Arizona tight end Trey McBride made some waves with criticism of the Cardinals’ fan base earlier this offseason. On Saturday, he attempted to walk back some of his earlier remarks following training camp practice.

In a June appearance on Will Compton and Taylor Lewan’s podcast “Bussin’ with the Boys,” McBride noted that a significant portion of Arizona’s population is transplants, and he criticized the Cardinals’ fan base for being too focused on other teams.

“Living in Arizona, no one’s from Arizona,” McBride had said. “Everyone has kinda moved in from another state, so they’re all fans of their own teams, so now you have the Arizona that sits there and there’s no Arizona fans in Arizona.

“So, it’s a tough deal. Hopefully, we start winning some games and we can bring some of those fans back.”

Saturday, possibly because of some backlash, McBride was singing a different tune.

“Yeah, I probably shouldn’t have said that,” McBride said. “It came out wrong, and obviously the fanbase is great. We have a tremendous fanbase. Arizona’s been here, loyal fans to all the sports teams here, and we’re very lucky to have a lot of these guys, and we’re going to have a great season.

“I love it here in Arizona, and I hope they love me too, but it’s a special place. The fans are great, and I’m excited for this year to give them something to be proud of.”

In 2025, McBride signed what was the richest deal for a tight end in NFL history, re-signing with the Cardinals for four years and $76 million.

He backed that figure up last fall, posting career highs with 126 receptions for 1,239 yards and 11 touchdowns, leading the Cardinals in each category while earning his second straight Pro Bowl berth and being named first-team All-Pro.

A second-round draft pick in 2022, the 26-year-old has exceeded 1,000 yards receiving in each of the last two seasons.

–Field Level Media

Ty France drove in three runs to help the visiting San Diego Padres hand the Miami Marlins their franchise-record tying 11th straight loss, 7-2, in the middle game of their three-game series on Saturday.

The Marlins have dropped 11 in a row three other times in team history, most recently in June of 2011.

Jackson Merrill had two doubles, a single and scored two runs, and Jake Cronenworth had a single, two walks, an RBI and two runs scored for the Padres, who improved to 4-5 coming out of the All-Star break.

Randy Vasquez was used as an opener for San Diego and went 2 2/3 innings, allowing one run and one hit with no strikeouts and two walks.

JP Sears (3-3), who was originally scheduled to start, followed with 3 1/3 scoreless innings to earn the win.

Esteury Ruiz had two hits and scored twice for Miami.

Marlins right-hander Eury Perez (5-8) went seven innings, allowing three runs and seven hits. He struck out two and walked one on a season-high 104 pitches.

Perez walked Cronenworth with two outs in the third. Manny Machado followed with a check-swing double just inside the right-field line, putting runners on second and third. France then lined a two-run single to left, scoring both runners for a 2-0 lead.

Ruiz was hit by a pitch to start the bottom half of the third and he took third on a single by Jakob Marsee. Otto Lopez followed with a sacrifice fly to right to cut it to 2-1.

Merrill went the other way for a double to start the seventh, moved to third on a flyout and scored on a sacrifice fly by Gavin Sheets to extend the lead to 3-1.

Cronenworth walked again to start the eighth and immediately stole second off left-hander Dax Fulton. France stepped to the plate with one out and grounded an RBI single up the middle to make it 4-1.

The Padres loaded the bases later in the inning off Fulton and pinch-hitter Jase Bowen lined the first pitch he saw into right field for a two-run single, extending the lead to 6-1.

Kyle Stowers delivered an RBI single in the eighth to cut it to 6-2, but Lopez was thrown out going from first to third for the second out.

San Diego got the run back in the ninth on an RBI single by Cronenworth to make it 7-2.

–Field Level Media

Two-way star Shohei Ohtani of the Los Angeles Dodgers skipped his scheduled bullpen session on Saturday as he continues to be bothered by pain in his left knee.

Ohtani experienced soreness after his previous session on Wednesday and the Dodgers decided to be cautious and held him out three days later.

“We are not going to move forward until he feels 100% confident and we feel 100% confident that we should do it,” Los Angeles manager Dave Roberts told reporters before a game against the New York Mets. “He just doesn’t feel 100%. I think the last ‘pen that he had, there was a little bit of regression. We want to make sure that doesn’t happen again.”

Ohtani, 32, withdrew from the recent All-Star Game due to ongoing discomfort and received treatments during the break.

Ohtani has stated that the knee isn’t bothered by hitting and Roberts reiterated that on Saturday.

“From his words, the hitting, the running, as he has done the last couple of nights, doesn’t affect him,” Roberts said. “So, I can only go by what him and the training staff are telling me. Unless I hear otherwise, that hitting compromises his health, then I’m going to keep putting him out there.”

Ohtani last pitched for the Dodgers on July 3, giving up three runs in six innings in a no-decision against the San Diego Padres.

Ohtani is batting .286 with 22 homers and 61 RBIs in 95 games. As a pitcher, he is 8-2 with a 1.79 ERA in 14 starts.

Ohtani is a four-time MVP, winning the award twice in the American League with the Los Angeles Angels and twice in the National League with the Dodgers.

–Field Level Media