Royals option Mitch Spence to Triple-A after meltdown

It’s the fourth time in his career that Crow-Armstrong has reached base safely, with three of those coming within the last two months. He’d entered the night in a little 2-for-26 slump, but with the way his plate discipline has improved, it just doesn’t seem at all likely that he’ll suffer a second-half swoon to resemble last year’s. He’s at .285/.384/.521 for the season, and he’s walked 52 times in 101 games this year after doing so just 29 times in 157 games last season.

Peterson won for the second time in four starts for the Cubs and the fifth time overall this season. He still has a 5.57 ERA for his new team, but 10 of the 13 runs he’s surrendered came in one start versus the Cardinals. Tonight’s effort ensures that he’ll stick in the rotation with Aaron Civale around, and he’ll get a chance for some revenge against the Cardinals on Monday.

Civale, who was acquired from the A’s on Saturday, could have gotten a three-inning save tonight, but David Peterson was allowed to pitch into the seventh in a 9-0 game. It was Civale’s seventh career relief appearance. Five of the other six, along with his only save, came in his late-season stint with the Cubs last year. It’s likely that Civale will get some starts going forward, but with Jameson Taillon back, he’ll likely remain in the pen for now.

Valdez made his own trouble by giving up a triple, a walk and hitting a batter to start the game, but he could have escaped without too much trouble if Gleyber Torres had been anything more than a statue at second. As is, Carson Kelly singled in two runs on a ball to Torres’s left, Michael Busch singled in one on a ball to Torres’s right and Ian Happ singled in one on a popup to shallow right that neither Torres nor Michael Busch chased after. Valdez finally departed with his pitch count up to 42 pitches. He fell to 5-7 with a 4.57 ERA, but as disappointing as he’s been, we wouldn’t read too much into this one. He’ll face the Royals on Sunday.

Despite mostly hitting ninth and only once hitting higher than sixth in the Cubs lineup, Swanson is tied for 15th in the majors in runs scored with 63 runs scored. Imagine if he had better than a .296 OBP.

Dingler’s homer off Aaron Civale in the ninth gave the Tigers’ their only runs in the 11-2 loss, but it wasn’t far off from being a two-homer game; his 362-foot shot to left in the second would have been a homer in 23 ballparks and likely would have gone out in Wrigley if the wind hadn’t been blowing in. Dingler has 22 homers and 65 RBI in 92 games on the season.

As per usual, Paredes’ homer was pulled to left, but at 388 feet, this one didn’t need any help from Daikin Park. He’s hitting .260/.352/.429 with 13 homers and 53 RBI in 350 plate appearances for the year.

There really aren’t any middle-of-the-road outings with Imai on the mound. In the seven starts in which he’s completed five innings. he’s gone 6-1 with a 1.77 ERA. In his other seven starts, he’s 0-3 with a 14.54 ERA. He’ll face the Angels next time out. Not that it means much of anything, but he gave up four runs and walked four in 2 2/3 innings against them in his first MLB start back in March.

Hader struck out one in a 12-pitch inning. The Astros also had him finish an 8-4 game on Monday, so he’ll probably get Wednesday off after this, potentially putting Enyel De Los Santos or Bryan Abreu in line for a save.

Phillips allowed five hits, walked one and struck out two. He exited in the fifth after a Javier Sanoja error put a runner on base with one out, and the Astros went on to score three times in the inning. Phillips has been adequate as a starter for the most part, but it’d probably be best for the Marlins’ postseason hopes if he could resume working out of the pen. It’s just not likely to happen in the short term after Max Meyer’s injury. He’ll likely face the Phillies on Monday.