunner allowed by the junior right-hander is a hit batsman; he throws 119 pitches on the day. Now bad for a guy who entered the game with a 5.02 season ERA—having not thrown more than six innings or 89 pitches in any of nine previous starts this year. 

Thursday, June 17

The Yankees suffer their fifth straight loss—and their third straight shutout defeat—as they fall at home to the Angels, 4-0. Kyle Hendricks keeps the Bronx Bombers in check with six shutout innings and nine strikeouts; three relievers follow up with a hitless inning each. Yankee Stadium fans are getting so irate at their team’s offensive inabilities that they even boo Aaron Judge in the midst of his 0-for-4 night with three strikeouts. Over his last 15 at-bats, Judge has one hit (a single) with 12 strikeouts, and his batting average has dropped to .372 after flirting with the .400 mark through the season’s first two-plus months. 

This is the seventh time that the Yankees have lost three straight games via shutout; it last happened to them in 2016. 

In his first game with the Giants, Rafael Devers gives his new team an offensive lift, spanking out two hits including an RBI double in the third—but it’s not enough as San Francisco falls at home to Cleveland, 3-2. Gabriel Arias’ tie-breaking solo home run in the sixth proves to be the winning tally for the Guardians. 

The Rockies tie a franchise record by belting seven home runs as they win their third straight game, 10-6 at Washington. It’s the Nationals’ 10th straight defeat, their longest slide since 2008. Michael Toglia, playing his second game back for the Rockies since getting demoted to Triple-A at the end of May, punches out two of the Rockies’ homers. 

Colorado twice previously hit seven four-baggers in a game, including a 1997 road game at Montreal against the Expos—the team now known as the Nationals. 

The Marlins snap an eight-game homerless streak at loanDepot Park with Eric Wagaman and Jesus Sanchez both going deep in an 8-3 victory over the visiting Phillies, 8-3. The powerless slump was the majors’ longest this year, topped in the past eight years only by the Marlins of 2022—who went 11 straight games at home without a home run. 

Sitting out the loss for the Phillies is Nick Castellanos, benched due to an “inappropriate comment” he made toward manager Rob Thomson after being removed late in the game the following day. 

Wednesday, June 18

After a horrible start to the year, the Orioles appear to have finally turned the corner—winning 15 of their previous 22 games, and bolting out to an 8-0 lead after two innings at Tampa against the Rays, themselves playing excellent ball of late. But then the roof caves in. The Rays score three in the third, one in the fourth, four in the fifth, and finally four more in the seventh to break an 8-8 tie and complete an improbable 12-8 victory. Junior Caminero leads the Rays with four hits, including an infield single that brings home the go-ahead run during the seventh-inning rally. The Rays’ comeback, matching their biggest in franchise history, brings them to within 1.5 games of the AL East lead, as the first-place Yankees drop their sixth straight game, 3-2 to the Angels at New York. 

For the Orioles, it’s their largest blown lead in eight years; the team record is 12 runs, erased in the very first game played by the franchise in 1901 when it was known as the Milwaukee Brewers. 

A majority stake of basketball’s iconic Los Angeles Lakers is sold to Dodgers owner Mark Walter, who already owned 27% of the team, with a staggering valuation of $10 billion—the highest ever for a North American pro sports entity. For those thinking that Walter will be spreading his wealth too thin by running both the Dodgers and Lakers, know that Guggenheim Partners—the financial services firm which Walter also heads—is worth $325 billion. 

Thursday, June 19

In the latest example of the Dodgers and Padres disliking one another, a continuing tit-for-tat of batters getting plunked turns into quite the spat as the NL West rivals wrap up a tense four-game series at Los Angeles. With the Padres leading 5-0 in the top of the ninth, San Diego star hitter Fernando Tatis Jr. is drilled in the right wrist by Dodgers pitcher Jack Little—sending Tatis to the ground in intense pain, and incensed Padres manager Mike Shildt storming out of the dugout, F-bombing his way toward Dodgers manager Dave Roberts. The two pilots meet near home plate amid more angry words and separation from umpires and players. Things only escalate in the bottom of the ninth when Shohei Ohtani is drilled in the shoulder on a 99-MPH Robert Suarez fastball. Never mind that the HBP brings the tying run to the plate as the Dodgers rally; the Padres are more interested in payback. Suarez is ejected, and Ohtani waives off not only the trainer but his teammates from rushing out of the dugout in angry response. In a further attempt to cool things off, a smiling Ohtani walks over toward the Padres’ dugout during a break and engages in a brief chat with players. The Padres will hold on to win the game, 5-3—but the state of Tatis remains a question, as postgame scans of his hand will determine the extent of any injury. “(The Dodgers) gotta pray it comes back negative tomorrow,” says Padres third baseman Manny Machado. “They better put out a candle.” 

