MLB ROUNDUP: WHITE SOX ROUT A’S AS TRISTAN PETERS HITS FOR CYCLE Tristan Peters finished 4-for-4 with four RBIs while hitting for the cycle and Sean Burke pitched seven sharp innings as the host Chicago White Sox routed the slumping Athletics 14-1 on Friday. Chicago stopped a three-game losing streak while sending the Athletics to their season-high seventh straight defeat. Andrew Benintendi, Sam Antonacci and Peters delivered RBI hits in a decisive four-run fifth inning for the White Sox, who remained in a first-place tie with Cleveland atop the American League Central. Peters bookended an eight-run seventh with a two-run home run and two-run triple to become the first White Sox player to hit for the cycle since Jose Abreu in 2017. He’s the third player to hit for the cycle in the majors this season. Burke (6-4) benefited from the support to notch his third victory in five starts. He limited the Athletics to one run and four hits in seven innings, with Tyler Soderstrom’s solo home run in the seventh the lone blemish. Tigers 10, Phillies 2 Kevin McGonigle and Spencer Torkelson hit two-run homers and streaking Detroit powered past visiting Philadelphia. Colt Keith added a solo shot in Detroit’s sixth straight victory and ninth in its last 10 games. Riley Greene reached base four times and scored twice, while James Outman supplied a two-run triple. Jack Flaherty (3-8) held the Phillies to two runs and two hits in six innings. Philadelphia starter Aaron Nola gave up two runs and three hits with eight strikeouts in five innings. Derek Hill led the Phillies offense with three hits, including a solo homer, and two RBIs. Rockies 4, Giants 3 Kyle Karros flipped a deficit into a lead with a two-run single, Cole Carrigg padded the advantage with a sacrifice fly and visiting Colorado rallied for three runs in the ninth inning to stun San Francisco. Giants closer Caleb Kilian (2-5) didn’t retire any of the four batters he faced, allowing a single to Mickey Moniak, a walk to pinch hitter Troy Johnson and a bunt single to Jake McCarthy, setting up Karros’ hit through a drawn-in infield. Antonio Senzatela (9-1), who pitched a scoreless eighth, was credited with the win. Giants starter Robbie Ray allowed only one run on four hits and six walks in five-plus innings. Rafael Devers totaled three RBIs, while Luis Arraez joined his teammate with three hits for the Giants, who fell to 2-3 on their week-long homestand. Orioles 5, Royals 3 Samuel Basallo hit a two-run tiebreaking home run in the bottom of the eighth inning to lift host Baltimore to a victory against Kansas City in the opener of a three-game series. Blaze Alexander homered in the fourth inning and was the only Oriole with two hits as they totaled nine. Baltimore has won back-to-back games following a three-game losing streak. Jac Caglianone and Isaac Collins homered for the Royals, who lost their third game in a row and for the seventh time in their last 10 games. Josh Rojas joined Caglianone and Collins with two hits apiece as Kansas City totaled nine. Reds 4, Cubs 0 Elly De La Cruz and JJ Bleday homered, Hunter Greene tossed seven strong innings and host Cincinnati opened the three-game series with a shutout of Chicago. De La Cruz hit a solo homer and tripled for the Reds, who out-hit the Cubs 13-4 and won for just the fourth time in their last 12 games. Bleday slugged a two-run homer and Spencer Steer had three hits. Greene (1-1) yielded three hits and struck out 12 batters in his second start back from elbow surgery in March. Seiya Suzuki had two hits for Chicago, which struck out 16 times and was blanked for the ninth time this season. De La Cruz ended Cincinnati’s 15-inning scoreless drought with a leadoff homer in the fifth inning against Shota Imanaga (5-8). The 400-foot liner was his 15th homer of the season. Guardians 3, Marlins 2 Parker Messick took a no-hit bid into the sixth inning and Chase DeLauter slugged a two-run homer as Cleveland cooled off host Miami. Messick (8-5) lasted six innings, allowing one hit and one run. The left-hander struck out just one batter, but he induced 10 ground balls. Sandy Alcantara (10-5) allowed five hits and three runs while fanning eight in seven innings. Miami had its six-game win streak snapped. Miami got a homer from Heriberto Hernandez to break up the no-hit bid while Leo Jimenez also went deep. Rays 7, Mariners 2 Nick Martinez posted his eighth win on the day he was named to his first All-Star