Sports
Reds set to welcome back closer Emilio Pagan vs. Brewers
Apr 6, 2026; Miami, Florida, USA; Cincinnati Reds pitcher Emilio Pagan (15) celebrates after the game against the Miami Marlins at loanDepot Park. Mandatory Credit: Sam Navarro-Imagn Images The Cincinnati Reds intend to activate closer Emilio Pagan from the injured list on Tuesday, and he can expect a warm welcome back from his beleaguered bullpen mates.
Pagan’s return should provide a much-needed boost for the Reds, who will continue their four-game series against the host Milwaukee Brewers on Tuesday night.
Pagan has been sidelined since May 5, when he strained his left hamstring in a game against the Chicago Cubs.
Milwaukee rallied to win the series opener 5-3 over Cincinnati on Monday on Joey Ortiz’s tie-breaking, two-run homer in the eighth inning.
Cincinnati led 3-0 after five innings before the Brewers scored two runs in the sixth and tied the game on Brice Turang’s home run in the seventh.
Milwaukee reliever Aaron Ashby pitched a scoreless eighth inning and improved to 11-1 with a 3.24 ERA. He leads the majors in victories, with all of them coming in relief.
“That was a Brewers’ win tonight,” Milwaukee manager Pat Murphy said. “We’ve seen that before. It was gritty. We had no luck early. We were having good at-bats; we just couldn’t come up with anything. Everybody played, and it was special that (Oritz) was the hero.”
Cincinnati starter Nick Lodolo limited the Brewers to one hit in five innings.
The Reds are 19-49 in their past 68 games against the Brewers, who snapped a two-game skid on Monday. Milwaukee is 38-18 since April 26.
Tuesday’s pitching matchup will feature a pair of right-handers as Cincinnati’s Rhett Lowder (3-5, 4.81 ERA) faces Milwaukee’s Brandon Sproat (2-4, 5.43).
Sproat tossed six scoreless innings with no walks and a career-high 10 strikeouts in a 2-0 victory road victory over the Reds last Tuesday.
“He was dominant. He was great,” Murphy said of the rookie. “Best outing of the year. Best stuff of the year.”
Sproat has allowed one or no earned runs in two of his past three starts. He is 1-1 with a 2.25 ERA in two career starts vs. Cincinnati.
The Reds will counter with Lowder, who allowed three runs over 5 2/3 innings in a 6-5 home loss to the Brewers last Wednesday. He has a 3.66 ERA over his last four outings, covering 19 2/3 innings.
“I’m on the right path process-wise over the last couple of games,” Lowder said. “I’m trending the right way. There are some things I want to get better at. I’m learning a ton. There’s always stuff I feel getting better.”
Lowder is 0-2 with a 3.72 ERA in two career starts vs. Milwaukee.
The Reds’ bullpen has become a growing concern without Pagan, who is 2-1 with a 6.43 ERA and six saves in 15 games this season. Manager Terry Francona said Pagan will immediately reclaim his role as the team’s closer.
“I think it makes sense to do that,” Francona said. “If you’re not pitching him in the ninth, why in the world would you want to pitch him in the seventh or eighth? He can handle it.”
The Reds are monitoring the status of outfielder Dane Myers, who exited Monday’s game in the fourth inning after making a running catch on Andrew Vaughn’s fly ball and crashing into the wall in center field with the left side of his body. Francona said X-rays taken at the ballpark were negative; Myers was taken to a hospital for evaluation and was in significant pain.
–Field Level Media
Sports
Marlins rout Rockies with offensive explosion
Jun 30, 2026; Denver, Colorado, USA; Miami Marlins left fielder Griffin Conine (18) reacts from second on an RBI double in the first inning against the Colorado Rockies at Coors Field. Mandatory Credit: Isaiah J. Downing-Imagn Images Javier Sanoja, Joe Mack and Owen Caissie each hit home runs in the visiting Miami Marlins’ 14-3 blowout win over the Colorado Rockies on Tuesday night in Denver.
Sanoja unloaded on the first pitch he saw from Tanner Gordon with two outs in the third, launching it over the fence for a three-run homer to extend the Marlins’ lead to 5-1.
Mack’s two-run blast in the seventh and Caissie’s three-run shot in the eighth were late highlights from a huge offensive game for Miami, which has won six of its last seven.
Griffin Conine, Kyle Stowers and Xavier Edwards combined for 11 hits and five RBIs in the No. 2-4 spots in the Marlins order.
Eury Perez (4-6) earned the win in his second start since returning from the injured list. Perez struck out eight in 5 1/3 innings, allowing just one run on two hits and four walks.
Gordon (0-2) was tagged with the loss, giving up five runs in five innings. He was making his first start since May 31, spending almost the entire month of June on the IL with a hip ailment.
Mickey Moniak was 1-for-4 with a home run for the Rockies, who were out-hit 21-5.
A pair of extra-base hits got Miami going in the opening frame. Stowers hit a one-out triple and came home to score on Conine’s RBI double one batter later.
Moniak smacked a 424-foot homer to right-center with one down in the bottom of the inning to tie the game.
Leo Jimenez’s RBI single in the second restored Miami’s advantage, scoring Sanoja from second.
Conine, Stowers and Edwards each tacked on RBI singles off reliever Seth Halvorsen in the sixth.
An inning later, the Rockies ended the streak of nine unanswered Miami runs when Eduoard Julien scored on an RBI groundout by Jake McCarthy.
