Salvador Perez (elbow) returns to lineup on Sunday

Casas still hasn’t played since suffering a ruptured patella tendon last May. As he was making his way back from that, he suffered an abdominal strain during the first week of this season. He resumed swinging in the second half of June, but now his return is on hold again.

Fairbanks had an earned run taken away because the scorekeeper determined it was a passed ball from Joe Mack that allowed the run to score. It was still an awful effort from Fairbanks, and it didn’t even come in a save situation, so there’s no benefit for those who roster the 32-year-old. He’s now allowed runs in four straight appearances, and his ERA has blown up to an ugly 6.84. It still seems likely that Fairbanks will get the save chances for Miami, but this is a situation worth monitoring.

A fascinating baseball game. The A’s trailed 8-0 at the end of seven with Eury Pérez throwing a perfect game, but after Pérez was pulled, the A’s got back in the game and then some; thanks in large part to Heim. His grand slam made it an 8-5 game in the eighth, and he hit a two-run single off a wholly ineffective Pete Fairbanks to draw the A’s to within a run. Heim has been a solid bench bat for the Athletics in 2026 with nine homers and a .241/.300/.490 slash.

Hernández gave the Marlins an early 1-0 lead with his solo shot, and then hit another one in the sixth. He also single and drew a pair of walks, so a nifty overall day for the 26-year-old. He’s now homered 11 times in 2026, and he’s done so with a slash of .234/.314/.457. Those numbers show the flaws in Hernández’s game, but also why he has a chance to be a pretty good one over the coming campaigns.

It makes back-to-back games where Lopez has picked up three hits and a homer. The 27-year-old also doubled and drew a walk, and in the process saw his slash improve to a remarkable — and totally unexpected — .346/.376/.520 on the season. Even if there was to be some substantial regression after the break, what Lopez has done over these first 90 games cannot be ignored. He deserves more respect for his first three months.

Jump was bad from, well, the jump; allowing a homer in the first and two more runs in the second. He gave up three more in the third, and to say he didn’t match the effort of Eury Pérez — who threw seven perfect innings — is quite the understatement. Jump has struggled in his last two outings while allowing 11 runs, and will try and rebound from those disappointing efforts against the White Sox in Chicago this weekend.

Well, this one won’t be controversial at all. The Marlins made the decision to pull Pérez at 92 pitches despite those seven perfect frames. The decision — from a baseball perspective, at least — almost immediately backfired, as Lake Bacher had the opposite of a perfect game while giving up five runs without getting an out. The controversy aside, Pérez was sensational; striking out eight and allowing just three baseball that registered as hard contact. Assuming all is ok, he’ll be back on the bump against the Guardians over the weekend.

Bauers’ homer off left-hander Eduardo Rodriguez made it 2-1 in the seventh, and the Brewers added one more later in the inning before holding on to win. Bauers got the nod over Blake Perkins today, starting against a lefty for the 13th time in 29 chances this year. His 16 homers, 51 runs scored and 54 RBI are all career highs, though he still has fewer plate appearances this season (314) than he did in 2018 (388), 2019 (423) and 2024 (346). His .861 OPS is nearly 200 points better than his career mark of .672 from 2018-25.

Nothing came easy for Sproat today. He threw at least 19 pitches in all four of his innings, totaling 92 in all, while giving up five hits and walking three. It’s the eighth time in 15 starts that Sproat has failed to last five innings, though he did complete five in four of five starts while going 2-0 in June. His stuff and his strikeout rate have ticked up a bit as the season has gone along, and he’s pretty intriguing in fantasy leagues right now even with all of the quick hooks. He’ll face the Pirates in his final start of the first half.

Megill turned in his 12th consecutive scoreless appearance. Abner Uribe has remained very good as well, but Megill just isn’t opening the door for the Brewers to switch closers again.