[AZ Central] Marte comes up big in the 9th as the Arizona Diamondbacks turn back Texas – Ketel Marte blasted a tie-breaking solo home run in the top of the ninth inning, lifting the Diamondbacks to a 3-2 win over the Texas Rangers on Tuesday night, Aug. 12, at Globe Life Field. Marte’s shot was a laser beam that reached the second deck in left field, a shot that came off his bat at 111.7 mph. It was the sort of rocket from the right side of the plate the Diamondbacks have grown accustomed to seeing from the switch-hitting Marte throughout his career. This season, however, his numbers have been down against lefties. It was just his sixth homer off a lefty; he hit 18 homers off them last season.
[Dbacks Under Review] D-backs’ Infield Shakeup Could Define the Next Era – Even if they won’t admit it outright, the D-backs are in a soft rebuild they hope to finish by the end of the 2026 season. Most of their impact arms in 2025 are on the shelf with major injuries. While they wait for Corbin Burnes and Justin Martinez to finish their recovery from Tommy John surgery, they can sort out the rest of the roster and compete for a title again starting in 2027. Other than the pitching staff, the biggest changes will happen on the infield. Three of the four spots are expected to see major changes by the time their next contention window opens. That’s the area where their farm system is strongest and likely to carry the team through their next contention window.
[Dbacks.com] Trades, graduations shuffle D-backs’ Top 30 prospect rankings – Here are the players whose ranks changed the most from the preseason list. Jump: Carlos Virahonda, C (Preseason: NR | Midseason: 27) In his first stateside season at the age of 19, Virahonda jumped onto the Diamondbacks’ prospect radar with an impressive debut in the Arizona Complex League before moving up to Single-A Visalia. He has a good arm, and he’s hitting a lot more line drives this season. Although he wasn’t on anybody’s Top 30 list in the spring, he now is in the conversation for best catching prospect in the system. Fall: Yilber Díaz, RHP (Preseason: 5 | Midseason: NR) It’s been a year to forget for Diaz. Last season he impressed the Diamondbacks in his four games in the big leagues (and three in relief), and the club loved his poise on the mound. Aside from one start against the Royals in which he gave up seven earned runs in three innings, he allowed just five runs in 25 1/3 innings.
[SI] Injured Ace Gives Message to Diamondbacks’ Draft Class – Corbin Burnes might be recovering from Tommy John Surgery, but that isn’t stopping him from staying close to the organization in his downtime. Though unable to help the D-backs on the field, Burnes shared some wisdom with the the organization’s future at Salt River Fields this past week. Burnes said the advice ranged across a variety of (mostly baseball-related) topics as the young prospects take a significant next step in their careers. “Good advice, bad advice you receive. Just kind of the ins and outs of professional life, going through the minor leagues, that kind of stuff,” Burnes said. “There’s always young minds, always wanting to learn new things. So it’s good to be able to talk to those guys and hopefully start them in the right direction.”
[Arizona Sports] Diamondbacks sign former Cubs top prospect Matt Mervis to minor league deal – The Arizona Diamondbacks signed former Chicago Cubs top-10 prospect Matt Mervis to a minor league deal and assigned him to Triple-A Reno on Tuesday. Mervis, a left-handed-hitting first baseman, was considered the No. 88 prospect in MLB ahead of the 2023 season (Baseball Prospectus) and sixth-ranked prospect in Chicago’s organization (MLB Pipeline). He was an Arizona Fall League Rising Star in 2022. He’s played in 78 MLB games, including 42 this season with the Miami Marlins after a trade from Chicago for infielder Vidal Brujan. He was great in April with an .848 OPS and seven home runs, even hitting a home run off D-backs starter Brandon Pfaadt. A rough May (.356 OPS), however, ended his MLB tenure in Miami.
Important news first: yes, Ildemaro Vargas was hit by a pitch, but it was in the back of the leg and he was pulled probably more because it was his first rehab outing than because of injury. Pavin Smith was likewise pulled after four plate appearances.
The pitching struggled. Dylan Ray allowed five runs in three innings, and Jake Rice allowed three runs in two innings. But the offense had some fault in the defeat as well, as they left 11 on base and went 3-for-17 with runners in scoring position. Sergio Alcántara struck out four times.
But there were highlights as well. Tristin English had three hits, including his 12th home run. A.J. Vukovich got on base four times, and Cristian Pache homered, singled, and was hit by a pitch. Vargas was 0-for-3 in his first rehab outing, and Smith was 1-for-4 with a double.
Amarillo 2, Corpus Christi 1
The Hooks picked up six hits, four off of starter Mitch Bratt (including a solo home run) and two off of Landon Sims in the ninth, including a double that just missed being another home run. Sims recovered to get a TOOTBLAN aided save.