The prayers for Tatis will be answered as the scans come back negative; he’ll be back in the lineup for the Padres’ next game. 

Tatis has been hit four times this year—three times by Dodgers pitchers, all within the last two weeks. Ohtani, meanwhile, has been hit three times—twice in this series alone.

There’s added tension earlier in the day at Dodger Stadium—but it doesn’t involve baseball. Dodgers officials are alerted to the presence of a small grouping of unmarked vans containing Federal agents from the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS), fully masked and outfitted with armor and weapons, at the gates to the ballpark. Concerned that the agents are there to target ballpark employees, the Dodgers ask them to depart, stating that they’re on private property; they later post that the agents are members of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), which has been raiding numerous spots in the Los Angeles area in search of undocumented workers, leading to downtown clashes between protesters and police, National Guardsmen and even Marines sent in by President Donald Trump. DHS will respond to the Dodgers’ post by stating that the agents are not from ICE, but instead from the U.S. Customs and Border Patrol, another agency under its wing. 

The agents will be escorted away around noon by Los Angeles police while protesters, who had quickly assembled to voice their displeasure, cheer their departure. 

The Cardinals sweep a rain-created doubleheader at Chicago over the White Sox, with the historic moment occurring in the sixth inning of the first game when St. Louis’ Steven Matz, pitching in relief of starter Erick Fedde, strikes out four batters—with one of them (Lenyn Sosa) reaching first safely on swinging third strike-turned wild pitch. Lenyn will score on a Michael A. Taylor home run, giving the White Sox a temporary 4-2 lead that will be erased in the eighth as the Cardinals win, 5-4. They’ll take the second game as well, 8-6, extending the White Sox’ losing skid to eight games. Matz is only the second pitcher in Cardinals history to strike out four batters in an inning; the other was Hall of Famer Bob Gibson, in 1966. 

Juan Soto becomes the 52nd active player—and the youngest, at age 26—to reach 1,000 career hits, reaching the milestone in the first inning with a single. It’s a sole highlight in the Mets’ 7-1 loss, their season-long sixth straight, at Atlanta—yet they remain in first place in the NL East, tied for first with Philadelphia. 

The Mets now own the longest active losing slide in the NL, as the Nationals end an 11-game slump, their deepest since 2008, with a 4-3, 10-inning victory over Colorado. Conversely, it’s the end of the Rockies’ four-game winning streak—their longest of the year. The Nationals’ triumphant blow comes on a two-run homer from James Wood, who at 22 is the youngest player in franchise history to hit two home runs—one of them a walkoff blast—in one game. 

In his 14th game since being called up to Kansas City representing the majors’ hottest prospect, Jac Caglianone belts his first two career homers as the Royals finish a three-game sweep of the Rangers at Arlington, 4-1. The 22-year-old Caglianone is the first Royals player since Mark Quinn in 1999 to collect his first two homers in the same game. 

In Baltimore’s 4-1 win at Tampa over the Rays, a 105-MPH line drive sliced foul by the Orioles’ Adley Rutschman strikes the head of Tampa Bay reliever Hunter Bigge, engaged in a dugout conversation with another player or coach. Bigge, currently on the injured list, is quickly attended to and eventually carted away on a stretcher, bloodied but awake and giving a thumbs up to the fans. 

In the second game of a rain-created doubleheader at Detroit, Pittsburgh reliever Dennis Santana is minding his own business in Comerica Park’s visiting bullpen when he starts getting verbally harassed by a fan seated in the first row of the bleachers. At some point, the fan “crosses the line,” according to Santana, and he responds by approaching the fan, leaping up and taking a swipe at him which misses, before being restrained by security and teammates. The fan, wearing a Tigers cap and, ironically, a Roberto Clemente T-shirt, is ejected. Santana will later face one batter in the ninth inning of an 8-4, 10-inning win, yet another game in which the Bucs’ bullpen blows a lead given to them by ace Paul Skenes (six innings, two runs allowed). 

