Atlanta – Hall of Fame manager Bobby Cox received a warm ovation at Truist Park as the Atlanta Braves celebrated the 30-year anniversary of their 1995 World Series championship before the Braves’ 12-7 loss on Friday against the New York Mets.

Cox, 84, waved to fans as he rode in the front seat of a convertible to lead the pregame parade through the Battery outside the ballpark. Hall of Fame pitchers Greg Maddux, Tom Glavine and John Smoltz and former general manager John Schuerholz also participated in the parade.

Among other players who returned were Hall of Famer Chipper Jones, David Justice, Javy Lopez, Marquis Grissom, Ryan Klesko, Rafael Belliard, Steve Avery, Mark Wohlers and Fred McGriff. Some of Cox’s staff, including pitching coach Leo Mazzone, also attended.

Cox was introduced as “the beloved skipper of this 1995 team” during the pregame ceremony on the field. He stood with family members in a luxury box and tapped his heart in response to the cheers.

Smoltz, Glavine and Maddux threw ceremonial first pitches.

Cox was hospitalized in 2019 following a stroke. He also visited Truist Park, which opened in 2017, for a game last season.

Brian Snitker, who became manager in 2016 and led Atlanta to the 2021 World Series championship, has remained close with Cox. Snitker said Friday he tries to visit his former boss once each homestand. Snitker said Cox rarely speaks but enjoys visits at his home from former players and coaches.

“He understands everything,” Snitker said. “And if guys will start telling stories he’s belly laughing just because he understands everything that’s going on. He’s aware of everything, and he’s aware of how we’re playing and what’s going on in the games.”

Snitker said he was excited Cox was returning for the 1995 celebration.

“It’s going to be awesome,” Snitker said. “It’ll be great. And, you know, I think it’s going to be a really cool thing.”

Snitker said he spoke with Cox’s wife, Pam, on Thursday “and it’s something that he’s really looking forward to.”

Cox was inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame in 2014. His No. 6 was retired by the Braves.

Cox led the Braves from 1978-81 in his first of two stints as Atlanta’s manager. He managed the Toronto Blue Jays from 1982-85 before returning to Atlanta as general manager in 1986 and taking over as manager in 1991. Cox’s Braves beat Cleveland in the 1995 World Series.

He was named manager of the year four times, including honors in the AL and NL.

Squirrel runs onto Yankee Stadium field

New York – A squirrel ran onto the field during Friday night’s game before the Yankees’ 1-0 loss against the Red Sox and caused a brief delay.

The fast-moving mammal emerged from an area behind the plate in the fourth inning and stopped behind Boston rookie Jhostynxon Garcia’s left foot as the outfielder took a timeout and adjusted his batting gloves. The squirrel stopped for a second on the third-base foul line before heading to the front of the mound, where it briefly tried to dig a hole as Yankee ace Max Fried looked on.

After stopping on the mound, the squirrel sped towards first baseman Ben Rice, went past first base umpire Carlos Torres and down the right-field line.

Once play resumed, Fried walked Nixon by throwing a pitch to the backstop as the squirrel continued to attempt to find an exit.

On May 23, 2023, another squirrel briefly delayed play between the Orioles and Yankees when it ran through the outfield at Yankee Stadium.

The Orioles were also the visiting team in New York on Aug. 2, 2021, when a cat delayed play for several minutes in the eighth inning.

The cat sped through left field, then got on the warning track and dashed back and forth. The feline climbed up on the low padding along the wall and tried to scale the bullpen fence, but kept falling back down.

Guardians lose on walk-off double

Joc Pederson hit a walk-off RBI double to give the Texas Rangers a 4-3 comeback win over the Cleveland Guardians on Friday night.

Wyatt Langford, who hit a solo home run in the sixth, scored the tying run on Corey Seager’s single after hustling to second for an aggressive double to open the ninth inning.

Carlos Ramirez hit a two-run double to give the Guardians a 3-2 lead in the eighth inning.

Rangers starter Nathan Eovaldi went seven innings, giving up one run on four hits while striking out nine to temporarily take the league’s qualified ERA lead. He entered the game with a 1.76 ERA, but was not qualified as the league leader, with 123 innings pitched over 129 games. He qualified with 130 innings and a 1.73 ERA by the end of the game, giving him the lead over Pittsburgh’s Paul Skenes (2.16 ERA).

Eovaldi allowed a double in the first, and back-to-back doubles in the second to Carlos Santana and C.J. Kayfus. After Kayfus’ RBI double, Eovaldi retired 15 batters in a row.

The Rangers’ Robert Garcia (2-7) pitched an inning in relief, while Guardians reliever Cade Smith (5-5) took the loss and a blown save.

The third-place Guardians fell to 11.5 games behind the AL Central-leading Tigers.

Padres beat Dodgers to even NL West race

San Diego – Yu Darvish combined with three relievers on a three-hitter, and the San Diego Padres pulled even with the Los Angeles Dodgers atop the NL West once again with a 2-1 victory Friday night.

Manny Machado had an RBI single and scored in the fourth inning for the Padres, who rebounded sharply after getting swept over three games last weekend in Chavez Ravine. The archrivals are even at 73-56 with 33 games left in the regular season.

Alex Freeland hit his first major league homer for the defending champion Dodgers, who have lost three of five since last Sunday’s sweep.

Blake Snell (3-2) gave up two runs on six hits over seven strong innings for Los Angeles, but he was outdueled by the 39-year-old Darvish (3-3), who allowed just one hit and three baserunners while striking out five over six innings.

The Padres’ vaunted bullpen then came through – barely.

Jason Adam pitched a perfect seventh, but Mason Miller walked two in the eighth before San Diego turned a fraught 3-6-1 double play.

Robert Suárez then gave up a 388-foot flyout to Shohei Ohtani and singles to Mookie Betts and Freddie Freeman before striking out Teoscar Hernández to earn his MLB-leading 34th save.

The weekend series is the rivals’ final head-to-head meeting in this entertaining division race. The Dodgers led by nine games on July 3, only to fall behind San Diego heading into last weekend. After the sweep, the Padres won three of four over San Francisco while the Dodgers split four with MLB-worst Colorado.

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