MILWAUKEE (AP) — The Milwaukee Brewers sent pitcher Brandon Sproat back to Triple-A Nashville after he allowed four runs in the ninth inning of an 8-6 victory over the Chicago Cubs.
Sproat pitched a scoreless eighth inning and went back out for the ninth with the Brewers leading 8-1 on Wednesday. Sproat walked four of the five batters he faced in the ninth and had a throwing error and a wild pitch during that stretch.
“It’s unacceptable,” Brewers manager Pat Murphy said after the game. “You’ve got to throw the ball over the plate, or you can’t be a major league pitcher.”
Sproat left the game with the bases loaded and one out in an 8-2 game. Abner Uribe eventually got the final two outs after the Cubs scored four runs and brought the potential tying run to the plate.
The Brewers called Sproat up from Triple-A Nashville on Monday and wanted to see how he would adjust to a bullpen role. Wednesday’s game marked his first appearance since that move.
Sproat had spent much of the season in Milwaukee’s starting rotation before getting sent to the minors in early August. He now owns a 3-7 record and 5.57 ERA in 22 appearances, including 19 starts.
The Brewers acquired Sproat as well as infield prospect Jett Williams before the season in a trade that sent two-time All-Star pitcher Freddy Peralta to the New York Mets. The Mets sent Peralta to the Tampa Bay Rays at the trade deadline.
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Milwaukee Brewers pitcher Brandon Sproat walks off the field after being taken out of the game during the ninth inning of a baseball game against the Chicago Cubs Wednesday, Sept. 9, 2026, in Milwaukee. (AP Photo/Kayla Wolf)
JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. (AP) — The U.S. Supreme Court again rejected Missouri congressional maps backed by President Donald Trump on Thursday, a loss for Republicans trying to maintain control of the House in the pivotal midterm elections.
The decision appears to clear the way for the state to use the old map, as the state's highest court ordered.
It's part of a pitched legal battle that has created confusion for voters and others shortly before ballots begin going out for the November elections.
No Supreme Court justices publicly dissented from the brief order. It did not detail the court’s legal reasoning, as is typical in emergency appeals.
The Trump administration had urged the court to keep the president's preferred maps, which are aimed at gaining one additional GOP House seat.
Meanwhile, the court fight featuring dueling orders from different courts continued to unfold in Missouri with a contempt hearing for Republican Secretary of State Denny Hoskins.
The state's highest court ordered him to answer for sticking with the Trump-backed map rather than following its orders to use districts passed after the last census.
But until the Supreme Court weighed in, Hoskins was also facing a competing order from a federal judge requiring the use of the new map.
Missouri’s battle over its congressional districts has spanned more than a year and spawned confusion over which districts will be in place for voters.
Missouri was the second Republican-led state, after Texas, to enact new districts after Trump urged Republicans last year to redraw House districts to their advantage ahead of the midterm elections.
The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the U.S. Supreme Court decision.
The revised Missouri districts target a Kansas City-based seat held by Democratic Rep. Emanuel Cleaver by shedding parts into neighboring districts and stretching the remainder into rural Republican areas. The goal is to help Republicans win seven of the state’s eight House seats in the midterm elections — a gain of one seat.
Redistricting opponents collected hundreds of thousands of petition signatures seeking to force a statewide vote on the new districts. They submitted the signatures in December. But Hoskins waited until August — on the same day as Missouri’s primary — to reject the petition. Hoskins asserted that a referendum petition could not be used for congressional redistricting.
The delay allowed Missouri to use the new districts in its August primary. Republican state officials have argued it would violate voters' federal rights to switch districts before the general election.
But the Missouri Supreme Court last week ordered Hoskins to put the redistricting referendum on the November ballot, which he did. It also ruled that the new districts never became law and instead were suspended retroactively to the December petition submission.
The state then appealed to the U.S. Supreme Court to block the state court's findings. Justice Brett Kavanaugh rejected their request.
The court barred Hoskins from using the new map and said the old map — passed by Republican lawmakers in 2022 after the last census — must be used in the November election. The U.S. Supreme Court on Tuesday declined to hear an appeal of that decision. But Clark issued his conflicting order moments later.
Whitehurst reported from Washington.
FILE - Missouri Secretary of State Denny Hoskins talks to reporters Tuesday, Aug. 4, 2026, at his office in the state Capitol in Jefferson City, Mo. (AP Photo/David A. Lieb, File)
In this photo taken with a smartphone, people opposed to a congressional redistricting plan rally outside the Missouri Capitol in Jefferson City, Mo., Wednesday, Sept. 2, 2026. (AP Photo/David A. Lieb)