team, and Tampa Bay opened the final series before the break with a victory over Seattle in St. Petersburg, Fla. Martinez (8-2) tossed 5 1/3 innings, yielding two runs on four hits. Junior Caminero went 2-for-4 with a homer — his 28th of the year and 13th in 17 games — a double, two RBIs, two runs and a walk. Victor Mesa Jr. (homer), Jonathan Aranda (double) and Chandler Simpson had three hits apiece. Cole Young hit a home run, and J.P. Crawford was 2-for-4 with a run as the Mariners lost their fourth straight. Starter Luis Castillo (3-8) allowed four runs on nine hits over five innings. Rangers 7, Astros 3 Wyatt Langford slugged a tiebreaking home run as Texas exploded for four runs in the bottom of the eighth inning en route to a win over Houston in Arlington, Texas. Langford answered the Astros’ rally from a three-run deficit with his ninth homer of the season. It marked the first homer left-handed reliever Bryan King (2-2) has allowed to a right-handed hitter this season. Three batters later, Jake Burger joined Langford in that exclusive category with his three-run shot. Trailing 3-0 entering the top of the sixth, Yordan Alvarez blasted his 30th home run of the season and 200th of his career leading off the sixth. Yainer Diaz clubbed a two-run homer that knotted the score at 3-3 in the seventh, setting up the Rangers’ rally. Red Sox 6, Mets 2 Wilyer Abreu had a two-run homer among his three hits, Anthony Seigler was 2-for-5 with a two-run homer and Boston capped an eventful day by beating host New York for its seventh straight win. The first pitch was pushed back from 7:15 to 7:51 p.m. ET after the Red Sox didn’t land at nearby LaGuardia Airport until after 4 p.m. ET. Sonny Gray (11-1) won his ninth straight decision after giving up one run on five hits and one walk while striking out three over six innings. Brett Baty homered and went 3-for-4 as he extended his career-long hitting streak to 10 games for the Mets, who lost for the second time in six games. Angels 4, Twins 3 Vaughn Grissom hit a solo home run and sacrifice fly and Grayson Rodriguez threw 5 1/3 solid innings to lead Los Angeles to a win over host Minnesota. Grissom hit his fifth home run of the season in the fourth inning, and the Angels built a 4-1 lead and held on after Rodriguez (3-2) left the game having allowed three earned runs on six hits. Josh Bell, Trevor Larnach and Brooks Lee each hit two doubles for Minnesota, which went 2-for-11 with runners in scoring position. Yankees 5, Nationals 3 Jazz Chisholm Jr. hit a go-ahead two-run homer in the ninth inning and New York rallied past Washington to win consecutive games for the first time since June 23-24. Jasson Dominguez singled with one out against Matt Krook (0-1) before Chisholm homered. Austin Wells provided some insurance when he followed with his own homer, and Ben Rice hit his 29th homer in the first inning. Ryan Weathers allowed a run on six hits over 5 1/3 innings, and David Bednar (3-3) threw the final two innings. James Wood finished a triple short of the cycle and scored twice. Keibert Ruiz also homered for the Nationals, who got a combined seven innings of two-run work from opener Carson Palmquist and bulk reliever Zach Littell. Blue Jays 5, Padres 3 Kazuma Okamoto belted a historic three-run homer during a four-run fifth inning as visiting Toronto stopped San Diego. Okamoto’s 22nd homer of the year gave the Blue Jays a 5-2 lead in the fifth, tying Shohei Ohtani’s major league rookie homer record for a Japanese-born player. Vladimir Guerrero Jr. and Alejandro Kirk added RBI hits for Toronto, which saw Louis Varland record his 19th save in as many attempts despite allowing a run in the ninth. Xander Bogaerts staked the Padres to a 2-0 lead with a first-inning two-run shot. Jackson Merrill added an RBI single, with JP Sears (2-2) absorbing the loss after yielding six hits and three runs over 4 1/3 innings. Diamondbacks 9, Dodgers 3 Tim Tawa homered and matched his career high of four RBIs to help Arizona roll to a victory over host Los Angeles. 