Arizona Diamondbacks can’t do little things right, fall to Cardinals

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As they emerged from the All-Star break, the Diamondbacks seemed to believe they had turned a corner. Their play had been crisp. They were winning games. They thought they finally were about to get their season off the ground.

Count manager Torey Lovullo among those who shared that belief – and it seemed to help explain his level of frustration after a messy, 5-4 loss to the St. Louis Cardinals on Friday, July 17, at Chase Field.

“I’m pretty pissed,” Lovullo said. “… You guys saw it. That’s not DBack baseball. Especially coming off the type of baseball we were playing.”

Imagine the sort of blunders that would cause smoke to shoot from Lovullo’s ears and, odds are, the Diamondbacks committed them on Friday night. There were misplayed ground balls. There was an inability to execute with runners in scoring position. There was a pinch runner picked off first base in the ninth inning.

And, as sort of icing on the cake, there was a game-ending missed strike three call by home plate umpire Bill Miller that went unchallenged by the Diamondbacks’ Ketel Marte.

The Diamondbacks went into the break riding a four-game win streak, including a three-game sweep at Dodger Stadium. They were getting contributions throughout their lineup. Their defense was sharp. Their bullpen was dominant.

None of those things showed up consistently for them on Friday.

Starting at the end, Marte’s non-challenge was perhaps the most surprising. With a runner on second and two outs, he took a 100-mph sinker from Cardinals closer Riley O’Brien for what Miller said was strike three. The pitch, according to pitch-tracking data, came in well above the zone.

“I was looking for a breaking ball,” Marte said, when asked why he didn’t challenge. “I got the two-seamer, so I was a little bit surprised.”

The Diamondbacks had successfully challenged four pitches over the course of the game, including one by Marte in the seventh inning.

It was just the sort of moment for which the Diamondbacks intentionally preserve their challenges. Instead, they ended the game with two challenges remaining.

“It’s frustrating, of course,” Lovullo said, “but there are 15 other things that happened in this game that are still eating at me right now.”

Lovullo did not make public his list of grievances, but several of them seemed fairly obvious:

*A ground ball that deflected off pitcher Merrill Kelly in the first inning wound up scooting past Marte, the second baseman, and into center field. It was scored as an error on Marte and led to two unearned runs. “When the ball kind of deflected off of Merrill, my vision, my sight was a little bit off,” Marte said. “Things that happened. No excuses.”

*Four times the Diamondbacks had a runner on third with less than two outs but managed to score only one time. All told, the Diamondbacks went 0 for 9 with runners in scoring position.

*A wild pitch by reliever Juan Morillo helped the Cardinals tack on a key run in the top of the eighth inning.

*Closer Paul Sewald misplayed a ground ball back to the mound to open the top of the ninth inning, setting the stage for the Cardinals to score the go-ahead run.

*Pinch-runner Jorge Barrosa was picked off first by O’Brien with nobody out in the bottom of the ninth, a gaffe that might have cost them a run because Tim Tawa doubled into the left-field corner two batters later.

It could turn out to be an especially costly loss seeing as how it came against a Cardinals team with whom the Diamondbacks are competing for a wild-card spot. The Diamondbacks dropped to 49-48 while the Cardinals moved to 51-45. The Diamondbacks remain 2 1/2 games back of a playoff spot.

—Nick Piecoro

Soroka could return in early August

Diamondbacks right-hander Michael Soroka is pointing toward an early August return, manager Torey Lovullo said Friday, July 17.

Soroka, who has been out since June 19 with a glute strain, is scheduled to log two bullpen sessions in the coming week before possibly throwing a simulated game on July 25.

“That will get him on a timeline somewhere just around the turn of the calendar month,” Lovullo said.

Soroka had been one of the Diamondbacks’ better starters at the time of his injury, logging a 3.07 ERA in 15 starts.

Meanwhile, right-hander Zac Gallen is set to meet with Dr. Neal ElAttrache on Monday, July 20, for a second opinion on his elbow injury, Lovullo said.

Lovullo said the consultation is mainly to map out a plan for a return and that surgery is not believed to be an option.

