Royals option Eric Cerantola to Triple-A

Del Castillo gets the call to replace an injured Lourdes Gurriel Jr. (adductor) on Arizona’s active roster. The 26-year-old is unlikely to play enough to matter for fantasy purposes and was hitting just .185 (28-for-151) with five homers and 23 RBI across 51 games this season before being shipped to the minors back on July 6.

Carrillo joins Arizona’s bullpen mix prior to Saturday’s game against the Cardinals after a 4.23 ERA, 1.30 WHIP and 56/27 K/BB ratio across 42 1/3 innings for Triple-A Reno this season. The 27-year-old was one of the ancillary components of the Max Scherzer and Trea Turner deal between the Dodgers and Nationals at the trade deadline back in 2021. He wound up undergoing Tommy John surgery and never pitched in the majors for Washington. He’ll be making his big-league debut when he gets into a game.

No word yet regarding how much time Gurriel will miss, but he’s likely facing a multi-week absence. His departure from Arizona’s outfield mix creates space of Ryan Waldschmidt and Max Kepler to play virtually everyday between center and left field, respectively. The 32-year-old impending free agent has hit .207 (36-for-174) with two homers, 21 RBI and one steal in 189 plate appearances over 47 games since making his season debut back on April 18.

The magic continues. Valdez picked up right where he left off prior to the All-Star break, lifting a towering fly ball off Guardians starter Gavin Williams that just kept on carrying into the right-field seats to give Pittsburgh a 4-1 advantage in the sixth inning. The 22-year-old slugging prospect has gone deep a staggering 11 times in just 29 games to open his big-league career. He’s going to cool off at some point in the near future since he’s striking out nearly 40 percent of the time and running a BABIP in the .400 range, but he’s clearly going to keep hitting for power, which should keep him fantasy-relevant until further notice.

Bazzana supplied Cleveland’s lone run during the front-end of the twin bill when he drilled a 101-mph RBI triple into the right-field corner off Pirates starter Jared Jones with two outs in the third inning. It was his lone hit in four at-bats out of the leadoff spot as the Guardians managed just six hits combined in their second-half lid-lifter.

Gonzalez wasted little time making an impression in Pittsburgh, launching a 428-foot no-doubter off Cleveland starter Gavin Williams into the right-field seats in his first at-bat as a Pirate. The 24-year-old rookie has an opportunity to play everyday as Pittsburgh’s primary shortstop until Konnor Griffin (finger) returns from the injured list in early September after being acquired from the White Sox in a trade last week.

Jones drew the starting assignment for the front-end of Saturday’s doubleheader at Progressive Field and touched triple digits 11 times during an impressive 74-pitch outing where he leaned almost exclusively on his fastball and slider. The lone run against him came on an RBI triple from Travis Bazzana with two outs in the third inning. The Pirates have been cautious with his workload as he returns from Tommy John surgery, but he’s looked outstanding since the start of July, allowing just two runs while compiling a 23/3 K/BB ratio over 15 innings across his last three starts. He should be rostered in all fantasy leagues at this point based on his strikeout upside alone.

Williams notched his fifth double-digit strikeout performance of the season but was burned by the long ball in this one, serving up three homers to a suddenly red-hot Pirates lineup. He managed to shake off an early two-run blast from Jacob Gonzalez before giving up a two-run shot to Esmerlyn Valdez and a solo tater to Nick Gonzalez in the sixth. The result was a bizarre-looking pitching line where he somehow managed to dominate for most of his outing while still ending up being saddled with a loss. He’ll square off against the Twins on Thursday in his next outing.

Early increased his flat-ground throwing distance to 90 feet after playing catch from 75 feet on Friday. The 24-year-old lefty hit the injured list with posterior elbow inflammation back on July 1. He’ll ramp up his throwing progression over the next few weeks and should make it back to Boston’s rotation at some point in the second half.

Braden Shewmake takes over at the keystone with Turang taking a seat after fouling a ball off his right foot during Friday’s second-half opener. He’s delivered top-three fantasy value at second base this season, hitting .263/.359/.460 with 66 runs scored, 14 homers, 60 RBI and 15 steals in 421 plate appearances through 92 games. It’s unclear whether there are any plans for him to undergo imaging at this juncture. There should be a more definitive update on his status later this weekend. Fantasy managers should consider him day-to-day for now.