July 11th, 2025

⚾ Headlines Around the League

Yankees 6, Mariners 5 (F/10) — Judge Walk-Off Caps Wild Rally After Hitless Start

Red Sox 4, Rays 3 — Mayer’s Clutch Double Sparks Boston’s 7th Straight Win

Kurtz Ties It, Soderstrom Wins It as A’s Walk Off Braves in Extras

PCA’s Power-Speed Milestone Fuels Cubs’ Bounce-Back Win

Rangers Unleash Offensive Barrage to Split Series with Angels

Editor’s Note: Small slate on Thursday, but man it delivered. Game of the day? No question it was Mariners vs. Yankees.

First off, Bryan Woo deserves all the love. He’s been nails all year for the M’s, and with Cal Raleigh behind the plate, this team is smack in the middle of the wild card race.

But the Yankees pulling this one out? Wild. Highly recommend watching the full highlight video here. The walk-off sac fly from Aaron Judge was dramatic enough, but Anthony Volpe’s slide to win it was insane. One of the best I’ve seen all season, check out the clips below:

Lots of great baseball coming up this weekend before the break, hope everyone has a great Friday! If you are enjoying this newsletter, please do me a favor and share with a friend or fellow baseball fan. Appreciate all the support and thanks for reading First Pitch.
- Ryan

🔥 Top Performances

Hitting

Pitching

📊 Final Scores and Highlights

Yankees 6, Mariners 5

The Yankees pulled off a historic comeback, erasing a five-run deficit after being held hitless into the 8th and winning on Aaron Judge’s sacrifice fly in extras, punctuated by Anthony Volpe’s jaw-dropping slide at the plate.

🔑 Key Moments

• Jazz Chisholm Jr. broke up the no-hitter with a clean single in the 8th — Yanks’ first hit of the night

• Austin Wells followed with a sac fly to put New York on the board

• Giancarlo Stanton crushed a pinch-hit, two-run homer to center to make it 5–3

• Down to their final strike, Wells delivered again with a game-tying two-run single in the 9th

• In the 10th, Judge lofted a sac fly to center — Volpe slid around the tag for the walk-off win

• Yankees became just the second team since 1961 to win after being no-hit and trailing by 5+ through 7

📊 Notable Stats

Yankees

• Austin Wells: 1-for-3, 3 RBI, game-tying hit + sac fly

• Giancarlo Stanton: 1-for-1, 2-run pinch-hit HR (415 ft)

• Trent Grisham: 1-for-3, 2 BB, 1 R

• Marcus Stroman: 5 IP, 6 H, 2 ER, 3 K

• Devin Williams: 1 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 1 K (W)

Mariners

• Jorge Polanco: 1-for-5, 3-run HR (14)

• Cole Young: 2-for-4, RBI

• Bryan Woo: 7.1 IP, 2 H, 2 ER, 5 K

Red Sox 4, Rays 3

Editor’s Note: Back when the Red Sox traded Devers I mentioned that it might actually put them in a better spot for the rest of the season. Well, well, well, what do we have here?!?

The Red Sox are playing amazing ball and I personally think they have a deep roster that is set up nicely for the postseason. I’d love to see them try to find another shut down bullpen arm at the deadline but regardless, Boston is very much in the mix. The are also a fun team to watch.

Marcelo Mayer delivered in the biggest moment of his young career Thursday night, roping a go-ahead RBI double in the 7th and helping the Red Sox rally past the Rays for their season-best seventh straight victory at Fenway.

🔑 Key Moments

• Roman Anthony got Boston on the board in the 3rd with an RBI single to right, giving the Sox an early 1–0 lead.

• The Rays struck back in the 4th when Ha-Seong Kim launched his first homer as a Ray — a 2-run shot to left — and Junior Caminero added a solo blast in the 6th to make it 3–1.

• In the 7th, Trevor Story walked and Romy Gonzalez reached, setting the stage for Mayer, who laced a 108.7 mph double to left-center to cut the deficit to one.

