There is obviously a whole lot more to say about Pete Crow-Armstrong’s historic night, but I’ll save that for a separate discussion. Until then, the other Bullets …
If you haven’t heard yet, the Orioles moved up today’s series finale to 12:35pm CT to avoid some inclement weather later on today. So adjust your schedule accordingly. Dansby Swanson may have saved the game with this one, and he’s rightly trending toward another Gold Glove finalist appearance:OH MY DANSBY ?Up the middle…YOU THOUGHT! pic.twitter.com/XngkuCMriB
— Marquee Sports Network (@WatchMarquee) July 9, 2026 Michael Conforto just needed that trip back to his old stomping grounds in New York. Since June 24, he’s back to scorching: .324/.375/.676/181 wRC+. The role he’s filling is a really tough one to have offensive success, and although the shape of it has been uneven, the results on the year are outstanding: .250/.340/.500/129 wRC+ over 156 PAs. The match-up protection has been extreme (just 6 PAs against lefties all year! (though he actually hit well in them!)), but still. Knowing you have that bat available to start in the corner outfield spots, or DH, or come off the bench late to face a tough righty? So valuable. Trent Thornton’s improbable success continues – he now has the second largest spread between his ERA (2.60) and FIP (5.25) in all of baseball, behind only Dean Kremer, who started for the Orioles last night (and the Cubs kinda hit him with the regression stick!). Being a groundball machine pitching in front of this Cubs defense will absolutely help that ERA, but if there aren’t any underlying changes in Thornton’s performance, eventually, more hits are gonna fall in, more runners will not be stranded, and more balls will go over the fence. The only question is whether he can tweak before that happens, or whether the luck dragons will last long enough through the rest of the season. Neither thing is impossible, though the latter is at least as improbable as his success thus far. None of which is to take away from what Thornton has actually accomplished so far with the Cubs, which has been hugely helpful in a ravaged bullpen. It reminds me a fair bit of Chris Flexen last year, actually. Great results. Hugely helpful. The kinds of peripherals that eventually get you if something under the hood doesn’t change. Phil Maton (knee) is healthy enough to throw 1.2 good innings at Iowa right now, so it’s possible he returns this weekend, or shortly after the All-Star break. Let us pray that he has fully sorted his mechanical issues, because this Cubs bullpen desperately needs the good version of Maton, and desperately does not need the bad version.4 K's in 1.2 innings of scoreless relief for Phil Maton ? pic.twitter.com/bLQcTpRPKa
— Iowa Cubs (@IowaCubs) July 8, 2026 Andrew Wantz started that game (and dominated), which is interesting. The Cubs are apparently stretching the long-time reliever out (at age 30), presumably in case they need a fill-in call-up, but presumably also because they see something there. Wantz hasn’t really been a full-time starting pitcher since 2019. I swear it was just a coincidence, but two days ago, I wrote that pitching prospect Pierce Coppola needed to get bumped up to High-A soon so that he could face some more polished batters, and he was promoted an hour after I published (it’d obviously been in the works longer than that!). Then yesterday, I wrote that Ethan Conrad was pretty clearly ready to come on up to Low-A Myrtle Beach after his introduction to pro ball in Arizona, and he was promoted an hour after I published (again, that’d obviously been the plan all along, I just didn’t know when I was writing!). So basically what I’m saying is that if there’s a Cubs prospect you want to get the bump to the next level, tell me, and I write it off-hand in a Prospects Notes post and then it’ll happen later that day. Conrad should be making his debut at Myrtle Beach today or tomorrow, I’d think. The hopes from here for the Cubs’ 2025 first rounder are that he can stay healthy the rest of the way, and at least reach High-A by the end of the season. Because he’s just making his pro debut, and because it’s only a half-season, I’m a little less eager to see the Cubs push him so aggressively that he finds a level to struggle. At this point, that might be a “next year” thing, and instead you just let his performance/health guide the promotion schedule this year. It happened again:Pirates manager Don Kelly had to chase down Jared Jones and tell him he wasn't going back out for the seventh inning of a perfect game t.co/aOZvtUFWGA pic.twitter.com/oL66bRIwnV