Santana will eventually serve a three-game suspension from MLB for his attempt to physically engage with the fan. 

Friday, June 20

After throwing five no-hit innings in his big-league debut, Jason Misiorowski almost outdoes himself. The tall, lanky right-hander retires the first 18 Twins he faces at Minnesota before giving up a walk and Matt Wallner home run in succession to start the seventh, ending his night. His Brewer teammates will take over from there, lighting up the scoreboard with 14 runs over the final three innings in a 17-6 rout. Most of the offensive damage by Milwaukee comes from Christian Yelich, who ties an all-time club record with eight RBIs. Six of those come on a pair of three-run doubles, smacked in back-to-back innings (the seventh and eighth). The ninth inning becomes the latest sordid exhibition of worthless, stat-collecting ball as both teams shove out position players to take the mound. Between the Twins’ Jonah Bride and Brewers’ Jake Bauers, nine runs are given up on nine hits and three walks. 

Stop calling these guys “emergency” pitchers and label them for what they truly are: Batting practice laborers. 

Misiorowski’s 11 no-hit innings to start a major league career is second only to the 11.2 thrown by Kansas City reliever Austin Cox in 2023. No other pitcher has ever allowed one or none hits over 11-plus innings over his first two career starts. 

On a Friday matinee at Chicago, Seattle’s Cal Raleigh makes first-half history and continues on pace for over 60 home runs this year—impressing Sammy Sosa, making his first visit back to Wrigley Field in 21 years after hitting 60+ in three different seasons himself. Raleigh’s two homers in a 9-4 victory give him an MLB-leading 29 on the year—the most by a player primarily playing catcher before the All-Star Break.  

Sosa, after years of estrangement from the team due to his self-absorbed attitude and connections to PEDs he’s shied away from discussing, is welcomed back by current Cubs management and among the 40,787 in attendance; he’s due to be inducted into the team’s Hall of Fame later this year. 

Just five days after being traded to San Francisco, Rafael Devers faces his old team as the Red Sox come to town and take a 7-5 victory in the first of three weekend games. Devers is 0-for-5 against Boston, including a strikeout in the ninth inning; his bid for his first Giants home run falls just a few feet short on a deep fly to left-center in the third. In four games with the Giants, Devers is 3-for-16 with a double and an RBI. 

Eugenio Suarez belts his 300th career homer, his second of the night as the Diamondbacks come from behind to pummel the Rockies at Denver, 14-8. The 12-year slugger joins 11 other active players who’ve hit over 300 bombs; his 24 on the year ranks fourth behind Raleigh, Aaron Judge (27) and Shohei Ohtani (25). 

Saturday, June 21

Another day, another home run mark set by Cal Raleigh on a day in which his Mariners get beat by the Cubs—and everyone gets beat by the heat on an excessively hot day at Wrigley Field. Raleigh’s home run, in the ninth, not only makes him the first in the majors this season to reach 30, but he also sets a pre-All-Star break mark for the most homers cranked by a switch-hitter. (The old mark of 29 had been held jointly by Mickey Mantle, Lance Berkman and Jose Ramirez.) Additionally, Raleigh is the first player to hit 30 within a team’s first 75 games of a season since Barry Bonds, on his way to an MLB-record 73 in 2001. Ultimately, Raleigh’s blast is too little, too late for the Mariners, the only home run compared to five slammed by the Cubs in a 10-7 contest with the wind blowing straight out to center amid 95-degree temperatures. The heat gets the best of Seattle reliever Trent Thornton, who after 2.1 innings of work has to be helped off the field and is given an ice bath in the clubhouse, while home plate umpire Chad Whitson also departs due to dehydration. 

The Mets slug away at Philadelphia, crushing an MLB record-tying seven solo homers in an 11-4 victory over the Phillies to end a seven-game losing streak and match the Phillies at the top of the NL East with identical 46-31 records. The home run parade includes two each from Brandon Nimmo and Juan Soto; three of the seven are hit back-to-back-to-back, with Franciso Lindor, Nimmo and Soto all going deep one after the other in the third. 