• On the very next pitch, Ceddanne Rafaela drilled a 2-run single up the middle, scoring Mayer and Gonzalez to give Boston its first lead since the 3rd.

• The bullpen trio of Chris Murphy, Garrett Whitlock, and Aroldis Chapman combined for three shutout innings to close out the comeback.

📊 Notable Stats

Red Sox

• Marcelo Mayer: 1-for-3, 2B, RBI (go-ahead hit)

• Ceddanne Rafaela: 2-for-3, 2 RBI, SB

• Roman Anthony: 1-for-4, RBI, SB

• Walker Buehler: 6 IP, 5 H, 3 ER, 3 BB, 2 K, 2 HR

Rays

• Ha-Seong Kim: 1-for-4, 2-run HR (1)

• Junior Caminero: Solo HR (23), 2 K

• Bryan Baker: 1 IP, 2 H, 3 ER, 2 BB (L)

Athletics 5, Braves 4

Nick Kurtz showed off his power and poise with a game-tying homer in the 8th, and Tyler Soderstrom sealed it with a walk-off single in the 11th as the A’s rallied late to stun the Braves 5–4 in West Sacramento.

🔑 Key Moments

• The A’s came out hot in the 1st, with Tyler Soderstrom blasting a 3-run homer to right-center — his 16th of the year — to put Oakland up 3–0 early.

• The Braves clawed back quickly. Jurickson Profar homered in the 4th to tie it, and Ozzie Albies added a go-ahead solo shot in the 7th to give Atlanta a 4–3 lead.

• Leading off the 8th, Kurtz redeemed himself from a strikeout the night before by crushing a 2–2 fastball 358 feet to left field for his 15th homer — most among MLB rookies — tying the game at 4.

• Mason Miller lit up the radar gun in the 9th, touching 104.1 mph — the fastest pitch in MLB this season — to strike out Sean Murphy and preserve the tie.

• In the 11th, Soderstrom came through again, grounding a walk-off single to center to score Brent Rooker and hand Oakland the dramatic victory.

📊 Notable Stats

Athletics

• Tyler Soderstrom: 3-for-5, HR (16), 4 RBI, walk-off single

• Nick Kurtz: 1-for-3, HR (15), 2 BB, 2 R

• Brent Rooker: 2-for-5, 2 R, 2 2B

• Mason Miller: 1 IP, 0 H, 1 K, 104.1 mph pitch

• Justin Sterner: 2 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 2 K (Win)

Braves

• Jurickson Profar: 2-run HR (3)

• Ozzie Albies: Solo HR (7)

• Spencer Strider: 6.2 IP, 5 H, 3 ER, 11 K

• Dylan Lee: 0.1 IP, 2 H, 1 ER (Blown Save)

Cubs 8, Twins 1

Pete Crow-Armstrong became the fastest player in Cubs history to reach the 25 HR / 25 SB mark, launching two homers and sparking an 8–1 win over the Twins in the series finale.

🔑 Key Moments

• The Cubs opened scoring in the 2nd when Dansby Swanson crossed home on a two-out RBI single from Nico Hoerner.

• In the 3rd, Crow-Armstrong crushed a 2-run homer to center — his 24th — giving the Cubs a 3–0 cushion and ending a brief 0-for-10 skid.

• Chicago added three more in the 5th behind RBI from Michael Busch, Matt Shaw, and Swanson to extend the lead to 6–0.

• Kody Clemens briefly halted the Cubs’ run with a solo shot in the 5th — the Twins’ only tally of the game.

• In the 7th, Crow-Armstrong connected again, this time a 425-foot solo blast to right-center for No. 25 on the year. He later doubled in the 9th, capping a 3-hit, 3-RBI performance.

