Houston – José Ramírez and David Fry homered and Brayan Rocchio added a two-run double as the Cleveland Guardians beat the Houston Astros 7-5 on Monday night to snap a 10-game skid.
The victory is Cleveland’s first since June 25th and comes a day after losing to Detroit in 10 innings Sunday.
The score was tied with two outs in the sixth and the Guardians had two on when Rocchio doubled to left field off Steven Okert to put them on top 6-4.
With two outs in the bottom of the inning, Victor Caratini connected off Matt Festa (2-2) on a shot to right field to get Houston within 1.
However, Fry connected with two outs in the ninth to give Cleveland an insurance run.
Emmanuel Clase pitched a perfect ninth for his 19th save.
Taylor Trammell added a three-run home run for his first hit this season and Isaac Paredes had a solo shot for the AL West-leading Astros, who lost for just the second time in eight games.
Cleveland starter Tanner Bibee allowed four hits and four runs in 4 2/3 innings.
Colton Gordon (3-2) yielded seven hits and five runs in 5 2/3 innings for the Astros.
Bregman eyes return without rehab starts
Boston – Alex Bregman believes he could skip a minor-league rehab assignment and be back in Boston’s lineup before the All-Star break.
The two-time All-Star third baseman, who has been sidelined since May 24 with a strained right quad, said there’s even a chance his return could happen by the end of this week.
“Trending toward a return here pretty quickly,” Bregman said Monday night after Boston’s 9-3 win over the Rockies. “Whether it’s the end of this week or first game after the break. One of those two. But hoping it will be the end of this week.”
Boston finishes it’s three-game series with Colorado on Wednesday, then hosts Tampa Bay for a four-game series Thursday through Sunday to conclude its first-half schedule.
Boston had high hopes for Bregman entering the season after he signed as a free agent to a $120 million, three-year deal during the offseason. And he had had been on a torrid pace to start the season, hitting .299 with 11 homers and 35 RBIs before suffering his injury.
Monday marked the 40th game he’s been sidelined
His injury is similar to the one he sustained to his left quad strain in 2021 with Houston, which cost him 58 games. But unlike that injury, Bregman said he is hopeful he can return to action without a stint in the minors
Though, he said an ultimate decision will be made after a consultation with the medical and training staff.
“We’re still going to talk about it as a group,” Bregman said. “I think we’re going to have another discussion (Tuesday). But I feel like I can go play and get ready to go.”
The timing synchs up with Bregman being named to his third All-Star team on Sunday as a reserve. But, he said he doesn’t think there’s any chance he’d be able to participate.
While he said he may make an appearance and take his son to the home run derby, he’ll spend the rest of the break maintaining his fitness in preparation for the second half of the season.
“What I need to do is hopefully be back playing by the end of this week and use the All-Star break to continue to build up, work on my leg and make sure that we continue the progression the right way.”
Twins slugger Buxton enters Home Run Derby
Minnesota Twins center fielder and Georgia native Byron Buxton was announced as the fourth participant in the Home Run Derby on Monday.
The derby will take place next Monday, the night before the All-Star Game, at Truist Park in Atlanta. The 31-year-old Buxton will be the eighth Twins hitter to take part in the derby, which Justin Morneau won in 2008.
Buxton joins Nationals outfielder James Wood, Braves outfielder Ronald Acuña Jr. and Mariners catcher Cal Raleigh in the eight-man competition. Buxton, who has 20 homers this season, is from Baxley, Georgia, and was the second overall pick by the Twins in the 2012 draft.
In discussing his second All-Star selection with reporters on Sunday, Buxton beamed as he described the excitement of his 11-year-old son, Brix, who regularly plays the Home Run Derby on the “MLB: The Show” video game at home.
“He always is like, ‘Dad, if you do this, I want to bring you a towel!’ and I’m like, ‘All right.’ That’s all he cares about. He wants Dad to do it so he can bring me a towel and a Gatorade. And for me, that’s special,” Buxton said. “Out of everybody there, all the people he’s going to see, that’s what he wants and cares about. So it’s the small things that add up to the big ones.”
New York Mets slugger and two-time winner Pete Alonso joined Philadelphia designated hitter Kyle Schwarber and Kansas City shortstop Bobby Witt Jr. in electing to skip the event. Those players confirmed their decisions to reporters over the course of Sunday and Monday.
Alonso was selected as a National League reserve for the All-Star Game in a season when he’s hit 20 homers. He won the Home Run Derby in 2019 and 2021. It wasn’t held in 2020 because of the COVID-19 pandemic.
