[jksander]

July 24, 2026: We’re back from the All Star break and on the south side in front of our fans, and Noah Schultz (8-4, 2.14 ERA, 118.0 IP, 142 K’s, 0.78 WHIP) is good to go against the Astros’ Hunter Brown (6-10, 5.22 ERA, 100.0 IP, 98 K’s, 1.62 WHIP). We took the lead in the bottom of the first, Heston Kjerstad hitting an RBI double that scored Ha-seong Kim from second, but they tied it up in the top of the third with an RBI triple by Jeremy Peña on two outs. Heston Kjerstad hit a two-run homer in the bottom of the inning to get us back into the lead, and though we held it through the fourth, Schultz was sloppy and loaded the bases, throwing his way into the 70s and shortening his afternoon significantly. But he got through the fifth thanks to two key strikeouts with runners on the corners, so it wasn’t a bad effort in the end. We added a run in the bottom of the fifth off a double by Kjerstad, and Bellinger followed that with a two-run homer that solidified our lead going into the sixth, up 6-1 as Noah Syndergaard took over on the mound. He was impressive as ever, shutting them down efficiently the rest of the way, and we won by that same 6-1 margin. Schultz pitched five innings with three hits, a walk, nine strikeouts and one earned run, and Syndergaard earned a four inning save, his second save of the season, throwing 38 pitches with no hits and two strikeouts! He now has a 5.82 ERA through 51 innings and has adjusted well to his new bullpen role. We outhit the Astros 6-3, led by Kjerstad who was stellar with three hits, two runs and four RBIs. He’s currently hitting .343 and has earned 2.9 WAR, with a +6.4 zone rating in left field as a defensive power as well.

July 25, 2026: With yesterday’s win we hit the 60-win mark on the season, just eight away from tying last year’s entire win output! We’re currently on track for 100 wins, which would tie our club record set back in 1917 when we won the World Series. That’s a staggering improvement over a two year span, considering our 40-win season in 2024, but we still have to fight through the rest of the season to get there. This afternoon Zac Gallen (12-2, 2.74 ERA, 125.0 IP, 112 K’s, 1.00 WHIP) pitched against Luis Castillo (9-8, 5.62 ERA, 97.2 IP, 95 K’s, 1.54 WHIP), and this time Houston took the lead first, an RBI single by Jake Meyers putting them up 1-0 in the top of the second. We tied it up in the bottom of the fourth with an RBI single by Andre Lipcius, but the Astros retook the lead in the top of the sixth with a two-out solo homer by Yandy Diaz to make it 2-1 heading into the bottom of the inning. We loaded the bases on one out in the bottom of the seventh, and a sac-fly by Kjerstad drove in the tying run, but we weren’t able to get a lead. Gallen stayed out and got three quick outs to get us through the eighth, and when we weren’t able to get a lead in the bottom of the inning Ryan Helsley took over for him in the top of the ninth. Still knotted up 2-2 in the bottom of the inning, we weren’t able to get any offense going and this game went on into extras. Helsley got two outs in the top of the 10th and then let Jake Myers hit a two-run homer to put them up by a pair. With two outs and men on the corners in the bottom of the inning, Ceddane Rafaela came to the plate, took the count to 2-2, and then slammed a three run homer of his own over the wall in right ... WALK OFF WIN, we won 5-4! Gallen had a great night with eight innings and just four hits, two runs and nine strikeouts, but Helsley held strong with two innings and just two hits, two runs (one earned) and two strikeouts as he improved to 3-2 with a 3.30 ERA. We outhit the Astros 8-6, led by Rafaela who had two hits, a run and the three RBIs, thanks to his 10th homer of the year that couldn’t have come at a better time!

July 26, 2026: Dylan Cease (4-4, 3.20 ERA, 112.2 IP, 131 K’s, 1.13 WHIP) took the ball tonight as we looked to keep our win streak going past five games against the Astros, who started Merrill Kelly in his first game since getting called up from AAA. The 37-year-old is wrecked and it’s pretty clear Houston is running out of options in their rotation. Bellinger got us on the board in the bottom of the first with an RBI double, and Ceddanne Rafaela hit an RBI single to add on, giving us a quick 2-0 lead. Brandon Valenzuela hit a solo bomb out of right in the bottom of the second, and Chase Meidroth picked up his 50th walk of the season in the bottom of the fourth, driving in another run. A sac-fly by Kjerstad made it a five-run lead and moments later Bellinger brought his RBI total to 60 on the year with a two-run double as this one became a rout! Rafaela batted him home with a single, and we went into the top of the fifth leading 8-0. Kjerstad hit a solo bomb out of right in the bottom of the sixth, and Shane Smith took over in the top of the eighth with a nine-run lead at his back. Heston Kjerstad hit another homer in the bottom of the eighth, and Smith completed the shutout as we cruised past the Astros 10-0 for the sweep. Cease improved to 5-4 with a 3.01 ERA, allowing just two hits and a walk with 11 strikeouts in his seven innings, while Smith got through his two without a single baserunner. We outhit them 15-2, a dominating performance led by Kjerstad, who was 4-4 with three hits and three RBIs, including his 13th and 14th homers of the year!

The Minnesota Twins sent us an offer for Matt Canterino and Brandon Pfaadt, two players we have currently rehabbing in Charlotte, offering up 34-year-old reliever Brock Stewart in return ... Stewart is on a $2.8 million contract and is still arbitration eligible in the offseason, but they’re offering to pay 50% of his remaining salary to balance out the deal. He has put up a record of 7-3 with three saves, 47 K’s in 43.1 innings, and a 1.13 WHIP, good for 1.2 pitching WAR. We were going to have a roster crunch if we had to find spots for Canterino and Pfaadt in our current rotation, and Stewart is a solid addition to our bullpen who will give us another late innings lock-down option. So we’re making the trade. We’re waiving Syndergaard to make room for him on our 26-man roster, and Stewart will step in immediately as a high leverage stopper.

We’ve also sent Colson Montgomery back down to AAA to make room for Miguel Vargas to return from his rehab assignment. Montgomery could come back up in September if we need him, but he has 19 days of MLB service time this year, and we’ll have to be careful if we don’t want to blow his PPI eligibility ahead of next season.

We’ll put our six-game winning streak to the test starting tomorrow when Toronto (47-51) comes to town for four games.