Sports
Otto Lopez, Marlins strive to topple Guardians
Jul 9, 2026; Miami, Florida, USA; Miami Marlins shortstop Otto Lopez (6) hits a two-run triple against the Seattle Mariners during the fourth inning at loanDepot Park. Mandatory Credit: Sam Navarro-Imagn Images Winners of 26 of their last 35 games, the Miami Marlins are one of the most surprising teams in baseball. But the real shock is how the Marlins are getting it done.
Exhibit A is shortstop Otto Lopez, a first-time All-Star this season who was acquired in 2024 after he was designated for assignment by the San Francisco Giants.
The Marlins, who will host the Cleveland Guardians on Saturday afternoon, have won 16 of their past 19 home games. And Lopez leads the majors with a .341 batting average.
“He hits the ball all over the place,” Marlins manager Clayton McCullough said. “If he gets two hits in a game, you’re not surprised.”
But Lopez is not the only key player the Marlins have picked up on the cheap.
Liam Hicks, who leads the team with 57 RBIs, was picked up in the Rule 5 Draft.
Javier Sanoja, who won a Gold Glove Award last year as a utility player, was signed by the Marlins in 2019 out of Venezuela for only $90,000.
Second baseman Xavier Edwards was acquired from Tampa Bay for two prospects in a steal of a deal. Edwards has an .811 OPS, and he averaged 29 steals over the previous two completed seasons.
Outfielder Kyle Stowers became a first-time All-Star last year after being acquired from Baltimore for Trevor Rogers.
On Saturday, the Marlins will start right-hander Eury Perez (5-6, 3.84 ERA), who signed with the team out of the Dominican Republic for $200,000.
Perez, who is 1-0 with a 7.20 ERA in his one career start against Cleveland, has been hot over his past five outings, going 3-0 with an 0.99 ERA.
Cleveland will turn to hard-luck right-hander Tanner Bibee (2-9, 4.06 ERA) to start Saturday’s game.
Bibee set a franchise record this year by going winless in his first 13 starts; he went 0-7 during that span. However, Bibee pitched better than that record as he had six quality starts. Since June 1, he is 2-2 with two no-decisions and four quality starts.
Bibee, victimized by poor run support and a leaky bullpen, is 1-0 with a 3.18 ERA in his only career start against the Marlins. He has never pitched in Miami.
The Guardians, who are bidding for a third straight American League Central title, are not flashy. They entered this weekend ranked last in the AL in runs, batting average, slugging percentage and OPS.
However, they rank eighth in the majors in ERA, and they ended Miami’s six-game winning streak with a 3-2 victory on Friday.
One major issue for the Guardians is the injury to third baseman Jose Ramirez (hand). Ramirez, who hasn’t played since June 13, is a six-time Silver Slugger Award winner.
The Guardians also are missing left fielder Angel Martinez (foot injury).
Those two batters have combined for 21 homers this season, and their absence is at the heart of Cleveland’s offensive woes.
The Guardians are just 9-13 without Ramirez this season, and outfielder Chase DeLauter is looking for the team to turn things around.
“Hopefully, we can take a couple of games in Miami and roll into the All-Star break,” he said. “Then we can come back fresh, ready to rock.”
–Field Level Media
Sports
Kazuma Okamoto's 3-run homer helps Blue Jays power past Padres
Jul 10, 2026; San Diego, California, USA; Toronto Blue Jays first baseman Vladimir Guerrero Jr. (27) hits an RBI single during the fifth inning against the San Diego Padres at Petco Park. Mandatory Credit: Denis Poroy-Imagn Images Kazuma Okamoto belted a historic three-run homer Friday night during a four-run fifth inning as the visiting Toronto Blue Jays stopped the San Diego Padres 5-2.
Okamoto’s 22nd homer of the year came off reliever Jhony Brito, who fired a sinker down and in that was golfed an estimated 377 feet to the left field seats. It scored Ernie Clement and Vladimir Guerrero Jr., and tied Shohei Ohtani’s Japanese major league rookie record.
Mason Fluharty (4-0) got the win after striking out Gavin Sheets to end the bottom of the fifth. Four other relievers finished up, with Louis Varland pitching the ninth to garner his 19th save in as many chances despite allowing a two-out RBI single to Jackson Merrill.
JP Sears (2-2) absorbed the loss, yielding six hits and three runs over 4 1/3 innings while walking one and fanning three. Toronto starter Shane Bieber fell an out shy of qualifying for the win, getting hooked after 4 2/3 innings and 97 pitches. He permitted six hits and two runs with three walks and four strikeouts.
Sears entered the fifth with a 2-1 lead but found trouble via Myles Straw’s bunt single and Clement’s one-out single that pushed Straw to third. Brito relieved but Guerrero legged out an infield hit, setting the stage for Okamoto’s blast.
The long ball put San Diego up 2-0 after an inning. Bieber walked Merrill with one out and then fired a 2-0 fastball to Xander Bogaerts, who slugged it an estimated 401 feet to left-center for his ninth homer of the year.
Sears kept Toronto off the board until the fourth. He walked Guerrero to start the inning and then allowed a one-out single to George Springer. Alejandro Kirk cashed in Guerrero with an RBI double to center.
Meanwhile, the Padres missed on a chance to add on to the lead in their half of the fourth. Miguel Andujar walked with one out and Rodolfo Duran singled with two outs but Bieber fanned Fernando Tatis Jr.
–Field Level Media
Sports
After scoring outburst, White Sox want repeat against Athletics
Jul 10, 2026; Chicago, Illinois, USA; Chicago White Sox third baseman Miguel Vargas (20) celebrates in the dugout after his home run during the eighth inning against the Athletics at Rate Field. Mandatory Credit: Matt Marton-Imagn Images An overdue outburst propelled the Chicago White Sox to a lopsided victory against the visiting Athletics on Friday night.