Clarke Schmidt throws seven no-hit innings before being removed, and his Yankee teammates finally break out the bats with an easy 9-0 victory over the visiting Orioles. Schmidt’s bid for a no-hitter is handicapped by a 27-pitch first inning in which he walks his only two batters; he also hits Baltimore’s Ryan O’Hearn in the fourth. After reaching 103 pitches to end the seventh, Schmidt is ordered to take the rest of the day off by manager Aaron Boone. Of course, the first batter (Gary Sanchez) to face JT Brubaker, Schmidt’s replacement, gets a hit—the only one on the day for Baltimore. 

In their previous nine games combined, the Yankees had scored just 17 total runs. 

In the second game of a series against his former club, the Giants’ Rafael Devers smacks an opposite-field home run, his first in a San Francisco uniform, to help defeat the visiting Red Sox, 3-2. The game is preceded by some troubling news for the Giants as 6’11” relief pitcher Sean Hjelle is under investigation by MLB after his estranged wife posts accusations of spousal abuse on TikTok. Hjelle is available for the Giants’ victory, but does not pitch; a week later, he’ll be demoted to the minors. 

Sunday, June 22

The Dodgers explode for 13 runs over their last three innings, overcoming an early 3-0 deficit and defeating the visiting Nationals, 13-7. Shohei Ohtani starts the game on the mound and pitches a hitless first with two strikeouts before being removed; at the plate he contributes with his 26th home run and five RBIs. Additionally, Max Muncy powers out a pair of home runs, the first a grand slam that’s the 200th round-tripper of his Dodgers career; the second is a three-run shot an inning later, giving him his second seven-RBI game in 22 days—the shortest such span by a major leaguer since Ralph Kiner did it within 14 days in 1951. All 13 of Los Angeles’ runs are unanswered; the Nationals grab four back in the ninth against utility guy/exhibition pitcher Kiké Hernandez, on three walks and two hits. In five appearances totaling 5.1 innings this season, Hernandez’s ERA is now at 15.19. 

The Phillies reclaim first place in the NL East by besting the visiting Mets with ease, 7-1. After Jesus Luzardo departs the game with 6.2 shutout innings, the Mets pick up their lone run on a Francisco Lindor home run in the eighth. That ends a streak of 28 straight wins by the Mets when Lindor went deep—one win shy of the all-time mark set by the Brooklyn Dodgers’ Carl Furillo from 1951-53. 

Monday, June 23

The shovels officially plunge into the ground at the site the Athletics will soon call home in Las Vegas. Doing the honors at the corner of Tropicana Avenue and Las Vegas Boulevard is A’s owner John Fisher, who proclaims, “We are Vegas’ team” in front of a gathering that includes local politicians, former A’s players and commissioner Rob Manfred. The folks pick a good day to hang out in the summer Vegas sun; the high temperature of 93 degrees is eight below the average of 101 for this date. 

In the Pirates’ 5-4 win at Milwaukee, Oneil Cruz becomes the first MLB player this season to rack up 100 batting strikeouts, whiffing twice to end the evening with 101. To answer your next question, the all-time Pirates season record is 186, set by Pedro Alvarez in 2013. Overall, the Bucs strike out 16 times despite the win; the only Pittsburgh batter not charged with a K is second baseman Nick Gonzales, who goes 5-for-5 with two doubles and three singles. 

For the first time in over a month, somebody gets to save the day for the Braves as Dylan Lee retires the final four Mets batters and gets the official save in a 3-2 victory. It’s the first save for any Atlanta pitcher since May 16—a span of 31 games, the longest such drought by a NL team since 1993. During those 31 games, the Braves won 12—but they were far enough ahead in the ninth, or came from behind in walkoff fashion, not to give any of their relievers a save opportunity. 

Tuesday, June 24

Chase Burns, the #2 pick in last year’s draft with all of 13 minor league games under his belt, makes his major league debut—against the Yankees, no less—and strikes out the first five batters he faces. Among them are three former MVPs: Aaron Judge, Cody Bellinger and Paul Goldschmidt. The 22-year-old Burns, a native of Napoli, Italy, will be more mortal through his five innings of work, giving up three runs with eight total strikeouts. After his departure, the Reds will bounce back, take the Yankees to extra innings and triumph in the 11th, 5-4, on Gavin Lux’ RBI single. 

The known record for the most consecutive strikeouts to start a career is six, set by the Dodgers’ Pete Richert in a 1962 game. One of those six was a passed-ball third strike which allowed the batter to safely reach first base, though Richert was still credited with a K. 