Right-hander Justin Martinez will take another step in his return from elbow surgery when he faces hitters in a live batting practice session on Saturday, July 18. Martinez has thrown 15 bullpen sessions as he works his way back from his second Tommy John procedure.

— Nick Piecoro

Spivey family takes the field

On a night when the University of Arizona football team was recognized and in attendance at Chase Field, the Spivey family got a special moment together.

Former Diamondbacks infielder Junior Spivey, who was part of the 2001 World Series championship team, took the field with his sons Tre and Kingston, who both play for the Wildcats.

Tre Spivey threw out the ceremonial first pitch to his dad, waiting behind home plate. Tre wore a Diamondbacks jersey in honor of his father and Junior wore a Wildcats football jersey.

-José M. Romero

Diamondbacks’ 2027 schedule features home series vs. Red Sox

The Diamondbacks released a few details about their 2027 game schedule on Thursday, July 16, in conjunction with Major League Baseball’s announcement of its 2027 regular-season schedule.

Highlights include Opening Day in San Diego on Thursday, March 25. The Diamondbacks’ 2027 home opener is Friday, April 2, against the Miami Marlins.

The Diamondbacks have home series over several holidays next season, including Mother’s Day weekend against the Texas Rangers (May 7-9), Father’s Day weekend against the Boston Red Sox (June 18-20) and Independence Day against the San Francisco Giants (July 1-4).

Road series include visits to the New York Yankees (April 9-11), Philadelphia Phillies (April 23-26), Atlanta Braves (May 14-16), Milwaukee Brewers (May 28-30), Toronto Blue Jays (June 8-10), Chicago White Sox (July 9-11) and Chicago Cubs (Aug. 16-18).

— Jose Romero

Diamondbacks announce TV ‘Freeview’

Fresh off a series sweep of the Los Angeles Dodgers right before the All-Star break and back in the thick of the National League wild-card race, the Diamondbacks open the proverbial second half of the season Friday night, July 17, against the St. Louis Cardinals.

The team is offering its fan base free streaming access to the second and third games of this series via D-BACKS.TV “Freeview” on Saturday and Sunday, July 18 and 19.

Fans can stream those games against the Cardinals for free by visiting dbacks.com/watch or accessing D-BACKS.TV through MLB platforms. Coverage begins at 12:30 p.m. MST with the pregame show, followed by first pitch at 1:10 p.m. on both Saturday and Sunday. No subscription or credit card information is required for the “Freeview.”

— Jose Romero

Coming up

Saturday, July 18: At Chase Field, 1:10 p.m., Diamondbacks RHP Brandon Pfaadt (3-1, 4.70) vs. Cardinals RHP Dustin May (5-6, 4.55).

Sunday, July 19: At Chase Field, 1:10 p.m., Diamondbacks LHP Eduardo Rodriguez (8-3, 2.29) vs. Cardinals RHP Andre Pallante (10-6, 3.96).

Monday, July 20: At Chase Field, 6:40 p.m., Diamondbacks RHP Mitch Bratt (0-0, 6.00) vs. Athletics LHP Jeffrey Springs (3-9, 6.08).

Tuesday, July 21: At Chase Field, 6:40 p.m., Diamondbacks TBA vs. Athletics RHP Jack Perkins (2-5, 6.87).

(This story has been updated to add information.)

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Supreme Court is only way to end Trump’s control of midterms

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What if Trump tries to overturn election results while ignoring court orders? ‘I have such a hard time believing that would happen,’ one judge said. ‘But I think you have to consider the possibility.’

North Carolina will start sending out the first general election mail ballots on Sept. 4 for the Nov. 3 midterms. Whether the voters who use those types of ballots in that state and across the country get disenfranchised will likely soon be decided by the U.S. Supreme Court.

President Donald Trump and his administration have been battling in federal court with voter rights groups and 24 states that are trying to prevent him from what clearly seems to be an unconstitutional federalization of our elections.

Trump, in an executive order in March, directed the Department of Homeland Security to compile state-by-state lists of eligible voters and then have the U.S. Postal Service develop rules about who can vote using mail ballots.

As always with Trump overreach, this has become a mess in every kind of way.

