[jksander]

June 17, 2025: Yu Darvish (8-2, 2.92 ERA, 83.1 IP, 81 K’s, 1.04 WHIP) pitched in game one against the Cardinals’ Michael McGreevy (5-3, 3.79 ERA, 73.2 IP, 56 K’s, 1.21 WHIP). St. Louis took the lead in the top of the first with an RBI single by Nolan Arenado, and they added on a pair in the third with singles from Willson Contreras and (again) Arenado. By the time we got on the board with Otto Lopez’s second homer of the season, we trailed the Cards 5-1 and had looked lost all night. St. Louis added two more in the top of the sixth with a two-run homer by Nolan Gorman, and then our bats woke up! Kyle Teel homered, Grenier hit an RBI single, Lopez followed him with another RBI single, and then Tauchman hit a sac-fly to score Grenier and bring us back within a pair, trailing 7-5 ... but that was all we had in us, and we lost by the same score. Darvish took the loss in an uncharacteristically bad outing, allowing six hits, two walks and three earned runs with just three K’s in just 3.2 innings. We outhit them 13-11, so the offense wasn’t our problem tonight, our team led by Otto Lopez who was five for five with a run and two RBIs, improving his average to .331 in the leadoff spot.

Today we put the final touches on an extension for right-handed reliever Noah Syndergaard, who has agreed to stay in Chicago next year for $1.7 million, the same as he’s making this season. Though he started the season as a starter, he’s adjusted well to being moved to the pen by Guillen, where he can be our late innings setup man, and he says he loves how we’ve embraced him on the south side after playing short stints with the Angels, Dodgers and Guardians.
 
June 18, 2025: Mike Clevinger (5-3, 2.15 ERA, 50.1 IP, 46 K’s, 1.07 WHIP) pitched against St. Louis’ Sonny Gray (4-4, 3.51 ERA, 77.0 IP, 70 K’s, 1.19 WHIP) in game two, and again St. Louis took the lead first, scoring off a sac-fly by Nolan Gorman in the top of the first. A single by Masyn Winn in the top of the second expanded the Cards’ lead to 2-0, but Austin Slater hit an RBI double in the bottom of the inning to get us on the board. Miguel Vargas tied it up in the bottom of the third with a solo homer, and Lopez put us into the lead with an RBI single in the bottom of the fourth that was quickly followed by one from Meidroth, giving us a two-run lead! Contreras hit a solo shot in the top of the fifth to keep the game tight, but Vargas answered with one of his own in the bottom of the inning to keep our offense humming. The homers kept coming -- St. Louis got within a run again with a solo bomb by Alec Burleson in the top of the sixth, but Vargas got it back with an RBI double in the bottom of the inning as we held them at bay. That wound up being the last salvo for either team, as we held tough to a 6-4 win in front of a growing home crowd. Shane Smith got the win out of the bullpen, improving to 3-3 with a 5.48 ERA, after relieving Clevinger in the fifth inning, and Brandon Eisert saved his 16th game of the year to improve his ERA to 1.83 through 19.2 innings over 21 appearances. We outhit them 14-9, led by Lopez, who followed yesterday’s 5-5 performance with a 4-5 one today, including a run and an RBI ... he’s got a red-hot bat and is now hitting .346 through 184 at-bats ... that waiver claim that brought him here in May is looking better by the day!

June 19, 2025: Noah Schultz (1-0, 3.75 ERA, 12.0 IP, 11 K’s, 0.75 WHIP) started in our final game against the Cardinals, battling Erick Fedde (4-2, 3.82 ERA, 70.2 IP, 56 K’s, 1.17 WHIP). We took the lead in the bottom of the second with a groundout by Austin Slater that drove home Michael A. Taylor, and Taylor hit a two-run blast in the bottom of the sixth to expand the lead! Schultz was on FIRE, throwing seven shutout innings, and Murfee and Syndergaard handled the last two innings to share in the 3-0 shutout victory! Schultz, in just his third career start, had a two-hitter through seven with two walks and four strikeouts, throwing 88 pitches as he improved to 2-0 with a 2.37 ERA. Murfee had his third hold, and Syndergaard picked up his first save, improving his ERA to 3.45 through 70.1 innings. We outdueled them 5-4 on hits, led by Taylor with three hits, two runs and two RBIs.