In a moment that’s sobering and infuriating all at once, Arizona second baseman Ketel Marte is brought to tears when a fan at Chicago’s Rate Field heckles him about his mother—who died in a car crash in 2017. The incident occurs while Marte is batting in the seventh inning of the Diamondbacks’ 4-1 win over the White Sox, as rain empties out much of the lower deck except for a handful of fans including the one who’s taunting Marte. After Marte pops out to end the inning, Marte is consoled on the field by several players and manager Torey Lovullo as he retakes the field. Lovullo requests that the offending fan is removed from the ballpark; the White Sox will comply. 

The fan will later regret what he did, but MLB will still ban him from all ballparks indefinitely. 

Two of the majors’ top young talents lose their focus in embarrassing ways in different ballgames. 

At Milwaukee, the Pirates’ Oneil Cruz dogs it down the first base line on a grounder that ends up as a double play, because he believed the runner forced at second was the inning’s final out. Cruz is immediately removed from the game from Pittsburgh manager Don Kelly due to his “energy and effort going down the line.” The Pirates will go on to lose to the Brewers, 9-3. 

Meanwhile in St. Louis, a deep fly by the Cardinals’ Alex Burleson is caught in front of the center-field wall by the Cubs’ Pete-Crow Armstrong, who lazily tosses the ball back toward the infield thinking he’s made the third out of the fourth inning. It’s actually the second out; Masyn Winn sprints from second base to score what will ultimately be the winning run in the Cardinals’ 8-7 victory. Unlike Cruz, Crow-Armstrong will stay in the game, but afterward tells reporters, “I didn’t do a good job of playing the game of baseball today.” 

Noah Syndergaard, thought to be done at the major league level two years ago, is being given another chance as the White Sox sign him to a minor league deal. This means he won’t be wearing a Chicago uniform unless he first impresses at the lower levels. Still a relatively young 32 years of age, Syndergaard was considered one of the Mets’ “big three” aces during the mid-2010s, along with Matt Harvey and Jacob deGrom. But a series of injuries—including a Tommy John procedure in 2020—deeply curtailed his effectiveness on the mound. 

Wednesday, June 25

In a highly anticipated duel between two of baseball’s top young pitchers, the Brewers’ Jacob Misiorowski—making just his third career start—gets the better of the Pirates’ Paul Skenes, striking out eight over five shutout innings as Milwaukee takes a 4-2 home victory. Of Misiorowski’s 74 total pitches, 19 of them exceed 100 MPH—topping off at 102.4, the fastest-ever delivery by a Milwaukee pitcher. He has as many wins (three) as hits allowed. Skenes is also sharp—except for a second inning in which he throws nearly half (37) of his 78 pitches, allowing four runs. It’s the most tallies he’s yet to concede in any frame over his first 40 career starts. 

Max Fried becomes the majors’ first 10-game winner on the year, allowing only an unearned run on four hits through seven innings as the Yankees defeat the Reds at Cincinnati, 7-1. The victory improves Fried’s career record to 83-38; his .686 winning percentage is second only to the Dodgers’ Clayton Kershaw (.696) among all active pitchers with 500 or more lifetime innings. 

Boston pitcher Kutter Crawford, who’s missed the 2025 season to date due to a knee issue suffered during the winter, will now miss the rest of the year as he’ll undergo surgery on his right wrist following an “accident,” the nature of which the Red Sox will not reveal—though they say it wasn’t because of anything “irresponsible” on Crawford’s part. Last season, Crawford was tagged with MLB-high numbers in losses (16, against nine wins) and home runs (34) with a 4.36 ERA. He ate up the innings, however, leading the Red Sox with 183.2. 

Okay, so that the Red Sox are saying that it wasn’t an irresponsible act that led to Crawford’s wrist injury—but the fact that they won’t mention how it happened probably leads one to assume that, at the very least, it must have been quite embarrassing. 

Diego Segui, the only player to wear the uniform for both of Seattle’s major league teams—the 1969 Pilots, and the Mariners in their inaugural 1977 season—passes away at the age of 87. Born in Cuba, the right-handed Segui mostly struggled in his first of three tenures with the A’s, losing an AL-high 17 games while the team was based at Kansas City in 1964. When he returned to K.C. three years later after a failed, one-year stint with the Washington Senators, Segui successfully converted into a reliever, posting much lower ERAs; picked up by the Pilots for their lone 1969 campaign, he delivered a nice 12-6 record, 3.35 ERA and a team-high 12 saves. Back with the A’s, now in Oakland, a year later, Segui managed to grab the AL ERA crown (2.56) by pitching two shutout innings of relief in the season’s penultimate game, giving him the bare minimum number of innings (162) needed to qualify for the title.

