Kerry Carpenter swats two-run homer in victory

Alfonso gets the nod with the Dodgers sending struggling backstop Chuckie Robinson Jr. to Triple-A to make room. Alfonso will be the backup to Dalton Rushing with Will Smith on the injured list, and isn’t likely to see a ton of playing time while with the club.

Flaherty got five strikeouts today, including four with a fastball that averaged 93.6 mph. This makes six straight outings in which he’s averaged 93 mph with his fastball, after he did that just three times in his first 11 starts. Not coincidentally, he has a 2.45 ERA in his last six starts, compared to 5.94 previously. With the win, Flaherty improved to 2-8 this season and 10-23 since joining the Tigers. He’ll likely face the Phillies on Friday.

It was still a 3-0 game entering the ninth, but A.J. Hinch trusted Montero over Kenley Jansen today, apparently. Montero didn’t give him any reason not to, retiring nine of the 10 batters he faced. He got zero strikeouts and not even a single missed swing, but none of the nine balls in play against him turned into hits. The one batter to reach against him did so by walking. Montero could be a candidate for more three-inning saves as a reliever, though it’s also quite possible he’ll return to the rotation at some point.

Deciding to give Kumar Rocker and Jacob deGrom some extra rest and start Quantrill today probably didn’t hurt the Rangers; Quantrill wasn’t great, but the Rangers offense wound up being shut out anyway. Quantrill has a 3.35 ERA in three starts and 15 relief appearances for Texas. He has a 3-1 record, even though the Rangers are 4-14 when he pitches. Of course, a lot of those games were pretty much over by the time he came in.

Greene has 12 homers in 88 games, putting him just one-third of his way to his 2025 total of 36, but with his OBP having jumped from .313 to .375, his OPS is up some anyway and he’s on track to have a more valuable season than he did last year. We’ll find out soon whether that gets him a third straight All-Star appearance or not.

Robinson went 2-for-23 in his brief time with the Dodgers, and Los Angeles will give Eliezer Alonso a chance to backup Dalton Rushing instead. Robinson could get another shot if Alonso struggled, there’s just no upside here whether he’s in Los Angeles or OKC.

As expected, Ohtani will miss Saturday’s game with biceps discomfort. The 31-year-old has a good chance to be back in the lineup in the next few days, but there’s a decent chance he’s made his last start of the first half because of the discomfort. Tommy Edman is leading off in Ohtani’s absence, with Andy Pages the designated hitter.