Trump is fighting a legal battle for control over mail-in voting

A federal whistleblower involved in the development of those rules has warned that they could cause “major disruptions” in voting and that the Trump administration seemed intent on hiding that, according to a letter to the Postal Service from U.S. Sen. Richard Blumenthal, a Connecticut Democrat.

And there is also a major legal problem with Trump’s executive order: The U.S. Constitution says states run elections, not the president. Trump can’t just decide he has a new power and then act on it.

That prompts three very serious questions. Will the conservative-heavy Supreme Court stop Trump? Will Trump follow judicial orders? And will the Republican-controlled House and Senate force Trump to obey the courts?

To sort out where this goes next, I spoke to three former federal judges from the Article III Coalition, a good-government effort from Keep Our Republic to preserve an independent judiciary.

Will the Supreme Court eventually stop Trump’s election antics?

Former Judge John E. Jones III, who was chief judge for the Middle District of Pennsylvania, predicted a swift return to the Supreme Court for Trump’s executive order.

Procedural issues prompted a majority of the Supreme Court justices on Aug. 24 to block a federal judge in Boston from temporarily pausing Trump’s executive order. But by week’s end, that judge’s temporary restraining order was back in place – and Trump’s administration was appealing it.

Jones told me he expects the federal courts at every level to find Trump’s executive order unconstitutional.

“I struggle to find a scenario where the Supreme Court does anything other than find that this is a violation of Article I, Section 4 of the Constitution, in that these are executive agencies, and absent lawmaking by the Congress, the executive branch simply doesn’t have the authority to do this,” Jones said.

Retired Judge Liam O’Grady, who served in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia, told me the Supreme Court might take control of the case directly, skipping over the appellate court, because the subject already reached the high court once and the midterms are looming.

“They may look at 60 days before an election and say, we now should decide this issue,” O’Grady said. “You would hope they would, because the states need direction.”

Former Judge Jeremy Fogel, who served in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California, was leery of handicapping the Supreme Court on this because the justices could have put an end to the executive order the first time it reached them.

“I think they’re sending ambiguous signals,” Fogel told me. “That may be just because you’ve got justices in a lot of different places.”

Trump has spent years fighting the US voting system

Jones, who was still a judge when Trump tried to overturn the 2020 election in more than 60 court cases, said the federal judiciary had prepared back then for the potential wave of legal filings and will be ready again. And he pointed to recent controversies – aggressive federal agents demanding to inspect Wyoming’s primary election in August, the FBI’s seizure of 2020 ballots in Georgia’s Fulton County earlier this year – as potential harbingers for future cases.

“I think past is prologue, and given the administration’s repeated attempts to, in effect, federalize election administration, almost anything goes from this point on,” Jones said, adding that Trump is trying to drive a narrative that “elections are inherently fraudulent.”

O’Grady noted that the federal judge in Boston, while pausing Trump’s executive order with an Aug. 27 temporary restraining order, pointed out “that the government didn’t put in any evidence of fraud occurring in mail-in voting to substantiate the need to act so quickly.”

Fogel sees a Trump-led public influence campaign to question election integrity as a “coordinated effort to suppress the vote,” recalling how judge after judge in 2020 threw out Trump’s legal challenges for lack of evidence. He expects more of the same in November.

“I think it’s likely they’re going to use all of the levers available to prevent losing control of Congress,” Fogel said.

My last question for the judges worried Fogel: What if Trump tries to overturn the results of the midterm elections while ignoring court orders meant to stop that?

“I have such a hard time believing that would happen,” Fogel said. “But I think you have to consider the possibility that it might.”

Fogel and Jones saw two off-ramps for that kind of chaos.

For Fogel, it depends on “how much integrity” Trump’s Republican allies in Congress will show if he tries to defy court orders. Will Congress step in? “That’s the big question,” he said.

For Jones, he recalls the consequences that Trump’s attorneys faced for their actions in 2020. One big example: Former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani, who led Trump’s 2020 legal challenges, was disbarred in 2024 for actions he took in that effort.

“Lawyers are going to have to think hard about whether they want to jeopardize, as we call in the trade, their ticket to practice law,” Jones warned. “I think lawyers are likely to be much more circumspect about diving into some of these potentially ill-considered cases because of the experiences in past elections.”

