Chicago Cubs manager Craig Counsell insisted it was just a matter of time before his batters got rolling again.

“I’ll say it again: This is a good offense,” Counsell said after the Cubs lost 5-0 to the St. Louis Cardinals on Friday. “We’re going to score runs.”

Chicago did just that on Saturday night in a 9-1 rout of St. Louis. The Cubs will try to build off that breakthrough on Sunday night when they finish their three-game weekend road series against the Cardinals.

The Cubs scored three runs or fewer on six occasions during a nine-game span before Saturday’s uprising.

Michael Busch has punished Cardinals pitching all season, going 15-for-34 with six homers, 12 runs and 11 RBIs. Many Cubs joined him on Saturday, including Matt Shaw (2-for-3, homer, two runs, two RBIs), Carson Kelly (3-for-4, RBI), Dansby Swanson (3-for-4, stolen base, two runs) and Kyle Tucker (1-for-4, walk, two runs, RBI).

“A multiple-run first inning, which I felt was just good, we haven’t been doing that a lot lately,” Counsell said of the two-run inning. “We played really good offense, hit a bunch of balls hard tonight, and put a big run number up.”

The Cubs on Sunday will start left-hander Shota Imanaga (8-4, 3.12 ERA), who is trying to sustain a late-season turnaround.

Imanaga struggled during his last two starts in July while allowing 10 runs on 17 hits — including five homers — in just eight innings. He got back on track on Tuesday while holding the Cincinnati Reds to one run on three hits in 6 1/3 innings while striking out seven and walking none. The Cubs lost 5-1.

Imanaga earned a 3-0 victory over the Cardinals on June 26, blanking them for five innings on one hit and one walk while striking out three. He is is 2-0 with a 2.41 ERA in three career starts against St. Louis.

The Cardinals will counter on Sunday with right-hander Sonny Gray (10-5, 4.21 ERA), who also is trying to sustain a turnaround.

Gray delivered his best performance since June in his last start. He held the Dodgers to one run on one hit — a Freddie Freeman homer — in seven innings on Monday in Los Angeles. He struck out eight and walked one as St. Louis won 3-2.

Gray re-established his sweeper against the Dodgers.

“I knew it was sharp when Shohei (Ohtani) swung at it as the first batter of the game, but I also set it up pretty well because I got the ball to his hands so that his hips were moving earlier,” Gray told MLB.com. “But when I threw that first one to (Ohtani) and he swung at it, I knew that was a good thing. Then, when Freddie did it as well, it was executed.

“Then I felt more comfortable in those moments because I was executing, and I had done the work to force them to swing.”

Cardinals utility player Brendan Donovan is questionable for Sunday’s game. He was a late scratch from the lineup Saturday night due to left groin tightness.

–Field Level Media

As Baseball Hall of Fame member Ichiro Suzuki wrapped up his pregame speech Saturday upon the retirement of his No. 51 jersey, he turned to the Seattle Mariners’ dugout and had a few words for the players.

“This year’s team has a great opportunity,” he said. “You guys are strong and talented. Please do not take your talent for granted. You have a great team and a great opportunity in front of you. I understand there is pressure to win, but the thing about winning is it is always tough and never comes without pressure. Accept the pressure and figure out how you can perform at your best under pressure. … I am confident you can seize the moment.”

The Mariners’ stars seemingly took those words to heart. Julio Rodriguez hit two home runs and Cal Raleigh added his major league-leading 44th of the season in a 7-4 victory against the visiting Tampa Bay Rays.

The Mariners will look to sweep the three-game series Sunday afternoon when they send Bryan Woo (9-6, 3.02 ERA) to the mound against Tampa Bay’s Adrian Houser (6-3, 2.54 ERA) in a matchup of right-handers.

The Mariners have won six consecutive games and are 8-1 on their 10-game homestand to pull within a half-game of division-leading Houston in the American League West and tie Boston atop the AL’s wild-card standings.

“It was perfect. Definitely before the game in my head I was like, ‘We got to get this (win) for Ichi,'” Rodríguez said. “It was a very special night. We definitely got to go out with a bang and to be able to go like that, the energy in the beginning of the game was unmatched. Cal’s home run, too. It was definitely an awesome night.”

Raleigh’s homer, a three-run shot into the Mariners’ bullpen in left-center field in the third inning, also gave him an MLB-best 96 RBIs.

Josh Naylor returned to the Mariners’ lineup after missing one game with shoulder discomfort and had two doubles and stole his 11th base in as many attempts in 14 games since being acquired from Arizona.