With the Mariners, he started the very first game in franchise history after being stuck at the Triple-A level the year before in the Padres’ organization. He lost that first game, then his spot in the rotation—finishing his final MLB season with a 0-7 record and 5.69 ERA in 40 appearances. A year later, he threw a perfect game pitching in Mexico, but never returned to the majors. 

Segui was the father of David Segui, who played 14 years in the majors accumulating 1,412 hits—some of those under the influence of anabolic steroids which he received from Mets clubhouse attendant Kirk Radomski. 

Thursday, June 26

Almost two years after reports surfaced of Tampa Bay second baseman Wander Franco engaging in an inappropriate relationship with a minor, he’s convicted of that crime in his native Dominican Republic—but receives a suspended two-year sentence and avoids further prison time, so long as he behaves. Prosecutors were seeking a five-year sentence against Franco, who’s been on MLB’s restricted list since August 2023 and has not been paid any wages from his $11-year, $168 million contract with the Rays during that time. MLB is continuing with its own investigation, from which there may a possible suspension or expulsion. 

The mother of the child Franco had the relationship with receives a 10-year prison sentence for sexual trafficking and money laundering. 

The Rockies set another futility-based record, losing to the visiting Dodgers, 3-1, and surpassing the St. Louis Browns of 1939-40 with their 200th consecutive game without a shutout victory. A third-inning infield single by the Dodgers’ Mookie Betts brings home Miguel Rojas to cement the mark for the Rockies. Colorado finishes the first half of the season with an 18-63 record; they’re on pace to reset the modern MLB nadir for season losses, set just last year by the White Sox. 

Ironically, the Rockies set the unwanted mark on the same day that five of the other eight MLB games played end in shutouts. 

Friday, June 27

Facing his former team of a few years earlier, the Reds’ Nick Martinez takes a no-hitter into the ninth against the visiting Padres before losing it on a double from pinch-hitter Elias Diaz with nobody out. At that point, Martinez will be removed but he still gets the win, as the Reds coast to an 8-1 decision thanks to Spencer Steer’s three home runs; Speer’s shot at a fourth long ball ends with a strikeout in the eighth. 

For the record, there has never been a major league game with both a no-hitter and three-homer performance. 

The best pitching effort of the night comes not from Martinez, but the Cardinals’ Sonny Gray—who throws a one-hit shutout with 11 strikeouts on just 89 pitches in a 5-0 victory over the visiting Guardians. Nolan Jones collects the lone hit off of Gray with a two-out single in the fifth; it’s the seventh complete game and fifth career shutout for Gray—and his first since 2015. 

No lead is safe when Tampa Bay and Baltimore get together. Just nine days after the Orioles blew an 8-0 lead in a 12-8 loss at Tampa, they get their revenge by overcoming an early 6-0 deficit and crushing the Rays, 22-8 at Baltimore. The Orioles’ carnage is one run short of the all-time team record set by the 2000 team against Toronto. Colton Cowser leads the charge with three doubles, as the Orioles score 17 of their runs over their final four innings—seven alone in the eighth, six of those off Tampa Bay third baseman/exhibition pitcher Junior Caminero. 

Angels manager Ron Washington will spend the rest of the season on medical leave, to be replaced by bench coach Ray Montgomery. It’s not revealed what issue the 73-year-old Washington is dealing with, though a week earlier he reportedly appeared fatigued and short of breath; he had since taken time off for the interim. 

Arizona Governor Katie Hobbs officially gives the green light to $500 million in renovation funds for Chase Field, home of the Arizona Diamondbacks after the State Legislature passes the bill in bipartisan manner. The DBacks themselves will add an additional $250 million, meaning the total $750 million budget to upgrade the ballpark will be more than double the original cost to build the entire facility, completed in 1998 for the team’s inaugural season. The public funding cannot be used for fixing up Chase Field’s suites or its famed swimming pool behind right-center field; the DBacks will be responsible for that. 