Follow USA TODAY columnist Chris Brennan on Bluesky, @bychrisbrennan.bsky.social, and on X, @ByChrisBrennan. Sign up for his weekly newsletter, Translating Politics, here.

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Tornado warning canceled in Burlington County, New Jersey, as severe storms hit Philadelphia region

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A tornado warning in Burlington County, New Jersey, was canceled Tuesday night as severe storms hit the Philadelphia region.

A severe thunderstorm watch for the Philadelphia region expired, but some severe thunderstorm warnings remain in effect for parts of the Delaware Valley.

Some of those storms will have heavy rainfall, gusty winds and frequent lightning. Heavy rain, damaging winds, hail, lightning, and even an isolated tornado are possible.

We are not yet at the point where you can shut down the air conditioning. In fact, it will likely be running quite a bit in the coming days.

NEXT big weather changes

The heat and storm chances will continue Wednesday and Thursday.

Storms will form each day and generally move from the northwest to the southeast as they ride around a large ridge of high pressure to the south.

Atmospheric conditions will be in place for severe storms at some point each day, but mainly through the afternoon and evening time frame.

All weather threats are possible across most of the region each day.

The ridge will slowly sink southward. By Thursday, a strong cold front will be able to cross the area and looks to start to push the threat for severe weather to the south, but it still includes Philadelphia and areas south.

The NEXT Weather team will be monitoring atmospheric conditions, and we’ll keep you updated with timing and impact throughout the week.

The good news is that the unsettled pattern looks to begin breaking down by Friday to make way for a relatively nice first weekend of September with highs near 80 degrees under partly cloudy skies and lower humidity levels.

Here’s your 7-day forecast:

Tuesday: NEXT Weather Alert for storms/heat. High 92

Wednesday: NEXT Weather Alert for storms. High 84, Low 73

Thursday: NEXT Weather Alert for storms/heat. High 90, Low 72

Friday: Showers south. High 87, Low 73

Saturday: Partly cloudy. High 82, Low 68

Sunday: Mostly sunny. High 79, Low 65

Monday: Mostly sunny. High 80, Low 61

NEXT Weather Radars

Hourly Forecast

Get the latest weather info on the CBS News Philadelphia app.

In:

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‘Wheel of Fortune’ Announcer Jim Thornton Suspended

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‘Wheel of Fortune’
Announcer Jim Thornton Suspended

Published
September 1, 2026
2:05 PM PDT
|
Updated
September 1, 2026
4:08 PM PDT

Jim Thornton — the longtime “Wheel of Fortune” announcer — has been suspended by Sony Pictures Television Studios … TMZ has learned.

The studio tells TMZ … “We have recently been made aware of allegations concerning Jim Thornton. He has been suspended from Wheel of Fortune and we are recasting while we conduct a thorough investigation.”

Sony Pictures Television did not provide a reason for his suspension from the show.

However, we’ve learned the alleged incident arose while Thornton was on a commercial flight back in May, and a passenger complained to a flight attendant about Thornton.

Sources with direct knowledge tell us the pilot called ahead to have law enforcement meet Thornton when they arrived at the gate.

We’re told officers questioned Thornton — who was wearing a ‘Wheel’ jacket at the time — but he was eventually released.

American Airlines tells us, “On May 14, American Airlines Flight 1276 was met by law enforcement upon arrival at Los Angeles International Airport following concerns reported by a customer onboard.”

Thornton joined ‘WoF’ in 2011 after the death of longtime announcer Charlie O’Donnell — who was with the show from 1975 to 1980 and 1989 to 2010.

While mostly heard and not seen on the program, Thornton did host one segment of a 2023 program when one of the contestants — a woman named Sarah Ward — wanted to meet him. Pat Sajak, then the host of the show, served as an announcer for the round.

Thornton also served as an announcer briefly on “The Price Is Right,” “The Soup,” and “The Cleveland Show.” He also lent his voice to Pixar for the classic animated movie “Monsters, Inc.” … serving as a commercial announcer in the flick.

We’ve reached out to Thornton … so far, no word back.

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