“It just shows the quality of our team, that we can beat you in many different ways and we have the means to just get it done,” Rodriguez said. “At the end of the day, that’s all that matters.”

Rodriguez’s two homers gave him a dozen over his past 25 games as he continues his career-long trend of warming up with summer heat.

“When he finds the barrel, it’s a rocket somewhere,” Mariners manager Dan Wilson said.

Brandon Lowe and Junior Caminero went deep for the Rays, who fell 5 1/2 games back in the race for the AL’s third and final wild-card berth.

Rays pitcher Drew Rasmussen, who started the series opener Friday, took a keen interest in Ichiro’s ceremony as he was born in nearby Puyallup, Wash.

“His first year I would have been 5, 6 years old, and some of my oldest baseball memories do circle around the Mariners in that time,” Rasmussen said. “Really cool to have the opportunity to watch him, a childhood hero of mine. It’s just one of those things that’s a really cool experience to get to be here and get to witness him be remembered as a Mariner great forever.”

Houser, acquired from the Chicago White Sox before the trade deadline, was roughed up in his first start with the Rays, giving up five runs on 11 hits in 5 2/3 innings in a 5-1 loss Monday at the Los Angeles Angels.

He’s 1-1 with a 3.38 ERA in two career starts against the Mariners. The victory came May 20 in Chicago when he allowed just two hits over six innings in a 1-0 decision.

Woo beat the visiting White Sox 8-3 Tuesday as he allowed one run on two hits over seven innings and matched his career-high with nine strikeouts. He’s 0-0 with a 3.00 ERA in one previous start against the Rays.

–Field Level Media

Ramon Laureano’s goal in the bottom of the 10th inning Saturday night was to hit a game-winning, three-run homer.

But the San Diego Padres were more than happy to settle for an RBI single that walked off the visiting Boston Red Sox 5-4, giving the Padres a chance to take the series in Sunday afternoon’s rubber game.

And Laureano figures to be front and center in whatever San Diego is doing, given how his first eight games with the team have gone since he was acquired July 31 at the trading deadline from Baltimore.

Laureano is batting .294 with a homer and eight RBIs, showing good opposite-field power and offering much-needed length to a lineup that’s struggled badly at its bottom this year. He also drew a bases-loaded walk in the fifth inning Saturday that gave the Padres a 4-3 lead.

“Good player; clearly, he’s helping us,” San Diego manager Mike Shildt said of Laureano. “He takes tough at-bats, and he really helps us in the outfield as well. He’s a winning guy.”

Laureano’s 16 homers and 54 RBIs constitute his best season since 2019, his second MLB year, when he hit 24 homers and drove in 67 runs for Oakland. He’s two homers away from 100 for his career.

While Laureano has provided plenty of offense since his arrival, Dylan Cease (4-10, 4.60 ERA) hopes for a second straight win on the mound. The hard-throwing right-hander tossed five shutout innings last Sunday in a 7-3 win over St. Louis, allowing just one hit and one walk while striking out nine.

Cease has struggled in five career starts against Boston, though, going 0-1 with a 6.85 ERA over 22 1/3 innings.

The Red Sox will counter with right-hander Brayan Bello (8-5, 3.03), who’s coming off an 8-5 victory Monday against Kansas City. Bello yielded six hits and an unearned run in six innings, walking one and striking out five. This will be his first career outing against the Padres.

Boston had plenty of chances to earn a series win Saturday night and put itself in position to sweep but couldn’t capitalize enough. It stranded 11 runners, going 3-for-14 with runners in scoring position, and wasted an eighth-inning out when pinch runner David Hamilton came off the bag after stealing second and was tagged out.

Hamilton also failed to move over the automatic runner, Trevor Story, to start the 10th inning when he tried to bunt him to third and struck out.

“Frustrating,” summed up Hamilton. “I didn’t think those pitches were strikes, but I’ve got to do a better job.”

It was a rare failure of late for the Red Sox, who lost for just the second time in 10 games. Despite Saturday’s defeat, they’re still tied with Seattle for the American League’s first wild-card spot and remain only three games behind first-place Toronto in the AL East.

Boston pitchers will try to pepper the strike zone with more consistency than they have at times in this series. San Diego hitters have drawn 15 walks, including eight on Saturday night. Two of those came with the bases loaded in the fifth inning.

–Field Level Media

The Los Angeles Dodgers had not enjoyed much success against the other division leaders this season, losing 11 of the previous 12 matchups heading into this weekend’s three-game series against the visiting Toronto Blue Jays.