Saturday, June 28

Just one month before being formally inducted into the Hall of Fame, Dave Parker passes away of complications from Parkinson’s disease at the age of 74. A big, burly presence nicknamed the Cobra, Parker emerged in the 1970s as a fearsome offensive threat for the Pirates; he won back-to-back batting titles in 1977-78, and was named the 1978 NL MVP with 32 doubles, 12 triples, 30 home runs, 117 RBIs and 20 steals. Defensively, he had one of the strongest arms in the game, often able to throw out baserunners at home on the fly from deep in the outfield. Rather than maintain or even improve upon this greatness, Parker regressed into the early 1980s as pressure from a big contract and, more likely, recreational drug use made him a target of boos, bottles and once even a bullet from the home fans at Three Rivers Stadium. Cleaned up and in need of a new setting, Parker wound up in Cincinnati where his career was revived with the Reds before making quick trips to Oakland, Milwaukee, Anaheim and Toronto to finish a career that included 2,712 hits, 339 home runs, seven All-Star spots, three Gold Gloves and two World Series rings (1979 Pirates, 1989 A’s). 

The Royals overcome blazing velocities from Shohei Ohtani and a milestone achievement for Freddie Freeman to defeat the Dodgers, 9-5, ending a club record-tying 11-game home losing streak. Ohtani pitches the first two innings for Los Angeles, giving up no runs and topping out on the radar at 101.7 MPH; Freeman, meanwhile, snares three hits including a home run, surpassing 4,000 career total bases to join 90 other past major leaguers (no other active player has more). But the Royals otherwise dominate; Jonathan India and Bobby Witt Jr., batting first and second in the order, each collect four hits, while Vinnie Pasquantino drives home five runs on a double and home run. 

In his second game against his former team, the Cubs’ Kyle Tucker torments the Astros with two singles, a double and a three-run homer in a 12-3 rout that ends a nine-game home winning streak for the Astros. It’s a much better performance for Tucker than his first game against the Astros, in which he went hitless in four at-bats. 

Sunday, June 29

In his first full season with the Washington Nationals, James Wood is quickly gaining the respect of his foes—especially the Los Angeles Angels, who give Wood four intentional passes in a game they will still lose in 11 innings, 7-4. Wood is the ninth player in MLB history to be given at least four free passes in a game, the first to do so since Barry Bonds in 2004 (when he was given four IBBs in four different games) and the youngest among the group at age 22. The Angels’ bid to win in regulation fails when the Nationals notch a run in the ninth to force extras; it’s the first blown save of the year for Angels closer Kenley Jansen, leaving Houston’s Josh Hader (23 saves in 23 opportunities) as the only major league closer without a blown assignment this year. 

What’s gotten into the Pirates? After struggling throughout the season with an ineffective offense and last-place record in the NL Central, the Bucs finish off a stunning three-game sweep of the Mets at Pittsburgh with a 12-1 romp. For the series, the Pirates outscore the Mets, 30-4, winning each game by at least seven runs; in their previous 82 games this season, Pittsburgh had won games by seven-plus runs just three times. Four home runs are blasted by the Bucs in the series finale, including two from Oneil Cruz. 

Monday, June 30

When he made his major league debut six days earlier, the Reds’ Chase Burns struck out six of the first nine batters he faced, allowing just one hit. In his second start at Boston, Burns crashes…and burns. This time, the first nine batters Burns faces will be the only nine he faces; the Red Sox knock out two singles, two doubles, a home run, draw two walks and reach once on an error before Burns is mercifully removed with just one batter retired; he’s charged with seven runs, five of those earned. The Red Sox don’t let off the pedal after Burns’ departure, as they go on to smash the Reds, 13-6. Wilyer Abreu becomes only the sixth player in MLB history—and the first since Roger Maris, in 1958—to have both an inside-the-park home run and grand slam in the same game. The offensive output benefits Boston ace Garrett Crochet, who’s not at his best—allowing five runs (four earned) over six innings, but with nine strikeouts to give him a major league-leading 144 on the year. 

The Rangers are making up for lost overtime. After going the first 70 games of the season without participating in extra innings, they have now gone four straight contests past the ninth. Like two of the previous three outings during the streak, this one ends up in a loss, a 10-6 decision to the opposing Orioles in 11 innings. Both teams exchange three runs in the 10th; an inning later, the Orioles will plate four to pull away again—this time, without response from the Rangers to triumph. 

The major league record for the most consecutive extra-inning games is five, held by the 1908 Detroit Tigers.