Braxton Ashcraft limits Nats to one run in win

Ohtani was held out of Thursday’s game due to his troublesome left knee, which led to a start for Kiké Hernández.

Yoshinobu Yamamoto and Emmet Sheehan will start Saturday and Sunday, respectively. Henriquez made a brief appearance Thursday, retiring one of the three Mariners he faced in the seventh inning. He probably won’t pitch more than inning against Boston.

Hernández’s 412-foot homer off Alex Hoppe in the sixth was his first in four weeks and ninth overall. He’s currently sitting at .192/.263/.329 for the month of July, but he has one day left to improve on that.

Sasaki’s splitter did most of the work tonight. He threw it 37 times in the 90-pitch outing and got 10 whiffs and four strikeouts with it. Meanwhile, it produced no hits or hard-hit balls the seven times it was put into play. Sasaki remains rather difficult to trust, but this makes four solid outings in a row, and with arguably baseball’s best team backing him, he’s not a bad play in shallow leagues at the moment. He’ll likely pitch in Chicago against the Cubs next Wednesday, though it’s possible he could be pushed to Friday in Arizona instead.

Díaz’s velocity was down a bit from Wednesday, but he allowed only a single and struck out two of the four batters he faced. He’ll definitely be down Friday after this, and Tanner Scott, who set him up for a second straight game, likely will be, too. Perhaps that will result in a save chance for Evan Phillips.

Instead of pitching at home against the Twins, Woo had to face the Dodgers on the road as a result of Bryce Miller being pushed back. Woo struck out eight and allowed just three hard-hit balls, which likely would have led to a much better showing most nights. However, the Dodgers got two in the first on an overturned full count pitch to start the inning, a soft flyball single and then a two-run double from Mookie Betts. The other three runs came in the fourth on another walk, a soft infield single and a homer from Dalton Rushing. Those two walks were the only ones Woo issued, but they played a big role in him falling to 7-8 with a 4.56 ERA. He’s obviously better than this and he’ll probably show it during the final two months, but at this point, a third straight year with a sub-3.00 ERA will be nearly impossible to pull off.

After going his first 44 career games without one, Susac has three homers in two days. If not for the sudden surge, he probably wouldn’t have been in line to start more than one of the next three games with the Padres throwing right-handers the rest of the weekend. However, this could earn him some extra time at Drew Cavanaugh’s expense.

Ray’s likely final start for the Giants was a very good one, as he struck out six and walked one while allowing only three singles and a double. He’s now 6-0 with a 1.09 ERA in his last eight starts. His 41/21 K/BB in 49 1/3 innings during the stretch isn’t nearly as impressive, but with the way his groundball rate has ticked up, he should be pretty attractive to contenders.

Caleb Kilian and Dylan Smith set him up with scoreless frames, with Smith getting the hardest assignment of the trio against the top of the order in the eighth. Not that he’s especially likely to be moved, but Miller is adding to his trade value with his late-inning success. This makes eight straight appearances in which he’s entered in the eighth or the ninth, and he’s thrown 8 1/3 scoreless innings with 12 strikeouts during the span.

Sears gave up seven hits, including Daniel Susac’s two-run homer in the second. He’s now 3-4 with a 4.26 ERA in six starts and one relief appearance. He could start again Tuesday against the Diamondbacks, but it’s probably not a lock.