{"id":848069,"date":"2026-08-08T14:32:16","date_gmt":"2026-08-08T14:32:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/848069\/"},"modified":"2026-08-08T14:32:16","modified_gmt":"2026-08-08T14:32:16","slug":"the-opener-red-sox-waldschmidt-dodgers-sale-cole","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/848069\/","title":{"rendered":"The Opener: Red Sox, Waldschmidt, Dodgers, Sale, Cole"},"content":{"rendered":"

Jackson Jobe<\/a> is set to make his return from Tommy John surgery when the Tigers right-hander starts against Landen Roupp<\/a> and the Giants tonight.\u00a0 The third overall pick of the 2021 underwent the surgery in June 2025, after posting a 3.91 ERA in his first 12 games and 53 innings as a big leaguer.<\/p>\n

1. Red Sox, Tolle keep dominating<\/p>\n

Another day, another Opener entry about Boston\u2019s incredible midseason turn-around.\u00a0 Friday\u2019s 13-1 rout of the Athletics gave the Red Sox a nine-game winning streak, and an astonishing 32-5 record in their last 37 games.\u00a0 Despite the big day from the offense, Payton Tolle<\/a> was the story on the mound, recording 14 strikeouts in only six innings (and on 84 pitches) while allowing one run on two hits and no walks.\u00a0 The rookie southpaw has a 3.20 ERA, 28.5% strikeout rate, and 6.7% walk rate over 19 starts and 107 innings for the Sox this season.\u00a0 On the flip side, the A\u2019s have lost nine in a row, and at 45-71, are tied with the Angels and Rockies for the worst record in baseball.<\/p>\n

2. Waldschmidt walks off the reeling Dodgers<\/p>\n

Just as everyone expected after the Tarik Skubal<\/a> trade, the Dodgers\u2026.have gone into a tailspin?\u00a0 Los Angeles extended its losing streak to seven games with Friday\u2019s 4-3 loss to the Diamondbacks, as rookie Ryan Waldschmidt<\/a> hit a walkoff two-run homer to secure Arizona\u2019s dramatic comeback.\u00a0 Just so L.A. fans aren\u2019t reaching for the panic button just yet, it is worth noting that the Dodgers had a seven-game losing streak just in July 2025, so a mid-year slump isn\u2019t uncommon for a team with its eyes firmly set on October.\u00a0 The Dodgers still hold a 7.5-game lead over the D\u2019Backs in the NL West, but Arizona can continue to chip into that deficit over the rest of the weekend series.\u00a0 Brandon Pfaadt<\/a> starts for the Snakes today against Dodgers ace Yoshinobu Yamamoto<\/a>.<\/p>\n

3. Sale vs. Cole in the Bronx<\/p>\n

Speaking of late-game comebacks, the Yankees erased a 2-0 deficit in the bottom of the ninth Friday against Braves closer Raisel Iglesias<\/a>.\u00a0 Ryan McMahon<\/a> then completed the comeback in the 10th with a game-winning sac fly to give New York the improbable 3-2 victory.\u00a0 The loss snapped the Braves\u2019 eight-game winning streak, but ace Chris Sale<\/a> will take the hill today looking to put Atlanta back into the win column.\u00a0 The 2024 NL Cy Young Award winner will take on the 2023 AL Cy Young winner in Gerrit Cole<\/a>, who has a 3.42 ERA in 73 2\/3 innings since returning in May from a Tommy John surgery.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Jackson Jobe is set to make his return from Tommy John surgery when the Tigers right-hander starts against…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":848070,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[558],"tags":[64,63,591,85],"class_list":["post-848069","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-mlb","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-mlb","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/848069","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=848069"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/848069\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/848070"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=848069"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=848069"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=848069"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}