Matthew Liberatore earns first win of second half

McLean ended his excellent rookie season in style with seven strong innings here. Clean through four, he ran into some trouble in the fifth when a few hard-hit ground balls found holes and turned into two runs. After that, McLean breezed through two more frames and a well-timed home run by Marcus Semien in the eighth put him in line for his 12th win. Still, McLean struggled to miss bats and heavily leaned into his strong sinker, as he has over the last month or so. It forced tons of ground balls though and he finally had a good feel for his curveball. In the end, he hurled 179 2/3 innings, struck out 194 batters, and wound up with a 3.16 ERA.

On the bench with the left-hander Cody Bradford starting for the Rangers, Baty came on as a pinch-hitter in the top of the ninth inning with the bases loaded and launched a gargantuan 455 foot grand slam. It was the second longest grand slam hit by any player this season and tied Baty’s longest home run in his career. In a bit of a shocking turn of events, he has a .280/.353/.534 slash line with seven home runs over 118 at-bats in the second half.

Playing desperate, the Rangers called on Latz to get them out of a big jam in the seventh inning with two runners on, one out, and Francisco Lindor, Juan Soto, and Bo Bichette due up. He navigated that trouble, but gave up a go-ahead solo home run to former Ranger Marcus Semien in the following frame. This was the third loss he’s taken in his last eight appearances and he’s let up at least one earned run in four of those.

The Rangers’ lineup was lifeless in a must-win game as they tried to keep pace with the Astros in the American League West race. They only mustered four measly hits – none for extra bases – and two runs in this loss to the Mets. Burger was at least responsible for their only run scoring hit, but this was a brutal display by a team with their backs up against the wall. As for Burger, he’s been normally productive in the power department with 27 home runs and 89 RBI as the regular season comes to a close.

With the Rangers’ season hanging in the balance, Bradford didn’t have his best stuff against the Mets. They socked nine hard-hit balls out of 17 in play and in the end, he was fortunate to give up just two runs. He didn’t command his fastball well and at an average velocity of 89 mph, the Mets were all over it. His regular season is over and he wound up with a 4.19 ERA, 21 strikeouts, and 10 walks in 43 innings after recovering from internal brace surgery.

The Padres are now one game up on the Cubs and Phillies for the right to host a Wild Card series. Machado’s homer off Yoshinobu Yamamoto was his 29th of the year and 398th all-time, tying him with Dale Murphy for 62nd place. The sac fly, which was hit just 243 feet and which greatly benefited from it being Fernando Tatis Jr. on third base, gave him his first three RBI game since Aug. 4.

Ray gave up seven hits and a walk, but the only run he surrendered came after he was pulled in the fourth. His regular season is likely done at 13-8 with a 3.59 ERA. He’s 3-2 with a 5.02 ERA and an ugly 33/27 K/BB in 43 innings over his nine starts for the Padres. Still, that he bends but rarely breaks will probably keep him in the mix for postseason starts.

The unearned runs resulted from his own error in the fifth. After two infield singles, he tried to retire the lead runner at third on Dustin Harris’s sac bunt attempt but made a wild throw that allowed the runner to score. The loss means Yamamoto ends the regular season 14-9 with a 2.53 ERA. He’s currently fifth in the majors in ERA and second to Jacob Misiorowski with a 0.87 WHIP.

A moderately successful first game back. Ohtani singled in the first and barreled a ball 384 feet to center for a flyout in the seventh.

Bolte’s first four-hit game as a major leaguer put him at .279/.362/.407 through 455 plate appearances. His second double tonight left his bat at 115.1 mph, which is a new high for him. He previously topped out at 113.7 mph on a single against the Rays just last week.