Miguel Vargas blasts 17th home run in win Tuesday

Lipscomb has had a tremendous season at Triple-A this year, hitting .300/.334/.560 with 28 home runs, 73 runs scored, 81 RBI, and 11 steals in 111 games. He does have a 115/23 K/BB ratio, but he’s currently on a 20-game hitting streak and has been hitting the ball much harder this season with a 45.7 percent hard-hit rate and a 10 percent barrel rate at Triple-A. He’s not on the 40-man roster, so he may not come up until rosters expand in September, but there’s a chance he pushes Brady House for reps at third base.

Pivetta struck out four and walked one but also allowed two home runs while throwing 35 of his 47 pitches for strikes. We don’t have much data from High-A parks, but it’s nice to see that Pivetta threw as many strikes as he did and that he ended the outing healthy after having to walk off the mound the last time he was making a rehab start. He should move to Double-A or Triple-A for his next outing, which could come over the weekend.

Since coming to Tampa Bay, Mateo has played exclusively against left-handed pitching, but he will get a start against a righty here. Mateo is just 3-for-17 in his seven games with the Rays and is unlikely to push Taylor Walls for the starting shortstop job.

This was discussed yesterday and is now official. The 23-year-old doesn’t have major swing-and-miss stuff and has pitched to a 4.76 ERA over his four MLB starts. However, he has been much better in the minors and has recently increased his curveball usage in Triple-A, which is something to monitor in this outing. We would not be using him in fantasy leagues, however.

The 22-year-old also struck out eight and didn’t walk a single batter, while throwing 74 percent of his pitches for strikes and posting a 26 percent swinging strike rate. Paez was primarily a long reliever in Double-A, but he has started in both of his appearances in Triple-A as the Red Sox look for more starting pitching depth. He faced a lot of lefties on Tuesday, and his cutter and changeup were real weapons for him. His four-seamer also sits 92.6 mph, but he uses his cutter as his primary fastball and also features a sinker and curve as well. He could give the Red Sox some innings in September to help them save some of their other starters for the postseason.

Smith started behind the plate and logged five innings at catcher in his rehab debut. The 31-year-old franchise backstop has been out with a lingering neck issue since mid-June. He’s probably going to require a handful of additional rehab games given the lengthy layoff before he’s back in Los Angeles.

Alonso made an early departure from Tuesday’s one-sided blowout against the Cardinals after going 4-for-4 with his 31st home run of the season. It didn’t seem like a big deal at the time with Baltimore leading by nearly two touchdowns, but it sounds like he could be dealing with a minor physical issue. It’s a situation that fantasy managers should monitor heading into the final two games of the club’s current series in St. Louis.

Nusbaum adds that the Nationals plan to continue using Perales in relief for now. The story remains much the same from a development standpoint for the 23-year-old top prospect, who came over from the Red Sox in the Jake Bennett trade last offseason. He possesses some of the most intriguing raw stuff in the minors, but leaves much to be desired from a command standpoint. He’s 3.64 ERA and 97/55 K/BB ratio across 96 1/3 innings on the doorstep of the majors this season. It wouldn’t be surprising if he excelled in relief, but there was optimism he could make a leap in the command department and blossom into an effective mid-rotation arm that misses plenty of bats.

The move frees up a rotation spot for the Nationals to bring up pitching prospect Luis Perales. The 30-year-old came over in the Luis Garcia Jr. trade with the Yankees earlier this month. He’s posted a respectable 3.24 ERA across 8 1/3 innings for the Nationals over the last few weeks.

Kelenic passed through waivers unclaimed after being removed from Texas’ 40-man roster over the weekend. The 27-year-old former top prospect has hit .219 (16-for-73) with one homer and six RBI in 36 games between the Rangers and White Sox this season.