But the Dodgers have found an answer against the American League East leaders, dominating the first two games of the series to put themselves on the verge of a sweep on Sunday afternoon.

Los Angeles won the opener 5-1 on Friday, and the National League West leaders played even better on Saturday, running away with a 9-1 victory.

“We’ve put together two complete ballgames,” Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said. “Really, really pleased.”

Clayton Kershaw held the Blue Jays to one run over six innings on Friday, and Blake Snell followed with five shutout innings on Saturday.

On Sunday, it will be Tyler Glasnow’s turn after the Dodgers announced on Saturday that they were moving the right-hander up a day to give Yoshinobu Yamamoto an extra day to prepare for Monday’s series opener at the Los Angeles Angels.

“This is how you can go on a run, where (Sunday) we got Glass, who’s throwing the baseball well, and then we got Yama going on Monday,” Roberts said. “This is where you can make hay.”

Glasnow (1-1, 3.06 ERA) has gone nine consecutive starts without a win after beating the Atlanta Braves in his season opener on March 31. He pitched well enough to win his most recent start last Monday, however, allowing just one run and three hits over seven innings against the St. Louis Cardinals.

He departed with the score 1-1, and the Dodgers eventually lost 3-2.

“This is how we hoped it would play out as far as, every night, you see the probables and you have a chance to really prevent runs,” Roberts said. “Then you look at the lineup, and we feel like we have a lot of opportunities to score, and so then you’ve got to go play the game.”

Glasnow is 1-4 in 10 career starts against the Blue Jays, with a 6.15 ERA.

Shohei Ohtani homered on Saturday, becoming the first Dodgers player with back-to-back 40-homer seasons since Shawn Green in 2001 and 2002.

Ohtani will face a tough left-hander on Sunday in Eric Lauer (7-2, 2.59 ERA), who is 3-0 in his past four starts with a 2.16 ERA. He most recently held the Colorado Rockies to one run and seven hits over six innings in a 15-1 victory on Monday.

Lauer delivered his best outing of the season on July 24, holding the AL Central-leading Detroit Tigers to one run and five hits over eight innings in an 11-4 win.

“You really try to just lock in and make sure that you’re keeping the pace of the game more than anything,” Lauer said. “You’re not going out there worrying about if the game’s close or I can’t let guys score. It’s more like, don’t give up free bases, try to limit damage.”

Lauer has done well against the Dodgers in his career, owning a 7-2 record in 12 career starts, with a 2.63 ERA.

The Blue Jays will need to perform better with runners in scoring position than they have in the series, going 2-for-14 in that scenario.

–Field Level Media

First-year teammates Rafael Devers and Justin Verlander will get an opportunity to pool their improved form of late when the San Francisco Giants go for a series win over the visiting Washington Nationals on Sunday afternoon.

Devers has homered in each of the last two games, but the Giants could do no more than split the pair against the last-place Nationals, falling 4-2 on Saturday afternoon after taking the series opener 5-0.

Devers’ blasts, his 21st and 22nd of the season, gave him home runs on consecutive days for the third time this season, the previous two having come as a member of the Boston Red Sox. He’s had three-game-homer stretches (or more) seven times in his career, all with the Red Sox, including a six-gamer last May.

The left-handed slugger also singled and walked twice in Saturday’s loss. Coupled with his homer and a walk on Friday, he’s reached base on six of eight plate appearances in the series.

Devers served as the DH on Saturday after playing first base in the series opener. Giants manager Bob Melvin noted afterward he’s not concerned about whether Devers is in the field as long as he’s hitting as he has since Aug. 1, a stretch in which he’s gone 9-for-28 (.321).

“When he’s comfortable at the plate, you see what he does right now,” Melvin told reporters after Saturday’s game. “He (was) DH’ing (on Saturday); he’s gone back and forth. He is more comfortable at first base. I just think it’s him being Devers at this point.”

Devers will get an opportunity to do something Sunday that he’s rarely done as a Giant — help Verlander get a win.

The two have played on the same day nine times since Devers joined the Giants in June. The club has gone 1-8 in those games, with Devers batting 7-for-33 (.212) with 12 strikeouts.

Devers had two homers in those games — both coming in Verlander’s only win of the season, a 9-3 triumph at Atlanta on July 23.

Verlander (1-8, 4.29 ERA) has pitched well in two starts since then, limiting the Pittsburgh Pirates to one earned run over 10 innings in back-to-back meetings – but has no wins to show for the efforts. Devers went 0-for-8 with three strikeouts.