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. Cardinals 2, Braves 1 Jimmy Crooks hit a go-ahead solo home run in the eighth inning to lift St. Louis to a victory over visiting Atlanta. After a rain delay of nearly three hours in the top of the fourth derailed the game, Crooks hit his second home run of the season off Atlanta’s Danny Young (0-1) to help the Cardinals claim the series opener. Chris Sale started for Atlanta, allowing two hits in three scoreless innings before the delay. Austin Riley’s fifth-inning RBI single accounted for the Braves’ only run, as the visitors lost their fourth game in six tries. ===== WHITE SOX HAVE THE NO. 1 PICK IN THE MLB DRAFT. SHORTSTOPS CHOLOWSKY, EMERSON COULD GET TOP SPOT PHILADELPHIA (AP) — The Chicago White Sox are done playing for first. In the standings? Of course not. Led by All-Star third baseman Miguel Vargas, the White Sox have emerged as one of the top surprises and are in AL Central contention after enduring three straight 100-loss seasons. In the MLB draft? The White Sox have the No. 1 pick in the draft for Saturday’s event in Philadelphia as part of All-Star Game weekend festivities. The No. 1 pick belongs to Chicago — after it lost 102 games last season and won the draft lottery — and perhaps a future star that can help the White Sox win their first World Series title since 2005 will get selected in the top spot. There are no clear-cut No. 1 picks in this year’s draft much like current Philadelphia Phillies slugger and 2026 All-Star Bryce Harper was in 2010. The White Sox will likely pick one from the following three players: UCLA shortstop Roch Cholowsky, Texas high school shortstop Grady Emerson or Georgia Tech catcher Vahn Lackey. MLB said Friday no amateur players are scheduled to attend the draft, which is the same as last year. Here’s a look at the most enticing prospects for the White Sox and the rest of the teams drafting early in the first round. — Cholowsky. A 6-foot-2 right-handed hitter, he was a Golden Spikes finalist at UCLA and had a 1.088 OPS with 21 homers and 60 RBIs in his junior season. — Lackey. The 21-year-old catcher didn’t receive any Division I offers until his senior year of high school and has since blossomed into one of the top catching prospects in the draft out of Georgia Tech. The 6-foot-2, 215-pounder showed some versatility by also playing third base. — Emerson. Just 18 years old, the 6-3, 185-pound shortstop bats left, throws right and is widely considered the best all-around player in the draft. The White Sox are in win-now mode after years of rebuilding and could lean toward a college player such as Cholowsky. Cholowsky is a proven prospect with plenty of seasoning at a major college program and could help the White Sox faster, even maybe this season — except for the pitchers they may draft. “Most of the guys we take, even if they played in college versus a high school pick, they haven’t thrown competitively in a while,” White Sox director of player development Paul Janish said. “You have the draft in July, the minor-league season is over in early September. There’s not a huge window. You take all those things in consideration, really the motive is health. We’re going to get you as ready as you can be for next spring training to have a good first full pro season.” Like father, like son Jim Thome helped change the perception of the Phillies from long-time losers to championship contenders when he left Cleveland and signed a six-year, $85 million contract ahead of the 2003 season. Thome hit 47 homers in his first season, his 400th career homer the next in Citizens Bank Park’s first season and now can enjoy another milestone in the city — his 18-year-old son, Landon, is a likely first-round pick. The Nazareth Academy (Illinois) infielder, who is committed to Florida State, is ranked among the top 50 prospects. “All the hard work, which at the end of the day, they do it all. As a dad, you sit back, you watch the journey,” the elder Thome told MLB Network. There are more familiar names that could be called during the draft. Rutgers outfielder Peyton Bonds is MLB’s career home run leader Barry Bonds’ nephew. Houston first baseman Carsten Sabathia III is the son of Hall of Fame pitcher CC Sabathia. Gulliver Prep (Florida) shortstop Jacob Lombard is considered one of the top five available prospects and is the son of Detroit Tigers bench coach and former major leaguer George Lombard. The draft order Here’s the rest of the top 10 following Chicago for the start of the draft Saturday. Tampa Bay picks second and Minnesota is third. San Francisco is fourth and Pittsburgh fifth. Kansas City, Baltimore, the Athletics, Atlanta and Colorado round out the top 10. Potential draft changes Baseball owners proposed banning high school players from signing with major league teams, raising the age for international