Nelson Velázquez homers as Cardinals top Braves

One imagines Suarez will be placed on the IL prior to Tuesday’s game. Even if this is minor, a 15-day IL stint would cost him just one start next weekend and allow him to return the fifth day after the All-Star break.

Machado was intentionally walked with two on and two out in the fifth, after which Jack Dreyer got Gavin Sheets to ground out. He came up again with two on in the seventh, but this time there was a righty in the game, no base open and one out. He was pitched to, and he homered just over the wall in center on an 0-2 middle-middle fastball from Kyle Hurt. It was Machado’s fourth homer in eight games and sixth in 14 games.

Sears gave up six hard-hit balls but just one hit, which was a single from Miguel Rojas in the fifth. He also threw first-pitch strikes to only eight of 17 batters. Still, he was very successful, obviously. The victory makes him 2-1 with a 4.70 ERA in his three starts for the Padres this year. He’ll probably stay in the rotation for now and face the Blue Jays next weekend.

Miller got one strikeout tonight, which was actually his first in three appearances. He averaged 102.1 mph with his 10 fastballs. Miller has pitched on back-to-back days now, so he might be iffy for Monday. The Padres did use him three straight days once back in April.

He struck out five and walked three. Back-to-back starts against San Diego have seen Sheehan allow two runs over 9 1/3 innings and lower his ERA from 5.32 to 4.91. More length would be nice, but since he’s been following Yoshinobu Yamamoto in the rotation for nearly two months now, he typically has a fairly rested bullpen behind him. He’ll likely start the final game of the first half next Sunday against the Diamondbacks, which could lead to an especially quick hook.

Edman was scratched from the starting lineup as a precaution after being hit on the ankle by a Mason Miller pitch in Saturday’s game. He’ll probably be back in the lineup somewhere Monday against the Rockies.

It seemed to be a leg issue sustained as he was going for a grounder to his left. He took one warmup throw afterwards and then decided to call it a night. Suarez allowed three runs and six hits in 2 2/3 innings before departing. Greg Weissert replaced him.

It’s the fourth straight Mariners game to end in a shutout, and they were on the right side of three of them (they beat the Angels 1-0 on Thursday, lost to the Jays 2-0 on Friday and won 11-0 on Saturday). Hancock was originally supposed to piggyback with Logan Gilbert on Saturday, but the Mariners scratched that the night before and Gilbert went out and pitched one-hit ball for seven innings. Now, Hancock has gone seven scoreless for the first time. He previously pitched six scoreless innings twice and seven innings of one-run ball once. He struck out five and generated 14 whiffs today, finishing with a 32 percent CSW. The Mariners probably won’t engage in any funny business in the rotation this week with six games in a row after the off day on Monday. Just like this weekend, they’ll likely go with Luis Castillo on Friday, Gilbert on Saturday and Hancock on Sunday against the Rays.

The unearned run was a product of Ernie Clement committing an error prior to Mitch Garver’s two-run homer in the third. Yesavage racked up seven strikeouts, his second highest total of the year. He allowed just three hits. He still hasn’t surrendered more than five hits in any outing this year, and he’s given up a total of eight in 18 1/3 innings over his last three outings. He’s 4-4 with a 3.31 ERA, and he’ll finish off the first half with a start in San Diego next weekend.

After doing a nice job while Cal Raleigh was on the injured list (.238/.304/.476 with three homers in 15 games), Garver, who was starting for the first time in seven days, is back to playing pretty seldomly since Raleigh returned. The homer today was his first this season with Raleigh on the active roster. He’s hitting just .194/.325/.330 overall.