Kurtz drew a seventh-inning walk on Friday night at Sutter Health Park, tying Barry Bonds, who accomplished the feat back in 2003, for the second-longest walk streak in major-league history. He’ll have a chance this weekend to match Roy Cullenbine’s all-time record of 22 consecutive games, set in 1947. Unreal. He saw at least six pitches in four of his five plate appearances on Friday night. The 23-year-old’s ability to control the plate has always been his defining trait, but he’s taken it to another level this season with a staggering 34 walks through 31 games.

Murakami’s blast off Padres starter Germán Márquez gave him sole position of first place league-wide with 13 homers. He’s also in the top 10 in RBI with 26 and walks with 27. In part because of those walks, he currently has an OPS more than four times his batting average (.967 to .239). That’s a feat accomplished just six times by batting-title qualifiers in MLB history: Mark McGwire in 1998 (70 HR) and ’99 (65 HR), Barry Bonds in 2001 (73 HR), Joey Gallo in 2017 and ’21 and Kyle Schwarber in 2023.

The closer madness continues. Helsley had been one of the top performers in the league at the position, posting a 2.53 ERA, 1.31 WHIP and a 15/7 K/BB ratio over his first 10 2/3 innings while converting each of his first seven save chances. No word yet on the severity of the injury or on how long the Orioles expect their closer to be shelved for. Albert Suarez was promoted from Triple-A Norfolk in a corresponding move on Friday.

Tracy noted that the imaging revealed nothing more than inflammation, which is the best possible news that the Red Sox and fantasy managers could hear at this time. He’ll be shut down from throwing for a few days while he builds up strength in his shoulder before he starts to ramp back up. Still no firm timetable on when they expect him to return, but it doesn’t appear to be as dire as originally feared.

Kevin Cash said that Pepiot felt instability in his hip while playing catch on Monday, and it turned out that this was exactly as bad as it sounded. Pepiot finishes the year without throwing a pitch in the major leagues. The 28-year-old will attempt a comeback in 2027. Pepiot was already on the 60-day injured list.

Woof. It’s not a surprise after Woodruff was pulled in the second inning of his last start with a major velocity drop. Brewers manager Pat Murphy said that Woodruff told him he doesn’t feel like he’s injured, but that it was a dead arm situation. We’ll see where this heads, but shoulder injuries for pitchers are not auspicious signs. The optimistic case is that Woodruff is able to shake this off and return in a few weeks with his regular velocity.

“We know our record is not what we want, and we know we are capable of more,” Stearns told MLB.com. Anthony DiComo of MLB.com notes that “Stearns and owner Steve Cohen have had no serious conversations about firing Mendoza even as two other prominent managers, Alex Cora of the Red Sox and Rob Thomson of the Phillies, were dismissed last month.” We doubt this will cool the temperature much on Carlos Mendoza’s hot seat — only wins can do that — but it’s noteworthy that Mendoza has the backing of his owner and general manager despite a 10-21 start.

Alvarez also drew a walk in the contest, reaching base safely in four of his five plate appearances. He started a five-run rally in the first inning by beating out an infield single with one out before coming around to score on a two-run knock by Dustin Harris. He then belted a 424-foot (107.4 mph EV) solo shot off of Young in the second inning that extended the Astros’ lead to 6-0. Alvarez also walked in the fourth inning and scored on a sacrifice fly. He has been lighting the world on fire so far this season, slashing a robust .356/.462/.737 to go with his league-leading 12 homers and 27 RBI.

It was part of a two-hit, three-RBI game for the 23-year-old. Walker’s homer came off Paul Skenes in the first inning, just a few batters after JJ Wetherholt took him deep. Walker hadn’t homered since April 13, and the strikeouts had been piling up lately, so this is a promising development. The swing-and-miss (plus his groundball rate) will continue to be what fantasy managers should track, since the bat speed and raw power are proven to play against major league pitching.

Hm, this Rutschman guy seems pretty good. He’s pushed his overall line to .356/.406/.661 on the season and has knocked in 17 runs in just 16 games. The talent was always there for lines like this despite woeful slashes in 2025 and 2024, but it’s great news for the Orioles that he’s apparently rediscovered his hitting talent. He’s already almost halfway to last year’s homer total of nine.