[jksander]

July 11, 2025: Noah Schultz (4-0, 1.54 ERA, 35.0 IP, 32 K’s, 0.77 WHIP) has done better than anyone could have dreamed as a rookie, and tonight against Cleveland, he battled Gavin Williams (7-8, 3.80 ERA, 97.0 IP, 100 K’s, 1.36 WHIP) as we hoped to gain further ground in the divisional race. We got going quickly, Brooks Baldwin hitting a leadoff homer, in his very first at-bat of the season, and Gallo hit one two batters later on two outs. Michael A. Taylor then hit an RBI single to add on a run, and we held a solid 3-0 lead heading into the second inning. Cleveland got on the board in the top of the second with an RBI single from Daniel Schneemann, but Miguel Vargas hit a solo homer in the bottom of the third to get it back, and in the bottom of the fifth we added on with a double by Teel that batted home Miguel Vargas from second. Craig Kimbrel took over for Schultz with two outs and men on first and second in the top of the sixth, getting us out of the inning with the 5-1 lead still secure, but we collapsed completely in the seventh -- easily the worst I’ve seen all year -- Brandon Eisert had come out to pitch with an out and two on due to walks, and he let Tyler Freeman hit an RBI single to get them going, and then Jose Ramirez hit a grand slam to shoot them into the lead by a run. Kyle Manzardo hit a solo homer off Penn Murfee a few minutes later, and Gabriel Arias had an RBI double, giving the Guardians an 8-5 lead heading into the stretch ... unbelievable! We, completely demoralized, stumbled through the rest of the game and lost by the same margin. Schultz had a great start, 5.2 innings with five hits, two walks, seven strikeouts and one earned run, but the bullpen as a whole completely failed him, and they outhit us 10-9. Brooks Baldwin, in his first game up from AAA Charlotte this season, hit twice and had his homer, and Teel added two hits and an RBI.

July 12, 2025: Sean Burke (5-7, 4.34 ERA, 87.0 IP, 84 K’s, 1.30 WHIP) pitched against Slade Cecconi (3-7, 4.28 ERA, 88.1 IP, 80 K’s, 1.19 WHIP) in game three of the series, and the Guardians broke a 2-2 tie in the third inning with five runs we had absolutely no answer for. This one didn’t offer much excitement as we quietly went down 7-2. They outhit us 13-8, our bats led by Gallo with two hits and an RBI, and Burke took the loss, not even getting out of the fourth inning -- five hits, six walks and six runs against him with five strikeouts, dropping him to 5-8 with a 4.78 ERA. One game left until the All Star break, and we can definitely use a rest.

Brock Sell, our third rounder, has agreed to his $850,000 bonus offer and will join our Arizona Complex League team. The 18-year-old is a long term prospect for sure, but profiles as a solid defensive player at multiple positions, and should eventually hit for solid contact and walk often due to his patience at the plate.
 
July 13, 2025: The All Star rosters have been announced, and second baseman Otto Lopez will be our team’s lone participant. Lopez has hit .327/.368/.435 with two homers, 10 stolen bases, 125 wRC+ and 2.2 total wins above replacement. Colson Montgomery will play in the All Star Futures game, at first base as the #57 prospect in the country ... but he’s only hit .200 this season at AA Birmingham. Hagen Smith might have made that game had he not sprained his ankle last week ... he won’t return to the Birmingham roster at AA until at least August, and his season to this point has been a disappointment from a development standpoint.

Tonight we played our final game of the four-game series against Cleveland, and after two rough losses we’d love to get a win here to at least split the series and give ourselves a dignified finish to the first half of the season. Ryan Weber (3-6, 4.23 ERA, 89.1 IP, 57 K’s, 1.24 WHIP) pitched against Hunter Gaddis (3-6, 4.98 ERA, 90.1 IP, 77 K’s, 1.42 WHIP). Cleveland scored first with an RBI single by Jose Ramirez in the top of the first, but Teel scored in the bottom of the second when Austin Slater reached on an E7 error, and in the bottom of the fifth we took the lead when Michael A. Taylor hit a solo homer, his ninth, to put us up 2-1. Teel hit an RBI single in the bottom of the eighth to add a little insurance, and though Eduard Bazardo let Tyler Freeman hit an RBI single to get the Guardians back within one, we held our ground and escaped with a 3-2 win, splitting the series and sending us into the break with a 41-56 record. Weber improved to 4-6 with a 4.10 ERA thanks to five innings with five hits, five K’s and a run scored, and Bazardo got his fourth save of the year ... he now has a 2.87 ERA through 37.2 total innings. They outhit us 10-5, which makes the win even sweeter, Teel leading the way for us with two hits, a run and an RBI.