The Buzz — Friday, August 7

Alex Bregman

The take Bregman clutch 9th HR sparks Cubs extras walk-off

Bregman was down to his last strike — a 1-2 knuckle curve from Blue Jays closer Louis Varland — when he tied the game at 2-2 with his 12th home run of the season. Two outs, two strikes, bottom of the ninth, and the Cubs were staring at a 2-0 deficit that had held all night.

The home run did not win the game; the Cubs needed the 11th inning and a throwing error that scored Pete Crow-Armstrong to take it 3-2. But the crowd is right to flag the swing, because everything after it was possible only because Bregman refused to let the at-bat end. A closer gets to 1-2 on a hitter when the pitch sequence is working, and Bregman beat the sequence anyway.

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Caleb Durbin

The take Durbin's 13th-inning walk-off seals Red Sox 8-game streak

The Red Sox were the first team in the modern era to score in five separate innings from the ninth onward in one game — they tied the score in the ninth, 10th, 11th, and 12th before Durbin lined a one-out single to center off Erick Fedde in the 13th to win it 12-11. Five innings of refusal, capped by one swing. The eight-game streak and the sweep are the headline, but the record is the story.

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Ronald Acuña Jr.

The take Fluky HR off colliding OFs powers Braves' 8th win

The fluke is the part everyone watched, and it earns the replay: Acuña's third-inning two-run shot deflected off the gloves of Esteury Ruiz and Heriberto Hernández as they collided in left-center and bounced over the wall. Acuña paused at first, believing it had been caught. That is the clip.

But the crowd undersells him by stopping there. His eighth-inning home run — his 11th of the season — cleared the fence on its own, no assistance required. The Braves won 11-3 to push their streak to eight and improve to 70-45 with an 8.5-game lead in the NL East. The collision homer circulates. The clean one is the one that says the bat is right. Two home runs in a game where one was a gift and one was earned is still two home runs, and the Braves are alone in first because the lineup keeps scoring whether the defense lends a hand or not.

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Elly De La Cruz

The take Elly De La Cruz leadoff HR fuels Reds home sweep

De La Cruz opened the game with a 381-foot opposite-field home run at 104.2 mph exit velocity — his 19th of the season and fourth career leadoff blast — and the Reds beat the Athletics 6-5 to complete their first home sweep of the year. The Reds are 13-6 since the All-Star break and the sweep was three one-run wins. Four solo home runs backed Andrew Abbott, and the leadoff shot set the tone for a team that has decided not to go quietly into August.

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Joey Bart

The take Bart fractures hand on fast HBP vs Red Sox

A 97.7 mph fastball from Erik Miller caught Joey Bart's left hand with two outs in the seventh, and the White Sox announced before the game ended what every catcher in that moment already knows: a fifth metacarpal fracture, further evaluation pending. That is a break, not a bruise. The bone that runs to the pinky is the one that absorbs every pitch a catcher misjudges, and Bart did not misjudge this one — he just did not have time to move a hand out of the way of elite velocity.

The cruelty is the timing. The White Sox acquired Bart at the trade deadline on Monday. This was his third game with the club, his second start, and he is 0-for-6 since arriving with a walk and four strikeouts — a small sample that now will not grow for weeks. He had already been hit on the foot in the second inning, and Drew Romo came on to catch the rest of the way.

Bart was batting .214 with four home runs and 13 RBIs on the year. He was brought in to address a position where the White Sox were already short, with another catcher on the IL. The fracture does not just sideline a player; it unravels a roster move made four days ago. A front office trades for a catcher because it needs one, and now it needs another.

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