A Virginia native who stayed in-state for his college career at Old Dominion, Verlander has won all five of his career starts against the Nationals, allowing just seven runs in 30 1/3 innings (2.08 ERA).

He is scheduled to be matched Sunday against left-hander MacKenzie Gore (4-12, 4.29), who was 6 years old when the 263-game winner made his big league debut in July 2005.

Gore has gone 3-2 with a 4.97 ERA in five career starts against the Giants. He was a hard-luck loser when he opposed Landen Roupp at home on May 23 after limiting the visitors to one run and two hits in six innings of a 4-0 Giants win.

In a lefty-on-lefty matchup, Gore has dominated his lifetime head-to-heads with Devers, retiring him all six times, including two strikeouts.

A 12-game loser despite allowing two or fewer earned runs in 15 of his 23 starts this season, Gore said he looks forward to bouncing back from one of the worst outings of his career, when he was bombed for eight runs in three innings at home by the Athletics on Tuesday in a 16-7 loss to the A’s.

“This is embarrassing,” he told reporters after the game. “Something needs to change. They were on everything; we’ve got to figure out why. There’s going to be some type of adjustment.”

–Field Level Media

Arizona right-hander Brandon Pfaadt tied a career high with his 11th victory last Monday and will look to set a new standard when he and the Diamondbacks seek a sweep of their three-game series against the Colorado Rockies in Phoenix on Sunday afternoon.

Pfaadt (11-7, 5.02 ERA) will oppose Colorado right-hander Tanner Gordon (2-4, 6.59) in a National League West clash. The Diamondbacks have fallen 12 games behind the first-place Los Angeles Dodgers in the division, and the Rockies have the worst record in the majors.

“Any time the Dodgers, Giants, Rockies, Padres come to town, it always increases the stakes a little bit,” Pfaadt said of division play. “We want to play well against them, just like anybody else, but it kind of gives us a little extra motivation to come out on top in these games.”

The game between the teams on Saturday was decided on a walk-off double from Lourdes Gurriel Jr., with Arizona winning 6-5. The Diamondbacks opened the series with a 6-1 win Friday.

Pfaadt is coming off a 6-2 victory over the Padres last Monday. He gave up two runs on five hits and three walks while striking out four in 5 2/3 innings.

It’s one of those strikeouts that Pfaadt probably will remember long after his career is over. He struck out San Diego first baseman Luis Arraez swinging on an 86 mph changeup in the fifth inning, a pitch that nearly caused Arraez to lose his balance.

The center field camera caught Arraez, winner of three consecutive league batting championships, mouthing “wow” after the swing.

“To see his reaction to that makes me feel pretty good,” Pfaadt said. “I’m going to talk to him and see what his thoughts were. He’s a great hitter, and he has a great approach. It just so happened we fooled him” in that at-bat.

The Rockies are 30-86 and need 12 victories in their final 46 games to avoid tying the 2024 Chicago White Sox for the most losses in modern major league history. The White Sox finished 41-121 last year.

Rockies rookie first baseman Warming Bernabel, meanwhile, has yet to slow down since making his major league debut on July 26. He had an RBI single Saturday and has 10 RBIs in his first 13 games.

“My dad, after every game, he calls me and says he’s going to get a heart attack, just watching me out there doing what I’m doing,” Bernabel told MLB.com via an interpreter.

Pfaadt has given up two runs or fewer in four of his past five starts, although his ERA still is one of the highest among major league qualifiers.

He has integrated a cut fastball into his repertoire and has relied on it more heavily recently.

“It is still a new pitch, but it’s played well, and I think it opens up a lot,” Pfaadt said. “We’ll keep using it until it stops working, which hopefully that never happens. I think it is opening a lot of pitches in the arsenal, so that’s a good thing.”

Pfaadt has made one start against the Rockies this season, taking the 4-2 loss after throwing five innings on June 22. He is 2-2 with a 5.23 ERA in four career starts against them.

Gordon did not get out of the first inning in his one appearance against the Diamondbacks, an 11-4 loss in Phoenix on Aug. 14, 2024. He gave up three hits and three runs before being removed with two outs in the first.

–Field Level Media

Some of the questions surrounding the health of Philadelphia’s Zack Wheeler could be answered when the ace right-hander takes the hill for the Phillies as they clash with the Texas Rangers on Sunday afternoon in the finale of a three-game interleague series in Arlington, Texas.

