Cubs option Moisés Ballesteros to Triple-A Iowa

Buxton’s slam made it a 12-0 game in the fifth. He has 24 homers this season, tying him with Yordan Alvarez for second place in the majors, four behind Kyle Schwarber. If he stays healthy, he seems like a lock to surpass his career high of 35 homers from last season.

Both runs scored on Jorge Barrosa’s homer in the fifth. Fortunately, Bradley had a little 16-0 lead before that happened. It would have been nice if he had been a bit more efficient and could have gone six or maybe even seven innings in the blowout, but that’s not Bradley’s game. At least he improved to 6-3 with his first win in six starts since coming off the IL. He’ll take a 4.11 ERA into a very promising matchup at home against the Rockies next week.

Remember how some pundits thought it was a good idea to give Gallen a multiyear deal as a free agent over the winter? The warning signs were all obvious, and he’s 3-6 with a 6.10 ERA through 16 starts this year. The D-backs have to stick with him after losing two of their other starters to the IL, but only a modest rebound should be expected at this point. He’ll make his next start Thursday in St. Louis.

The triple, a 413-foot shot to center, would have been a homer in 21 ballparks. Kreidler is batting .270/.365/.527 in 85 plate appearances this season, and while there is very little reason to expect him to keep that up, it makes no sense that the Twins have continued to use Tristan Gray, a far weaker defender, at shortstop over Kreidler most of the time since moving Brooks Lee to third.

Barrosa’s first game after Jordan Lawlar’s injury definitely helped his case for getting regular playing time in center field for at least the next month. The homer was his second of the season and third in 211 plate appearances as a major leaguer. The 25-year-old is currently hitting .184/.257/.359 in 116 plate appearances this season.

Taveras had three of the Orioles’ six hard-hit balls and was the offensive player of the game, but he was nearly the goat after botching what seemed to be a game-ending fly to right in the ninth, giving the Dodgers their second run. Fortunately, the Orioles held on to win 3-2. Taveras is batting .255/.332/.368 through 236 plate appearances. He’s fourth on the Orioles with 28 runs scored and sixth with 29 RBI despite having homered just twice in 66 games.

The six hard-hit balls against Rogers were mostly routine flies, and the one hit he allowed was a blooper to shallow center from Tommy Edman. He struck out six to match his season high and walked two. That Rogers had fanned a total of 21 in 35 2/3 innings over seven starts since coming off the IL last month didn’t bode well, but this was probably his most encouraging effort since April. We still don’t have a ton of faith in him at the moment, but a home start against the Nationals next week isn’t a terrible matchup.

Andrew Kittredge had the save chance in a 3-0 game tonight with Ryan Helsley unavailable, but he gave up a homer and a walk while recording one out. Cano took over with Mookie Betts up and immediately generated a double play ball, only for third baseman Coby Mayo to botch the play and wind up with no outs. Mayo next retired Alex Freeland, but then Leody Taveras had a game-ending fly to right bounce off his glove for an error, making the score 3-2. Still undaunted, Cano struck out Kyle Tucker to end the contest afterwards. It was his first save of the year, but we’d give him two, just for how much the defense let him down. Helsley will likely be back in the closer’s role on Sunday.

It’s Yamamoto’s 11th quality start in 14 tries, but he fell to 7-5 anyway. He’s 7-0 when the Dodgers score at least four runs in his starts and 0-5 when they score two runs or fewer. Next up for him is a start in San Diego. His 4.97 career ERA versus the Padres is his highest mark versus any of the teams he’s faced three times or more, but he did pitch well against them in a tough loss earlier this season, allowing one run in seven innings.

Abreu’s homer was a 416-footer to dead center, giving him nine on the season. At .275/.334/.433, he’s been a pretty average this season, but against all expectations, he has a .921 OPS against lefties and just a .707 OPS versus righties. Most likely, the OPS versus lefties will tumble, but some improvement versus righties should counter that and keep him useful in mixed leagues.