[jksander]

May 15, 2026: Miami is terrible this year, coming into this series against us at Rate Field with a 10-27 record, worst in the majors by a long shot. We, meanwhile, have won eight of our last 10 games and actually have a winning record and a positive run differential (+2) along with firm control of second place in the AL Central, if we can keep our heads on straight. The fans are still abuzz about the move that sent us Zac Gallen, and the big topic on the sports talk shows has been whether the Reds were undervaluing Gallen, overvaluing Gallo, or both. We’ll see how it shakes out, but getting a top-level pitcher for four years with the other team paying 75 percent, it was impossible for me to say no.

Noah Schultz (2-1, 2.42 ERA, 44.2 IP, 54 K’s, 0.69 WHIP) pitched in game one against the Marlins, facing Chris Bassitt (0-3, 5.54 ERA, 37.1 IP, 32 K’s, 1.66 WHIP). This one turned into the most unlikely pitching duels you’ll ever see, and we got dinged first when Miami went up 1-0 off an RBI single by Agustin Ramirez in the top of the sixth. Bassitt made it through six innings as well, holding that lead as he personally held us to just three hits, and we were going to have to count on our bats and our bullpen with Helsley taking over in the top of the seventh. Helsley got us through the eighth with the Marlins’ lead still just 1-0. He got the first two outs in the ninth as well, with Alvarado coming out to strike out Max Kepler, bringing us out to hit still down a run with time running out. But our bats were completely useless tonight, and Miami got an improbable 1-0 win out of us while our fans looked on stunned. Schultz went six innings with eight hits, four strikeouts and the one earned run, falling to 2-2 with a 2.31 ERA, while we only picked up four hits all game. Helsley struck out four without a single baserunner in his 2.1 innings, but you have to score to win. Closest we got was Kim, leading off with a hit and a walk.
 
May 16, 2026: Dylan Cease (2-3, 3.43 ERA, 44.2 IP, 41 K’s, 1.03 WHIP) pitched against Eury Perez (2-2, 4.85 ERA, 39.0 IP, 43 K’s, 1.69 WHIP) in game two against the Marlins, and this time we got on the board quickly, Ceddanne Rafaela hitting a three-run homer in the bottom of the first. Tauchman batted in a run with a single in the bottom of the third to add on, and we scored three more in the bottom of the fifth to turn this into a rout. Jonathan Cannon took over in the top of the seventh, leading by seven runs, and he pitched well in the seventh but gave up three hits in a row, including an RBI single to Eugenio Suarez, blowing the shutout in the eighth. He gave up two more runs before we were able to get Ryan Weber warmed in the pen, but he took over with runners on first and second and one out, the lead now at four. And this one turned into a farce quickly ... after striking out Marco Luciano, Weber let Harrison Bader hit an RBI single, and Max Kepler added on with an RBI single of his own to get the Marlins back within two! Eduard Bazardo came out with two outs and men on second and third, and was able to get Connor Norby to ground out to first -- but we’d gone from 7-0 to 7-5 all in the top of the eighth. Thank God for Cody Bellinger, who came out in the bottom of the inning on two outs and hit a two-run homer out of left, extending our lead back to four and giving us momentum again. Joshua Mears hit a solo shot out of left to add on, and Bazardo stayed out with a five-run lead as we shut them down to win 10-5. Cease improved to 3-3 with a 3.02 ERA, thanks to six innings with five hits, two walks and eight strikeouts, and after Weber picked up a hold following Cannon’s meltdown, Bazardo earned his first save with a 1.1 inning effort, walking one with no other baserunners ... he now has a 3.66 ERA through 19.2 innings. We outhit Miami 12-10, led by Rafaela with three hits, a run and three RBIs, while Bellinger added two hits, two runs and three RBIs, hitting his ninth homer of the year.

May 17, 2026: Zac Gallen (4-1, 2.88 ERA, 50.0 IP, 45 K’s, 1.16 WHIP) made his White Sox debut this afternoon in front of nearly 25,000 fans, facing Tyler Viza (0-4, 4.94 ERA, 33.1 IP, 19 K’s, 1.65 WHIP), and Miami gave him a huge “f--- you” when Harrison Bader led off with a solo homer. The Marlins then quickly amassed a 4-0 lead as they put Gallen through the wringer, drawing boos from our fans who were restless quickly. Joshua Mears quieted them somewhat with his two-run single in the bottom of the inning, and Mike Tauchman hit a solo homer in the bottom of the second to cut the lead to one. Agustin Ramirez hit a solo homer to extend their lead in the top of the fourth, but Gary Sanchez hit an RBI single to cut it again in the bottom of the inning, and Ceddanne Rafaela tied it up with a solo bomb out of right in the bottom of the fifth, Gallen getting us through the top of the sixth with a chance to take control of this one! A two-out RBI double by Ha-seong Kim did the trick, giving us a 6-5 lead heading into the top of the seventh with Julian Merryweather taking the ball. With one out and Eugenio Suarez on first in the top of the eighth we brought out Jose Alvarado, silencing them as we went into the bottom of the inning still leading by a run. Chase Meidroth bought us some insurance when his sac-fly got a run across to give us a two-run ninth inning advantage, and Ben Joyce handled business in the top of the ninth as we held tough to win 7-5! Zac Gallen didn’t make it easy, but he got the win, allowing seven hits and five earned runs with four strikeouts in his six innings ... and then our bullpen held it, with Joyce getting his fourth save and improving his ERA to 4.35 through 10.1 innings. We outhit Miami 10-9, led by Gary Sanchez, who hit twice with an RBI, as Mears added a hit and two RBIs.

We definitely miss having Kjerstad in the lineup, but we’ve been making it work ... we now hold a 21-19 record heading into the series against the 18-22 Pirates, and against all odds we’re now within three games of the 25-17 Guardians! We’ve won 11 of our last 14 games but these will be our last three home games before a 10-game road stretch that will include seven divisional games. So we can’t take our foot off the gas or we’ll lose all our momentum.