Wheeler (9-5, 2.64 ERA) will oppose Rangers left-hander Patrick Corbin (6-7, 3.91).

The Phillies have guaranteed their third straight series win and have captured five of their past six games. Texas, meanwhile, has dropped three games in a row.

“I think, more than anything, it’s wanting it,” Texas manager Bruce Bochy said about his team’s losing streak. “You gotta want it in the worst way. Live it, breathe it. You gotta go out every game determined to win the ballgame. And putting the losses behind you, that’s gotta be important, too. We’ve gotta keep that focus every day.”

Wheeler will look for his first win in more than a month after going 0-2 over his past four starts and dropping two straight decisions. He has allowed four runs in each of his last two appearances, including a six-plus-inning stint on Aug. 2 at home in a 7-5 setback to Detroit in which he scattered nine hits (three of them home runs) and struck out 10.

He pitched to the first two batters in the seventh and gave up a two-run home run on his final pitch.

“That was on me going back out there for the seventh,” Wheeler said of the homer. “At the end of the day, maybe I shouldn’t have, but I really did feel good being able to go back out there.

“I just need to be better. I need to get my command back and, for whatever reason, I just haven’t had it. You go through those times throughout the season.”

Wheeler reported soreness in his right shoulder following the game against the Tigers and was pushed back from Friday to Sunday to allow the soreness to subside. An MRI of his shoulder came back clean.

“Wheeler came out of his last start a little sore — more sore than he normally is,” Philadelphia manager Rob Thomson said. “We just decided to give him an extra couple days.”

Wheeler leads the National League in strikeouts with 182 in 139 2/3 innings. His 969 innings since 2020 are the most of any pitcher, and his 15,143 pitches over that stretch are second only to the San Diego Padres’ Dylan Cease.

Wheeler has faced the Rangers six times in his career, going 2-2 with a 2.45 ERA over 36 2/3 innings. His most recent start against them was a 5-2 victory in May of last season in a game in which he surrendered two runs on five hits in seven innings.

Corbin has four straight no-decisions, going a season-low three innings and allowing three runs on six hits in his last start, at home, against the Yankees on Monday in a game the Rangers won 8-5 in 11 innings. His last win was on July 10 in Anaheim, Calif., against the Los Angeles Angels.

Corbin is 6-10 in 22 lifetime starts against the Phillies while recording a 4.78 ERA over 122 1/3 innings. He hasn’t posted a win versus Philadelphia since 2021 and has just one victory (and eight losses) in 13 appearances against the Phillies since 2020.

His most recent start against Philadelphia was Aug. 16 of last year when, as a member of the Washington Nationals, he allowed two runs on seven hits and two walks over 4 1/3 innings of a 3-2 loss.

–Field Level Media

The Milwaukee Brewers are figuring out new ways to win just as quickly as the New York Mets are finding new ways to lose.

The red-hot Brewers will look to remain perfect this month when they attempt to complete a sweep of the reeling Mets in the finale of a three-game series on Sunday afternoon.

Right-hander Quinn Priester (11-2, 3.15 ERA) is slated to start for the Brewers against left-hander Sean Manaea (1-1, 3.52).

The Brewers earned their eighth straight win Saturday night, when they scored four runs in the seventh inning of a 7-4 victory. William Contreras capped the outburst by hitting a two-run homer immediately after his inning-ending fly-out was negated by a pitch-clock violation on Mets pitcher Ryan Helsley.

The unusual win was the second in as many nights for the Brewers, who sealed Friday’s 3-2 victory over the Mets when center fielder Blake Perkins threw out Starling Marte trying to score from second on Jeff McNeil’s single.

But the good fortune began a lot earlier than Friday for the Brewers, who have won 11 of their last 12 games to improve to 72-44 — the best record in baseball.

The Brewers’ surge includes seven wins in which they have scored seven runs or more as well as four victories in which they have five runs or fewer. In addition, Milwaukee is 8-1 since star second-year outfielder Jackson Chourio went on the injured list on July 29 due to a strained right hamstring.

“We’re going through a great moment — one of the better moments the franchise has gone through,” Contreras said via an interpreter Saturday night. “Great vibes in the clubhouse whenever you’re just going through a stretch like this, winning games. I think it’s a feeling in any clubhouse that this is kind of what you’re chasing after. Just a good feeling all around.”

There aren’t many good feelings for the Mets, who have lost six straight games and 10 of 11 to fall out of first place in the National League East and into the third and final NL wild-card spot, just 2 1/2 games ahead of the Cincinnati Reds.