For the Pointy Boots, Manuel Pena and Jose Fernandez combined to strike out in five of seven plate appearances. But the other two times they went to the plate, they hit home runs of their own, and those were the only hits the home side would have. Bratt was solid, going five innings, but Casey Anderson was great, going 2.1 hitless innings and striking out three.
After the bats turned a 3-1 deficit into a 7-3 lead, the bullpen failed to finish the job, allowing three in the eighth and two in the ninth. To be fair, the defense (which committed three errors from which three unearned runs scored, including both of the runs in the ninth) played a large role as well in the disappointing defeat.
The offense had good performances up and down the lineup. Druw Jones was on base four times, with a single, a double, and two walks, as well as stealing two bases. Kenny Castillo was also on base four times, with two singles, a triple, and a walk. Angel Ortiz homered and doubled.
But things went awry in the first inning, with reliable defender Juan Corniel throwing the ball away, leading to the first run of the game. Modeifi Marte committed an error leading off the ninth, and while Carlos Rey was able to set down the next two, he couldn’t get the third out. Corniel and Marte then both struck out with the tying run in scoring position.
Visalia 3, Rancho Cucamonga 2
The Rawhide had to pull off a walk-off in the ninth inning despite allowing just one hit throughout the game. In fact, both runs scored off of pitchers who had hitless outings. Junior Ciprian allowed three walks in his three innings, but all of them came in a row to open the second inning, and a run scored on a ground out. Darlin Pinales allowed the tying run in the top of the ninth on a walk and two errors. But Carlos Virahonda singled in the bottom of the ninth and pinch runner Jose Alpuria came around to score on singles by Yassel Soler and Enyervert Perez.
Earlier, Alberto Barriga doubled and Yerald Nin singled in the fifth inning, and both came around to score (Nin stole his 29th base as well). Ryan Bruno was the best of the pitchers, striking out five of the six batters he faced, but no one pitched poorly.
DSL Arizona Black 8, DSL Cubs Red 3
Mayki De La Rosa led the way with a 3-for-4 game, including a double. Juan Brima and Belfi Rivera also doubled, and Feliz Genao tripled. Miguel Valdez allowed two runs in the seventh and final inning, but he struck out four without a walk in his two innings of work.
DSL Arizona Red 9, DSL Nationals 2
Raily Liriano and Jorge Lara doubled and Ramy Peralta tripled. Samuel Gonzalez had another excellent start, working five innings of scoreless ball, striking out seven, and walking no one.
[MLB] Not even Skenes can halt Brewers’ march for 2nd 11-game win streak in 38 days – Make it 11 consecutive victories and counting for the Brewers, who needed four innings to knock out Pirates ace Paul Skenes on the way to a 14-0 win on Tuesday night at American Family Field… The streaks bookend a 26-4 run that represents the best 30-game stretch of any season in franchise history, and lifted the Brewers from four games back of the Cubs in the National League Central standings to 7 1/2 games ahead after Chicago lost on Tuesday night… If they saved some runs for Wednesday’s series finale, the Brewers will try to make it 12 consecutive regular-season victories for the first time since their record-setting 13-0 start in 1987.
The Dodgers ended up losing in ten innings to the Angels, despite Ohtani also hitting a game-tying home-run in the ninth. There is now a tie between them and the Padres at the top of the NL West… The AL West is also tied, between the Astros and the Mariners. The latter have won eight in a row, despite Eugenio Suarez’s line for them now being .098/.136/.195 for a .331 OPS.
[ESPN] MLB Rank 2025 update: What did we get right — and very wrong? – To kick off the 2025 MLB season, we brought together more than 60 ESPN baseball experts to rank the 100 best players in the sport. More than four months later, some things have stayed more or less the same … and some things have changed quite a bit. In that spirit, we decided to rerank the top 50, based on what we’ve seen so far this season — and what we expect to see down the stretch. So … how did we do? We asked some of the voters who participated in both rankings to critique the new list and reevaluate the original one.
Dir: Ryan CooglerStar: Michael B. Jordan, Hailee Steinfeld, Miles Caton, Jack O’Connell
I enjoyed this more the first time I saw it, when it was called From Dusk Till Dawn. Ok, that is a little snarky. But this appears to be the 2025 version of Everything Everywhere All at Once – a reasonably decent film, whose elevation to acclaim and cultural significance leaves me bemused. Sinners certainly had its moments. I mean, it is a hundred and thirty-seven minutes long, so I hope it would. But unlike Dusk, this feels like two different films glued together. One is black life in rural America in the thirties, and the other is a vampire siege movie. To my surprise, it was the former which I thought worked better.