amateurs and slashing the money spent on signing bonuses as part of the recent negotiations for a new collective bargaining agreement. The amateur draft for players residing in the U.S., Canada and Puerto Rico would be cut from 20 rounds to 12 beginning in 2027 under the proposal Major League Baseball made during a bargaining session with the players’ association. An identical 12-round draft would be started for international prospects, a proposal the union has rejected in the past. Starting in 2028, a prospect for the amateur draft would have to be at least 20 years old by the Sept. 1 of his signing year and two years removed from the graduating year of his high school class — a restriction that also would eliminate players who completed their first year of junior college. Cooperstown calls Since the draft began in 1965, more than 50 Hall of Famers have been selected by the team that eventually signed them. The Hall of Fame class of 2026 features two former draft picks: Jeff Kent was taken in the 20th round in 1989 by the Toronto Blue Jays; and Carlos Beltrán was a second-round pick by the Royals in 1995. The 1989 draft has now produced five future Hall of Famers, the most of any single draft in history, with Frank Thomas, Jeff Bagwell, Trevor Hoffman, Jim Thome and Kent having been selected. ===== PHILLIES’ KYLE SCHWARBER JOINS BRYCE HARPER IN HR DERBY The Phillies will be well represented in the Home Run Derby on Monday in Philadelphia. Kyle Schwarber announced Friday that he is joining Phillies teammate Bryce Harper in the exhibition at Citizens Bank Park. Tampa Bay Rays third baseman Junior Caminero, New York Yankees first baseman Ben Rice, Kansas City Royals outfielder Jac Caglianone, St. Louis Cardinals right fielder Jordan Walker and Boston Red Sox first baseman Willson Contreras also have been confirmed to participate. Schwarber, who leads the majors with 32 homers this season, reached the finals of the Home Run Derby in 2018. The then-Chicago Cubs slugger lost to Harper, who was then a member of the Nationals and the All-Star festivities were held in Washington. Schwarber’s last foray in the Home Run Derby didn’t go so well. He lost in the first round in 2022. ===== REDS REINSTATE 3B KE’BRYAN HAYES FROM INJURED LIST The Cincinnati Reds reinstated third baseman Ke’Bryan Hayes from the 10-day injured list on Friday. Reds infielder/outfielder Matt McLain was placed on the IL with a left calf strain, retroactive to Wednesday. Hayes, 29, has been out of the Cincinnati lineup since May 20 because of a bulging disc in his back. The two-time Gold Glove winner batted .142 with two homers and five RBIs in 44 games before the injury. Hayes is a career .247 hitter with 44 homers and 230 RBIs in 672 games with the Pittsburgh Pirates (2020-25) and Reds. McLain, 26, is batting .190 with eight home runs, 25 RBIs and 11 stolen bases in 83 games this season. ===== WHITE SOX REINSTATE 1B MUNETAKA MURAKAMI FROM IL The Chicago White Sox reinstated rookie slugger Munetaka Murakami from the 10-day injured list on Friday. The 26-year-old first baseman has missed the last 35 games with a strained right hamstring. At the time of his injury on May 29, Murakami was tied for the American League lead in homers (20) and RBIs (41). Murakami is batting .240 with a .938 OPS and 43 runs scored in 57 games this season with the White Sox. Chicago optioned first baseman Jacob Gonzalez, 24, to Triple-A Charlotte in a corresponding transaction. The 2023 first-round pick made his MLB debut on May 31 and has batted .244 with two homers and 17 RBIs in 30 games. ===== REPORTS: BREWERS SIGNING FREE AGENT RHP BRYSE WILSON The Milwaukee Brewers are bringing back veteran right-hander Bryse Wilson, multiple outlets reported on Friday. Terms of the signing were not immediately available. Wilson, 28, elected free agency after being designated for assignment by the Chicago Cubs last Saturday. He made two relief appearances for the Cubs and surrendered seven runs on 12 hits in 7 2/3 innings. Wilson began this season with the Philadelphia Phillies but was released after one scoreless, two-inning outing. He previously pitched for the Brewers from 2023-24, going 11-4 with a 3.42 ERA in 87 games (nine starts). Wilson is 20-23 with four saves and a 4.86 ERA in 166 games (57 starts) with six teams since debuting in 2018. About The Author troyderengowski61@gmail.com See author's posts Post navigation MAJOR LEAGUE BASEBALL NEWS