The losing streak has been filled with painful defeats for the Mets, who left the bases loaded in the ninth inning of a 7-6, 10-inning loss to the Cleveland Guardians on Monday before they were no-hit into the ninth inning of a 4-1 loss on Wednesday.

Pete Alonso gave the Mets a second-inning lead Saturday, when he hit his 252nd career homer to tie Darryl Strawberry atop the franchise’s all-time list. But shortstop Francisco Lindor was charged with a two-run error in the bottom of the inning, and third baseman Ronny Mauricio missed a chance to snare Isaac Collins’ tiebreaking RBI single just before Contreras’ homer in the seventh.

“We’re not playing good baseball,” Mets manager Carlos Mendoza acknowledged. “Especially when you’re playing against teams like this. You give them extra outs, extra bases, they’re going to make you pay. And that happened today.”

Priester won his 10th straight decision in his most recent start last Monday, when he allowed one run over seven innings as the Brewers beat the Atlanta Braves 3-1. The right-hander has a 2.45 ERA over 12 games (nine starts) during his winning streak.

Manaea didn’t factor into the decision Monday after giving up five runs over 5 2/3 innings in the Mets’ 10-inning loss to the Guardians.

Priester took the loss in his lone career appearance against the Mets on Aug. 14, 2023, when he gave up six runs over five innings for the Pittsburgh Pirates in a 7-2 defeat.

Manaea is 1-2 with a 5.48 ERA in five regular-season games (four starts) against the Brewers. He didn’t factor into the decision in Game 2 of the NL wild-card series last Oct. 2, when the southpaw gave up two runs over five innings in New York’s 5-3 loss.

–Field Level Media

Right-hander Zack Littell will try to replicate his successful team debut with the Cincinnati Reds when he faces the host Pittsburgh Pirates on Sunday afternoon in the finale of a four-game series.

The Reds are aiming to make up ground in the National League wild-card race and earn a series split against their NL Central rivals. Cincinnati beat Pittsburgh 2-1 on Saturday to take the lead in the season series behind a quality start from Nick Martinez.

The Reds have won five of the nine games between the teams this season, and Littell (9-8, 3.46 ERA) will try to keep the momentum going when he opposes Pittsburgh rookie right-hander Mike Burrows (1-4, 4.45).

Burrows will face the Reds for the first time as he tries to shake off one of the worst starts of his career. He gave up six runs on five hits, including three home runs, walked three and struck out three in an 8-1 loss at home to the San Francisco Giants on Tuesday. He pitched just 4 2/3 innings.

The Reds acquired Littell from the Tampa Bay Rays in a trade on July 30 for minor league pitchers Adam Serwinowski and Brian Van Belle.

In his first start for his new team, Littell pitched seven innings and allowed one run on three hits, walked two and struck out eight on 92 pitches to lead Cincinnati to a 5-1 win over the Chicago Cubs at Wrigley Field on Tuesday.

Littell will face Pittsburgh for the first time this season. He’ll make his first career start against the Pirates, having only made four appearances against them as a reliever, compiling a 6.75 ERA in four innings.

Other than allowing a solo home run to Chicago’s Matt Shaw, Littell kept one of baseball’s toughest lineups in check in his Cincinnati debut and credited the effectiveness of his splitter for the strong start.

Littell became the fifth Reds pitcher in the past 125 years to throw seven-plus innings while allowing one earned run or fewer and striking out at least eight in his debut outing, joining Johnny Cueto, Mo Sanford, Tom Seaver and current teammate Brady Singer.

“This is probably the first time I’ve ever gone to a new team with expectations to perform,” Littell said Tuesday. “It was a little different, but the guys here did an awesome job prepping and helping me out. It’s been nothing but great since I’ve been here.”

Burrows was solid for the Pirates in June and July over the 11 starts before Tuesday’s outing, compiling a 3.08 ERA in 49 2/3 innings. And if you remove one poor start at Minnesota on July 12, Burrows’ ERA drops to 2.05 over that span.

But the Giants capitalized on Burrows’ mistakes Tuesday in his most recent start, leading to the career-high three homers allowed. Despite those damaging blows, Burrows blamed his three walks as the catalyst for the poor performance.

“I was really just mad about the walks,” Burrows said. “If they pop those up on first-pitch heaters, I mean, we’re not even talking about it. But yeah, they ambushed heaters, and they got a hold of them, and it’s kind of just tip your hat, good for them. Just more so mad about the walks.”

–Field Level Media