— Talkin' Baseball (@TalkinBaseball_) July 9, 2026Jared Jones "completely understands" why he was taken out of tonight's game and never expected to pitch beyond the 5th inning ? pic.twitter.com/tM2lYA4LPX
— SportsNet Pittsburgh (@SNPittsburgh) July 9, 2026 Jones, 24, is freshly coming off surgery and a long rehab (not entirely unlike Eury Perez), so I completely understand the Pirates protecting him in that situation. I just wish, as a baseball fan, it wasn’t like this. Dylan Cease, by the way, took a no-hitter into the 9th and was permitted to reach 118 pitches in the quest:Dylan Cease receives a standing ovation after carrying a no-hitter into the 9th inning ? pic.twitter.com/P9QjLnnhm4
— MLB (@MLB) July 8, 2026"I'm a fan of baseball. If a guy has a chance to throw a no-hitter, I think you let him do it."John Schneider speaks on letting Dylan Cease reach 118 pitches. pic.twitter.com/lB7aaKnW3a
— Sportsnet (@Sportsnet) July 8, 2026 Fairly different situations, given the age/experience/health stuff. But at least Blue Jays fans had a chance to see history, even if it didn’t work out. There’s no indication that it’s an “injury” issue yet, but apparently Kyle Harrison is dealing with elbow soreness that has impacted his rough patch over the last month or so. He gets the All-Star break now, and maybe that’ll be enough to quiet it down, but certainly bears monitoring. (If the Brewers wanted to get crafty, they could IL him, get a free pitcher for the next few days before the break, and then have Harrison make his next start in the second time through the rotation after the break – he’d miss only one start.) Elsewhere in the Brewers’ rotation, the news on Brandon Woodruff’s shoulder is not good:Brandon Woodruff returned to Milwaukee for a MRI and imaging revealed a new injury to the anterior shoulder capsule. His surgeon Dr. Keith Meister will provide a second opinion.
— Sophia Minnaert (@SophiaMinnaert) July 8, 2026 Typically, a capsular injury is a particularly bad one, with a very long rehab window (if you can avoid surgery), and a significant loss of velocity possible. Guys can come back from it – Kyle Hendricks did (and actually came back with a tough more velocity thanks to mechanical changes (though we’re talking still quite low)) – but it’s usually bad news. Jacob Misiorowski is a stud and very well may deserve the Cy Young when this season ends. But if he wins it in a close race, you can remember that his ERA was unjustly lowered by an absolutely ridiculous hometown call:In other official scoring news, the scorer's decision on this Jake Bauers error was reviewed by MLB and was upheld today. So Jacob Misiorowski's league-leading ERA holds at 1.62. t.co/mEstSCGBO9
— Adam McCalvy (@AdamMcCalvy) July 9, 2026 I watched this five times, laughed each time:Dying at Cease thinking staff wanted a selfie or something but she was just trying to point him to the interview. pic.twitter.com/FhpU6jxDY5
— Chad Moriyama (@ChadMoriyama) July 9, 2026 Standard Mets broadcast convo:"My two are in their 40s, they're not going to have kids. I won't go into one of them. That's not gonna happen. So the line is burnt. It's burnt. It just burned down" – Keith Hernandez pic.twitter.com/Uhz3bPMIri
— Awful Announcing (@awfulannouncing) July 8, 2026 RIP Phil Regan:Longtime pitching coach Phil Regan, whose career in baseball spanned seven decades, died today, his attorney, Matt Blit, told ESPN. Regan was 89.He managed the Baltimore Orioles for one year and served as pitching coach with the Mariners, Cubs, Indians and Mets, among others.
— Jeff Passan (@JeffPassan) July 8, 2026 MORE CUBS FROM BLEACHER NATION: Go Ad Free | Subscribe to the BN NewsletterHence then, the article about game time change improbable success maton close conrad promoted brewers rotation injuries and other cubs bullets was published today ( ) and is available on Bleacher Nation ( Middle East ) The editorial team at PressBee has edited and verified it, and it may have been modified, fully republished, or quoted. You can read and follow the updates of this news or article from its original source.
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