Colorado’s TJ Rumfield extended his hitting streak to 13 games with a double in the eighth.
–Field Level Media
Sports
First-half goals send Mexico to comfortable 2-0 victory over Ecuador
June 30, 2026; Mexico City, Mexico; Mexico’s Raul Jimenez celebrates scoring their second goal with teammates. Mandatory Credit: Eloisa Sanchez-Reuters via Imagn Images Julian Quinones delivered a goal and an assist in the first half for Mexico, who maintained complete control in front of their vocal home fans to earn a 2-0 World Cup victory over Ecuador in a round of 32 match on Tuesday at Mexico City.
Raul Jimenez added a goal as Mexico won a knockout-round match for the first time since 1986 — also on home soil.
Goalkeeper Raul Rangel made one save in Mexico’s fourth consecutive clean sheet.
Mexico advance to a round of 16 matchup against either England or the Democratic Republic of the Congo on Sunday, also in Mexico City.
Ecuador, who rallied to defeat Germany in group play last week and earn a spot in the round of 32, were unable to counter Mexico’s early momentum. Hernan Galindez made one save as Ecuador fell to 0-2-0 all time in knockout-round matches.
Adding to the disappointment was a red card for Ecuador’s Piero Hincapie in the fifth minute of second-half stoppage time for covering his mouth in a confrontation with Mexico’s Santiago Gimenez.
Just as he did twice in group play, Quinones found the back of the net to give Mexico a 1-0 lead in the 22nd minute. Roberto Alvarado sent a long pass forward from beyond midfield, and Quinones proceeded unmarked before scoring into the upper left corner from just inside the box.
Jimenez started a scoring sequence less than 10 minutes later when he forced a turnover on Ecuador’s side of the field, sent a pass to Quinones, then received the ball back to score from the top of the box in the 31st minute.
Even as Mexico controlled the run of play from the outset, Ecuador had the best early chance when John Yeboah hit the outside of the left post with a shot in the 18th minute. Mexico took over from there and were never threatened again.
Mexico won with 17-year-old midfielder Gilberto Mora in the starting lineup. Mora became the second youngest starter in a knockout-round match after Brazil’s Pele in 1958.
The match was delayed one hour at the start because of lightning.
After they were one of three teams with a perfect 3-0-0 record in group play, Mexico became the second team to win for a fourth time in the tournament, joining France. Argentina will have a chance to join them when they oppose Cape Verde on Friday in Miami Gardens, Fla.
–Field Level Media
Sports
Dodgers demolish A's as Dave Roberts reaches 1,000 career wins
Jun 30, 2026; West Sacramento, California, USA; Los Angeles Dodgers second baseman Miguel Rojas (72) celebrates with Los Angeles Dodgers designated hitter Shohei Ohtani (17) after hitting a solo home run during the sixth inning against the Athletics at Sutter Health Park. Mandatory Credit: Scott Marshall-Imagn Images Tommy Edman had four hits, including a homer, and had four RBIs and manager Dave Roberts recorded his 1,000th career regular-season victory as the Los Angeles Dodgers routed the Athletics 9-3 on Tuesday at West Sacramento, Calif.
Miguel Rojas also went deep and drove in two runs and Mookie Betts had three hits as the Dodgers won for the seventh time in the past eight games. Los Angeles had 14 hits for a total of 31 over two nights while dominating the A’s both times.
Roberts, who is in his 11th season, became the fourth manager in Dodgers history to reach the 1,000-victory mark. Walter Alston (1954-76) won a franchise-best 2,040 games while managing both in Brooklyn and Los Angeles. The list also includes Tommy Lasorda (1,599 from 1976-96) and Wilbert Robinson (1,375 from 1914-31).
Roberts (1,000-606) has a career winning percentage of .623, counting one game as interim manager for the San Diego Padres in 2015.
Justin Wrobleski (10-2) struck out a career-high 11 in seven innings for Los Angeles. He allowed three runs and seven hits and didn’t walk anyone while winning his fourth consecutive decision.
Colby Thomas had two hits, including a two-run homer, for the Athletics, who have dropped four straight games and eight of their past 10.
Jeffrey Springs (3-8) was roughed up for six runs and eight hits in 5 1/3 innings while losing his eighth straight decision and seeing his winless stretch reach 14 starts. He walked four, struck out two and served up two homers to raise his season output to 24 blasts, tied for the most allowed in the majors.
Freddie Freeman doubled to lead off the Los Angeles third inning and Kyle Tucker walked with two outs. Edman then unloaded on a first-pitch slider for a three-run shot to center off Springs, giving the Dodgers a 5-1 lead.
Rojas led off the sixth by sending a 1-1 slider over the wall in left-center to make it a five-run margin.
Los Angeles tacked on three more runs in the seventh. Edman singled in the first run, Rojas hit a sacrifice fly to plate the second, and Dalton Rushing singled in the last to make it 9-1.
Joey Meneses singled with one out in the bottom of the seventh for the A’s, and Thomas followed with a two-run blast to left-center.
The Dodgers scored twice in the first, on Betts’ RBI single and Teoscar Hernandez’s sacrifice fly.
The Athletics struck in the bottom of the first when Jonah Heim drilled a long single over the head of Tucker and it one-hopped into the right field wall. Shea Langeliers scored from first on the two-out hit.
–Field Level Media
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Marlins rout Rockies with offensive explosion