“I’m not necessarily called this year to do it. I love the event. It’s a sick event. I just didn’t really feel motivated to do it this year,” Alonso said on Sunday, according to MLB.com. “I just figured I’d take a break, use the break as recovery and get back at it, help the team win in the second half.”
Although he’s not participating this summer, Schwarber left the door open to taking part next season when the All-Star Game is held in Philadelphia. Schwarber has 27 homers this season and made his third All-Star team.
Montgomery makes home debut with White Sox
Chicago – Colson Montgomery traveled a bumpy road from top prospect to the major leagues. The young shortstop was joined on the journey by the Chicago White Sox.
That made Monday night even sweeter for the player and the rebuilding team.
Montgomery made his home debut for Chicago in an 8-4 loss to Toronto, going 0 for 3 with a walk and scoring a run. He also made a nice diving stop on Alejandro Kirk’s grounder up the middle in the fourth inning.
The Indiana native played in his first major league game on Friday night at Colorado and went 5 for 10 while helping the last-place White Sox take two of three against the Rockies.
“I’m just so happy to be part of this organization, and them just believing in me, to be honest,” a smiling Montgomery said. “Because there’s a lot that goes into, you know, last year, you don’t really play the best, and then you start this year not really playing the best. And there was just never a doubt in their mind with the White Sox.”
The 23-year-old Montgomery received a warm welcome from the crowd of 13,292 when he batted for the first time in the second.
“It felt great just because you work pretty much your whole life for that opportunity,” he said. “So then once he said my name and I got in the box and heard the fans cheering, it was pretty special.”
Montgomery was a first-round pick in the 2021 amateur draft. He appeared to be on his way to a big league debut last season, but he had a tough year with Charlotte. He batted .214 with 18 homers and 63 RBIs, striking out 164 times in 130 games.
He had a chance to make the major league team in spring training, but he was sent back to Charlotte in March. He was batting just .149 (14 for 94) when the White Sox decided to have him go to Arizona to work with Ryan Fuller, who was hired in November as the organization’s director of hitting.
“Ultimately it just came down to just really finding this routine that we’ve kind of, I guess you could say, fine-tuned,” Montgomery said. “And I mean, I’m just trying to perfect that routine and then go out there and execute it.”
Montgomery’s work with Fuller, along with the reset that went along with time away from games, helped him find his form. He hit .270 (33 for 122) after returning to Charlotte, earning a promotion.
He went hitless in his debut against the Rockies, but he robbed Ryan Ritter with a terrific catch in the second inning. He hit an RBI triple for his first big league hit on Saturday.
“I’m really proud of him,” White Sox general manager Chris Getz said. “We talked, now it was months ago, you know, I gave him a call and just to kind of do a little check in and, you know, he’s going through it. He was really struggling, and I said, ‘Hey, you know we’re going to figure this out. You’re going to figure this out. You just can’t quit.’ And he goes, ‘I’m not going to quit.’ And he didn’t.”
The series opener against the Blue Jays also was the team’s first home game since former White Sox closer Bobby Jenks died on Friday in Portugal, where he was being treated for a form of stomach cancer. He was 44.
Fans placed flowers in Jenks’ memory at the 2005 World Series monument outside the ballpark, and the team honored the two-time All-Star with a highlight video and a pregame moment of silence.
Getz, who played with Jenks in 2008 and 2009 with the White Sox, said the closer had a big heart.
“He was just this most fun-loving kid,” Getz said. “And obviously a tremendous competitor, you know, on the mound. He didn’t have an easy life. He didn’t. I know that his family’s got to be really going through it right now. It’s obviously really sad.”
Padres’ Machado gets 2,000th career hit
San Diego – Manny Machado of the San Diego Padres got his 2,000th career hit Monday night against the Arizona Diamondbacks with a sharp single off the glove of diving shortstop Geraldo Perdomo.
The milestone hit came off Arizona starter Zac Gallen leading off the fourth inning. Machado received a standing ovation from the crowd at Petco Park, where he’s been a fan favorite since he joined the Padres as a free agent in 2019.
The All-Star slugger singled to left field in the first for his 1,999th hit.
Machado became the fifth active player and 297th all-time to reach the milestone. He is the 12th player to have 350 homers and 2,000 hits by his age-32 season or younger.
Machado made his debut with Baltimore in 2012 and got 977 hits with the Orioles before being traded to the Los Angeles Dodgers on July 18, 2018. He had 73 hits with the Dodgers before signing as a free agent with the Padres on Feb. 21, 2019.
He has 950 hits with the Padres, which ranks fifth on the franchise list. Hall of Famer Tony Gwynn had 3,141 in his 20-season career.
Machado was voted the starting third baseman for the National League All-Star team this year.
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