Cooper Pratt takes a seat on Monday against Reds

Alvarez is like an old school heavy-weight boxer. He leans on his opponents until he finds the opportunity to deliver the knockout blow. Then, he puts them to sleep. He and Sandy Alcantara had battled three times over the first seven innings of this game. Despite notching one hit, Alvarez put the ball on the ground three times, which is rare for him. He also swung at one of the first two pitches he saw in all three at-bats, also something he rarely does. In an increasingly odd fourth matchup with the same pitcher in the same game, Alvarez waited back until Alcantara’s third pitch and drove a fastball for an opposite field home run and a late lead the Astros wouldn’t give back. That brought him to 34 home runs and 77 RBI on the season, each now league-leading marks by just one. His .328 batting average is also best in the American League by a wide margin as he has the triple crown in his sights with just over two months of baseball left to play.

Covering for Josh Hader who’d pitched in three of the Astros’ last four games, Abreu easily dispatched of the Marlins here. It was his first save since June 13th as Hader hasn’t missed a beat since returning from injury, so don’t expect any more save chances unless there’s a major shakeup in this bullpen at the trade deadline.

Lambert is on a roll. This was his third straight quality start and he lowered his ERA down to 3.03 in the process. Admittedly, he didn’t have his best stuff here. The Marlins scorched 10 hard-hit balls against him and he was fortunate to hold them to just two runs. Still, he threw tons of strikes and his defense made plays behind him. He’s become a highly reliable starting pitcher and is scheduled to face the Angels next time out.

As the Marlins’ season falls apart, Hernández is making a name for himself. He scorched a 107 mph double in this one that nearly left the yard and chipped in another hard-hit single, but couldn’t save the Marlins from their ninth straight loss. He stole his seventh bag of the season too and is playing on a nearly 30 home run, 15 stolen pace in what’s mostly been a part-time role this season. At first he was only playing against left-handed pitchers, then began forcing his way into the lineup versus righties, and lately he’s started 11 consecutive games following an injury to Owen Caissie. In the last five, Hernández has hit in the top third of their order too.He is growing past being just a deep-league target.

The Marlins desperately needed Alcantara to be their stopper following eight straight losses sandwiched around the All-Star break. He did not get off to a great start after letting up two runs, four hits, and six hard-hit balls in the first three innings. Then, he settled in through the middle inning retiring 11 of 13 batters from the fourth through seventh innings. It seemed like his night was over then after seven strong innings and 97 pitches, but he came back out for the eighth, let up an infield single to Jeremy Peña, and then back-to-back home runs by Yordan Alvarez and Isaac Paredes. That final flurry ruined his final line and wound up sending the Marlins to their ninth straight loss as their season has hit an untimely tailspin. Perhaps this skid will put Alcantara back on the table in trade talks. Otherwise, he’s lined up for a two-start week coming up against the Phillies at home and Mets on the road.

His second four-hit game over the past month, Meidroth was a key piece of this White Sox win. Twice he came up with runners in scoring position and twice he came through with RBI knocks. Another one of his singles helped push a rally along in the sixth inning as well. For all of the fanfare this White Sox team has earned this season, Meidroth has mostly flown under the radar despite a .277 batting average and .347 on-base percentage while playing solid defense at second base. That’s a winning ballplayer.

The White Sox’s bullpen deployment is going to make fantasy managers pull their hair out. It seemed like the flame-throwing Grant Taylor had finally ascended to closing duties after being called upon in a save opportunity in four of his past five outings. Then, he entered this game in the seventh inning with a two-run lead and the top of the Rangers’ order coming up. He struck out five of the six batters he faced in two quick innings and handed the ball to Hudson for the save. It seems like this bullpen will continue to be a headache despite Taylor clearly being the best pitcher to roster in it.

This was a laborious five innings from Kay. After giving up a home run in the second, he put runners in scoring position in each of the third, fourth and fifth innings. The most stressful of those was the fourth when he loaded the bases with zero outs and somehow escaped with just one run scoring. It wasn’t pretty, but he got the job done and forced 15 whiffs in the process. That was tied for the second-most in a single game in his career. One other time where he forced at least 15 whiffs was way back in 2021. Otherwise, the other three have come in his last eight starts. Next up, he’s scheduled for a two-start week against the Yankees at home and Rays on the road.

In what would wind up as an incredibly quiet night for the Rangers’ offense, Cauley got them on the board early with a solo home run. It was an opposite field shot that looked like nothing special off the bat, but floated over the right field fence. Only playing sparingly since being promoted just under a month ago, Cauley showed moderate power and great speed through the upper minors and could make an impact in both categories should he work his way into an everyday role.

Quantrill followed opener Tyler Alexander and got himself through three innings here. His second of which was cumbersome. He walked both Munetaka Murakami and Colson Montgomery to start the inning and let each come around to score via two two-out singles. Both of his other two innings were clean, but don’t look to Quantrill in anything besides the very deepest of leagues.