[jksander]

July 11, 2026: The draft is in the books, and tonight we’re ready to take on Kansas City in game two out of three, Drew Rasmussen (4-4, 3.26 ERA, 85.2 IP, 87 K’s, 1.13 WHIP) pitching against Michael Wacha (4-8, 3.69 ERA, 102.1 IP, 86 K’s, 1.22 WHIP). It’s rainy and cool, but the place is packed as has become the norm this season, and we were ready for business from the first pitch. We got four hits in the first two innings, all into left field thanks to the wind, but neither team could get anyone around to score as the clouds hung low over the stadium. Rasmussen was injured midway through the top of the third, and it wasn’t immediately clear what happened ... Sean Burke took over out of the bullpen with two outs and nobody on, getting us out of the inning safely, but the crowd was on edge, as injuries often lead. Two walks and a balk put us in good position in the bottom of the inning, however, and Heston Kjerstad got us on the board by hitting a line drive into right, scoring the game’s first run. Tauchman hit a sac-fly to add one on, giving Burke a two-run cushion as he came out in the fourth for his first full inning of the game. Burke got us through the fifth unblemished, and in the bottom of the inning we added on a run with two outs, thanks to an RBI single from Brandon Valenzuela! Eduard Bazardo took over in the sixth with a three-run lead, and Ryan Weber took the ball from him with two outs and men on first and second, Michael Massey hitting a flyout to right to get us out of the inning with the shutout intact. We brought out Ryan Helsley in the top of the eighth and he got through the inning with just a walk ... but in the top of the ninth Vinnie Pasquantino reached first on an error, Michael Massey advanced him to third with a flyball double, and Blake Mitchell hit an RBI single on one out to get them on the board. With runners on the corners, Ben Joyce took over for Helsley, walking Yunior Severino to load the bases, and a wild pitch drove in run number two ... Christ! A pop-fly to short left held the runners and got us our second out, however, with leadoff man Gavin Cross coming to the plate. He popped out to right field, and we were able to escape this with a 3-2 victory.

Burke got the win, improving to 7-4 with a 2.1 inning effort after Rasmussen’s injury exit ... no hits, a walk and a pair of strikeouts improving his ERA to 4.41. Bazardo (10), Weber (5) and Helsley (8) got holds, and Joyce came out in a tough spot and earned his 14th save, walking one batter and improving his ERA to 4.94. We outhit them 10-4 and yet the game was incredibly tight in the end, which goes to show you can’t count a game as won before you finish. Valenzuela led the way with three hits and an RBI, as our young catcher pushes his average closer to .300 (he’s at .294 right now with 15 doubles, nine homers and 40 RBIs, giving him 3.5 WAR).

Orlando Guajardo, our fourth rounder, accepted his $150,000 signing bonus and will join our organization officially, the 18-year-old heading to our rookie team in the Arizona Complex League. Our scouts favor him more than the OSA folks do, and he’s highly adaptable as a player so we’re looking forward to seeing what he can do once he gets a chance to play against other solid prospects.If he can reach his potential as a defensive catcher, I really like what he could be for our team in the future, because he also has the potential to hit for a high average with impact power.

Rasmussen’s diagnosis remains pending, and we’ll avoid sending him to the IL until we know the full extent. He’s being sent for additional scans tomorrow.

July 12, 2026: Another rainy, albeit warmer, afternoon for tonight’s final game against the Royals, and we’ve got Dylan Cease (4-4, 3.43 ERA, 102.1 IP, 116 K’s, 1.13 WHIP) pitching against Cole Ragans (8-7, 4.17 ERA, 99.1 IP, 108 K’s, 1.49 WHIP). And this was quickly a duel to the extreme ... neither team got a hit in the first three innings, as both pitchers were locked in. With one out in the bottom of the fourth we got the first hit of the game when Bellinger hit a flyball single into center, but nothing came of it. Cease got through the fifth without a hit, but he’d walked four against nine strikeouts, so he was already at 81 pitches when the inning ended. He blew the no-hitter in the sixth when leadoff-man Jace Jung hit a single into right, but he stranded him on second with three quick outs to keep the game scoreless. In the bottom of the inning we had our first real opportunity ... with runners on the corners, Ceddanne Rafaela came up to hit, but he hit into a fielder’s choice and the game remained deadlocked at zero as Noah Syndergaard came out to take the mound. With two outs in the top of the seventh, Kansas City broke the stalemate when Nick Loftin hit a solo shot out of left to put them up 1-0 via their second hit of the game and the fifth for both teams combined. Ragans was still going in the bottom of the inning, and he got through the seventh without letting any of our guys on base. Syndergaard got us through the top of the eighth without anyone scoring -- despite runners on second and third -- and we loaded the bases on one out in the bottom of the inning ... Bellinger popped out to shallow center, holding the runners, but we finally caught a break when Rafaela hit a three-run double to shoot us into the lead! Jose Alvarado took over in the top of the ninth with a freshly-minted two-run lead, and he got two quick outs ... Nelson Velasquez then singled into right, and Nick Loftin batted him into scoring position with another single, bringing up flashes of last night in our heads. It got tense as hell in here when Joey Weimer walked the bases loaded, which brought up pinch-hitter Mickey Gasper ... but he popped out harmlessly to right, stranding all three runners as we won 3-1 to complete the sweep!

Cease had a great game, putting up six innings of work with one hit, four walks and nine strikeouts, but Syndergaard got the win after two hard-fought innings, allowing just one hit, one walk and one run with two K’s, improving to 4-2 with a 6.23 ERA. Alvarado earned his first save of the year with a hit and two walks, and we outdueled the Royals on hits 5-3. Rafaela was the star of the night, getting one hit and batting in all three of our runs thanks to his well-timed double.
 
The news regarding Drew Rasmussen is in, and it is a complete disaster ... he’s been diagnosed with a stretched elbow ligament that, while not torn, is going to require at least 10-11 months to recover. His season is over, and though it shouldn’t end his career at age 30, there’s no way to know how he’ll recover from the requisite surgery. We have a team option on his contract for next year with a no-cost buyout, so it’s now a near certainty we’ll exercise that option in the fall rather than paying him $8 million for a season he could possibly miss in its entirety with any setbacks. We’ve put him on the 60-day IL for now, and we’re calling up Shane Smith from AAA Charlotte to take his place. Smith has gone 6-7 this year in the minors with a 6.50 ERA and 103 strikeouts through 101 innings, giving him 1.3 WAR. The 26-year-old went 6-4 for us last year in the majors with a 4.10 ERA and 85 K’s in 90 innings, but had -1.1 WAR ... so we’re hoping he’ll fare better this year in that regard.

We’re hitting the road for our final stretch before the All Star break, with three games against the LA Angels (41-49, 4th AL West) and four against the Minnesota Twins (41-49, 4th AL Central). We’re on a three game winning streak and have gone 9-2 so far in the month of July, bringing a 54-35 record into the trip.