The White Sox will aim to keep slugging and earn a series victory on Saturday afternoon.
Chicago rolled 14-1 in the series opener after managing two combined runs over three straight home losses to Boston this week.
“It’s nice to get these fans some runs,” White Sox left fielder Sam Antonacci said. “They’ve been bearing with us the past few days.”
Tristan Peters highlighted Friday’s eruption, going 4-for-4 with four RBIs while becoming the first White Sox player to hit for the cycle since Jose Abreu in 2017.
“That was incredible,” Peters said. “To do it in front of these folks, it’s awesome. It’s amazing.”
The slumping Athletics lost their season-high seventh consecutive game and have been outscored 58-20 over that stretch. Tyler Soderstrom drove in the lone run Friday with a solo homer in the seventh inning.
The team placed outfielder Zack Gelof (right knee laceration) on the 10-day injured list Friday and may soon follow suit with All-Star first baseman Nick Kurtz (right thumb strain).
“I talked to the team (Friday) about adversity and no one feeling sorry for us,” Athletics manager Mark Kotsay said. “We have to come together here with a next-man-up mentality to go help us win games.”
Right-hander Erick Fedde (4-6, 4.34 ERA) is likely to be the bulk pitcher for Chicago with left-hander Bryan Hudson (3-2, 2.25) serving as the opener. Fedde, who is seeking his third consecutive win, worked as a bulk reliever in Cleveland on Sunday, spacing three runs, two earned, and eight hits in 5 1/3 innings. He walked one and struck out four.
Fedde took a no-decision against the visiting Athletics on April 18, allowing three runs on two hits in 4 2/3 innings with four walks and three strikeouts.
Although he has pitched ineffectively in his past two outings, Athletics left-hander Gage Jump hopes to find a jolt against a White Sox lineup that has struggled against rookie southpaws lately.
Jump has yielded 11 runs (10 earned) and 19 hits in 7 2/3 innings since recording a career-best nine strikeouts over five shutout innings at San Francisco on June 24. That includes the first four home runs he has surrendered in his career after keeping opponents in the ballpark in his first six starts.
Still, the White Sox showed susceptibility versus Boston’s young lefties. Red Sox starters Payton Tolle and Jake Bennett limited Chicago to six hits in 13 shutout innings with two walks and 10 strikeouts.
Kotsay challenged Jump and the rest of the rotation to improve after the rookie allowed six runs (five earned) and eight hits over three innings in Sunday’s 9-8 home loss to Miami.
“That’s something we’re in the middle of right now,” Kotsay said, “really getting the details to how we’re going to go about attacking and pitching going forward.”
Chicago first baseman Munetaka Murakami went 1-for-5 with four strikeouts and an RBI double Friday in his first game since sustaining a right hamstring strain on May 29.
–Field Level Media
Sports
Tim Tawa, D-Backs take advantage of Dodgers blunders in runaway win
Jul 10, 2026; Los Angeles, California, USA; Arizona Diamondbacks designated hitter Ketel Marte (4) runs the bases after hitting a home run during the first inning against the Los Angeles Dodgers at Dodger Stadium. Mandatory Credit: William Navarro-Imagn Images Tim Tawa homered and matched his career high of four RBIs to help the Arizona Diamondbacks roll to a 9-3 victory over the host Los Angeles Dodgers on Friday night.
Tawa had three hits and Gabriel Moreno had two hits and two RBIs as Arizona won its second straight game. Eduardo Rodriguez (8-3) pitched seven strong innings as the Diamondbacks improved to 3-5 against the Dodgers this season.
Shohei Ohtani and Andy Pages homered for Los Angeles, which lost for the fifth time in its past 17 games. Pages had three hits.
The Dodgers went with a bullpen game after Ohtani (left knee) was scratched from his pitching start earlier Friday. He also pulled out of Tuesday’s All-Star Game and will undergo treatments next week.
Brock Stewart, the third of seven pitchers, served up a tiebreaking two-run homer in the fourth to Tawa. That made a loser of Will Klein (3-4), who walked Nolan Arenado two batters earlier.
Rodriguez, a first-time All-Star, gave up two runs and seven hits over six innings. He struck out five and walked one.
Arizona started the game with singles by Ketel Marte and Geraldo Perdomo before Corbin Carroll hit into a fielder’s choice. Moreno followed with a single to right and Kyle Tucker’s throw to third got away, allowing Carroll to score and make it 2-0.
The Dodgers played Home Run Derby in the bottom of the first as Ohtani and Pages led off the inning with back-to-back homers to left-center. The leadoff blast was Ohtani’s 32nd of his career and 26th with the Dodgers. He trails teammate Mookie Betts (32) and former star Davey Lopes (28) on the franchise’s all-time list.
Arenado drew the one-one walk off Klein in the fourth and Tawa came up with two outs and hit a 429-foot blast to left-center off Stewart to give the Diamondbacks a 4-2 lead.
Arizona added two runs in the fifth without having a hit. Dodgers catcher Dalton Rushing contributed a throwing error prior to Moreno’s RBI groundout and pitcher Edgardo Henriquez committed a balk and wild pitch as Carroll went from second to third to home to make it 6-2.
In the sixth, Tommy Edman made a throwing error on a bunt to help set up Tawa with an RBI single. Perdomo’s groundout plated another.
Jorge Barrosa singled to start the eighth and moved to second on a wild pitch by Evan Phillips before scoring on Tawa’s run-scoring single.
Miguel Rojas hit a two-out RBI double in the ninth for the Dodgers, whose three errors led to three unearned runs.
–Field Level Media
Kazuma Okamoto's 3-run homer helps Blue Jays power past Padres
After scoring outburst, White Sox want repeat against Athletics