June 20, 2025: We’re in Toronto for three games against the 37-38 Blue Jays, and Ryan Weber (3-6, 4.06 ERA, 68.2 IP, 45 K’s, 1.33 WHIP) pitched this evening against Yariel Rodriguez (2-7, 6.59 ERA, 77.0 IP, 75 K’s, 1.52 WHIP) in a battle of pitchers who could both stand to have a good game. Toronto drew first blood in the bottom of the second with an RBI double by Alejandro Kirk, and Vladimir Guerrero Jr. hit a solo homer in the third to extend their lead to 2-0. Addison Barger hit one in the fourth to add on, but we fought back in the top of the fifth -- Austin Slater scored off an RBI double by Dominic Fletcher, Jorge Alfaro scored off a balk call, and Otto Lopez hit an RBI single to tie it up. But Addison Barger hit a two-run homer, his second of the game, in the bottom of the sixth to get the Blue Jays back into the lead. Chase Meidroth got us back within one with an RBI single in the top of the seventh, and Joey Gallo batted in the tying run with a single in the eighth. Toronto then hammered us, Santander scoring off a walk by Alejandro Kirk, which was followed by a two-run single by Daulton Varsho to put them up for good. They’d go on to beat us 8-5, our bats doing their damndest but coming up short down the stretch. Martin Perez took the loss, falling to 4-3 with a 5.13 ERA, allowing two hits, a walk and three runs in his 1.1 innings of work. Each team had ten hits, ours led by Otto Lopez with two hits, a run and an RBI while Chase Meidroth added a pair of hits and an RBI.

June 21, 2025: Sean Burke (4-6, 3.95 ERA, 68.1 IP, 70 K’s, 1.30 WHIP) faced Max Scherzer (7-4, 4.34 ERA, 91.1 IP, 86 K’s, 1.20 WHIP) in our second game north of the border, and we got on the board first with an RBI single by Miguel Vargas in the top of the first. Lopez batted in another with a single in the top of the second, and two more scored in the third to give us a 4-0 cushion. Toronto finally scored in the bottom of the fourth off an RBI single by Kirk, and then in the bottom of the sixth we gave the rest back when Addison Barger hit a three-run homer to tie the score 4-4. Bo Bichette hit a three-run double in the bottom of the seventh that, coupled with another RBI single for Kirk, dug us a four-run hole, and the Blue Jays stifled us from there to win again 8-4. What sucks is Burke had a good start, five innings with six hits, a walk, four strikeouts and two earned runs ... so it was Kimbrel who blew the save (his second) and took the loss, falling to 1-3 with a 7.68 ERA after allowing three hits, a walk and four earned runs during the sixth and seventh innings. They outhit us 12-7, Otto Lopez again leading our offense with two hits, a walk, a run and an RBI.

Michael A. Taylor has signed a two year extension worth a total of $13 million, split evenly across the 2026 and 2027 seasons. Taylor, at 34, is our strongest defensive outfielder, and has hit .215 so far this year with five doubles, three triples and seven homers, giving him a .639 OPS. He currently has a +2.1 zone rating at left and a +3.6 zone rating at central, and he’s popular in the clubhouse since being signed by us back in February as a free agent.
 
June 22, 2025: Yu Darvish and Kevin Gausman faced off in the final game of the series in Toronto, and the Blue Jays took the lead quickly in the first inning with an RBI single by Bo Bichette. Vladimir Guerrero Jr. hit a two-run blast in the third to extend the lead, amd we just put out no energy in this one. They dominated the remainder and we lost in a 4-0 shutout, as the Blue Jays completed the sweep. Yu Darvish was flat in his second game in a row, taking the loss in a five inning effort with eight hits, three walks, three strikeouts and four earned runs, and they outhit us 9-5, only allowing us six baserunners all game. Nobody stood out.

Third baseman Josh Rojas has recovered faster than expected from his ruptured achilles tendon, and will begin a minor league rehab assignment effective immediately. We could definitely use his infield arm back in the lineup, so we’re hopeful all will go well with his continued recovery.

We’re headed back to Chicago for a week of games against the Diamondbacks (42-35, 2nd NL West) and the Giants (33-45, 4th NL West), but we’re definitely on a downward trend, having now lost six of our last ten games as we now sit at 32-46.