📊 Notable Stats

Cubs

• Pete Crow-Armstrong: 3-for-4, 2 HR (24, 25), 3 R, 3 RBI, BB, 2B

• Seiya Suzuki: 3-for-5, 2 R

• Dansby Swanson: 2-for-5, R, RBI, 2B

• Michael Busch: 1-for-5, 2 RBI

• Colin Rea: 7 IP, 3 H, 1 ER, 2 BB, 5 K (Win)

Twins

• Kody Clemens: Solo HR (11)

• Ryan Jeffers: 1-for-4, 2B

• Royce Lewis: 2-for-3

• Chris Paddack: 5 IP, 11 H, 6 ER, 1 BB, 2 K

Rangers 11, Angels 4

After weeks of offensive inconsistency, Texas erupted for 11 runs behind standout performances from Corey Seager, Marcus Semien, and Adolis García to earn a much-needed split against the Angels.

🔑 Key Moments

• Adolis García opened the scoring in the 1st with a sharp RBI single to plate Seager, followed by a run-scoring double play off Evan Carter’s bat to make it 2–0.

• In the 3rd, Texas sent 12 batters to the plate during a seven-run inning, chasing Angels starter Jack Kochanowicz after just 2.2 innings and blowing the game wide open.

• Wyatt Langford delivered an RBI single in the rally, while Seager and Semien each drove in runs as part of multi-hit days.

• Taylor Ward got the Angels on the board with a 2-run homer in the 5th, but it wasn’t enough to slow down the Rangers’ momentum.

• In the 8th, García crushed a 2-run homer — his 11th — to push the score to 11–3, sealing the blowout win for Texas.

📊 Notable Stats

Rangers

• Marcus Semien: 4-for-5, 3 R, RBI

• Corey Seager: 2-for-3, 2 RBI, BB

• Adolis García: 2-for-5, HR (11), 3 RBI

• Evan Carter: 2-for-5, RBI, 2B

• Patrick Corbin: 5 IP, 7 H, 2 ER, 2 BB, 6 K (Win)

Angels

• Zach Neto: 3-for-5, HR (14), 2 R, RBI, 2B

• Taylor Ward: 2-for-4, HR (21), 2 RBI

• LaMonte Wade Jr.: 1-for-4, RBI

• Jack Kochanowicz: 2.2 IP, 8 H, 8 ER, 3 BB, 3 K (Loss)

Other scores around the league:

Orioles 3, Mets 1 (Game 1)
D. Peterson: 7.0 IP, 5 H, 1 ER, 6 SO
C. Morton: 6.0 IP, 4 H, 1 ER, 4 SO, 3 BB

Orioles 7, Mets 3 (Game 2)
T. Sugano: 6.0 IP, 4 H, 3 ER, 2 SO, 3 BB
J. Westburg: 1-5, 2 R, 1 HR, 3 RBI

Reds 6, Marlins 0
N. Lodolo: 6.0 IP, 3 H, 4 SO
E. De La Cruz: 2-4, 2 R, 1 RBI

Cardinals 8, Nationals 1
M. Mikolas: 5.2 IP, 2 H, 6 SO, 1 BB
W. Contreras: 2-4, 2 R, 1 HR, 1 RBI

Padres 4, Diamondbacks 3
A. Morejon: 1.2 IP, 1 H, 2 SO, 1 BB
R. Suarez: 1.0 IP, 1 SO

Guardians at White Sox – Postponed

⚾ Must-Watch Games Today

🔥 Dodgers (56–38) at Giants (51–43)
🕙 10:15 PM ET
Dustin May (5–5, 4.52 ERA) vs. Logan Webb (8–6, 2.62 ERA)

🔥 Phillies (54–39) at Padres (50–43)
🕘 9:40 PM ET
Ranger Suárez (7–2, 1.99 ERA) vs. Ryan Bergert (1–0, 2.67 ERA)

🔥 Cubs (55–38) at Yankees (52–41)
🕖 7:05 PM ET
Chris Flexen (5–0, 0.83 ERA) vs. Carlos Rodón (9–6, 3.30 ERA)

🔥 Rays (50–44) at Red Sox (50–45)
🕖 7:10 PM ET
Drew Rasmussen (7–5, 2.82 ERA) vs. Hunter Dobbins (4–1, 4.10 ERA)
Boston has been rolling and will try to ride their momentum into an 8-game win streak.

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