Andre Pallante limits D-backs to one run in win

It’s a significant relief that Warren won’t require elbow surgery after hitting the injured list with a forearm strain prior to Wednesday’s game against the Royals. The 30-year-old middle reliever has forged a respectable 4.63 ERA across 35 innings this season. There is no timetable for his return yet.

The cycle continues. Carrasco is poised to elect free agency and re-sign with Atlanta on a new minor league pact. He’ll remain stationed on the doorstep of the majors until he’s needed to gobble up innings as a mop-up reliever. Nothing to see here.

Kessinger provides Pittsburgh with some additional infield depth at Triple-A Indianapolis after losing starting shortstop Konnor Griffin (finger) for the next two months. The 28-year-old didn’t take very long to find a new home after being cut loose by the Mets earlier this week. He appeared in 49 games for the Astros from 2023-2024.

Cease was at 102 pitches after seven, but he clearly wanted to continue, and after a nine-pitch eighth, he was allowed to start the ninth. He wound up throwing just three pitches then, the last of which was a clean single from Heliot Ramos. Tyler Walker replaced him and preserved the shutout against his former club. Cease, who pitched a no-hitter for the Padres in 2024, struck out 11 and walked three. He has six 10-strikeout games this season and 31 for his career. The first-time All-Star closes out the first half 6-4 with a 2.56 ERA. He’s second in the majors with 148 strikeouts and seventh in ERA.

The runs all came in the first. Two soft hits to left field opened the game, and after George Springer walked to load the bases with one out, Daulton Varsho hit a liner to right that a sliding Jung Hoo Lee couldn’t catch, resulting in an RBI single. Kazuma Okamoto then followed with a grand slam on a ball 328 feet down the right field line. It would have been a homer only in San Francisco and in Yankee Stadium, according to Statcast. So, that’s the five runs. Only the homer, which wasn’t even a barrel, was hit harder than 72 mph. Webb allowed just one hit and one walk after the first. The All-Star gave up 12 runs in his last two starts to finish the first half 5-7 with a 3.86 ERA. Still, he’s throwing just fine.

Okamoto’s 328-foot slam off Logan Webb in the first would have been a double most everywhere else, but it snuck just over the wall at Oracle Park. It was his second homer in three games and 21st overall. He’s now the rookie leader in homers by one over Munetaka Murakami. He’s second among rookies with 59 RBI, two behind Sal Stewart.

Guerrero and George Springer went back-to-back in the ninth, with Guerrero driving a fastball to center at 108 mph and a projected distance of 419 feet. It was Guerrero’s only hit of the day, but he had two other hard-hit balls. He also had two on Tuesday, though both of those turned into double plays. Hopefully, he’ll get his back feeling a little better over the break and start hitting homers more regularly afterwards.

Lee took over as the major league leader in average for a brief spell last month, peaking at .333, but he’s just 7-for-44 with one extra-base hit and one walk in his last 12 games. Given that he’s not big with the homers or steals, he needs to hit over .300 to be of any real use in shallow leagues. He’s still at .311 right now, but Statcast thinks he’s been kind of lucky. He currently has a .327 BABIP, but he’s not hitting the ball any harder than last year, when he posted a .291 BABIP and batted .266.

Taylor told reporters that he tweaked something in his oblique during Tuesday’s contest against Arizona. The 27-year-old is likely to sit out the final two games of San Diego’s current series against the Diamondbacks, but it doesn’t appear that he’s headed to the injured list.

It’ll depend on whether Ranger Suarez (adductor) is cleared to take the ball following Thursday’s bullpen session. The 27-year-old was demoted to Triple-A Worcester back in early June after struggling to a bloated 6.34 ERA across 61 innings to open the season.