Pirates call up Jack Brannigan from Triple-A

Pivetta was very effective in his last rehab start, striking out seven in 4 1/3 scoreless innings for El Paso. In the outing before that, though, he gave up two homers in three innings in A-ball. There’s little doubt he’d be making at least one more rehab start if we were still in June, but since we’re not, it’s worth giving him a try, especially with Vásquez available to throw several innings behind him if necessary. Pivetta seems pretty risky as a fantasy play, and he might not complete five innings and qualify for a win even if he’s effective.

It was Gorman’s only hit of the day, but he went his other four at-bats without striking out, which is something. Gorman is 5-for-35 with two homers, five RBI and a 12/1 K/BB in 11 games since returning from Triple-A. He might be looking at a lesser role when Masyn Winn comes off the injured list and Thomas Saggese, who has been filling in at shortstop, resumes roaming.

Leahy’s latest planned short start was his worst outing of the year, but not in a particularly discouraging way; he struck out six and walked none. The four non hard-hit balls against him all produced hits, with the last two of those setting up Mickey Moniak’s three-run homer in the third. Barring a change, he’s probably looking at throwing three or four innings against the White Sox on Saturday. He’s just not going to be interesting in fantasy leagues again until 2027.

Hjerepe needed just 54 pitches to get through four. That’s 20 fewer pitches than he threw in his last two Triple-A starts, but the Cardinals still probably had four innings down as his limit; he hasn’t exceeded that total in 16 appearances since returning from Tommy John. Hjerpe averaged 90.6 mph with his fastball today, but his big sweeper was very effective, producing a 47 percent CSW and no hard-hit balls. Hjerpe will probably continue to piggyback off of Kyle Leahy’s starts for now.

Cardinals closer Riley O’Brien was given a second day off after pitching three straight days from Wednesday through Friday. It didn’t seem like it’d be a problem with the Cardinals up 10-6 after eight, but the Rockies did make it interesting. Ryne Stanek hit a batter and gave up a single while getting two outs. Soriano took over then and gave up a two-run single to Jake McCarthy before striking out Troy Johnston to end the game.

Gordon was coming off two nice outings against the Nationals and Orioles, but he couldn’t keep it going today. He has a 5.40 ERA in nine starts and 12 relief appearances. He’s due to pitch in Detroit next weekend.

Moniak homered on the day of the trade deadline and then again a day later, when his two-year, $16.5 million extension was announced. He had been awful in 26 games since then, hitting .163/.202/.261, but he did drive in half of the Rockies’ runs in today’s loss. He’ll be a weak play in mixed leagues next week with the Rockies going on the road for six games in the Bronx and Detroit. He’s hit just .206/.256/.331 away from Coors Field this year.

McCarthy had been slumping some these last three weeks, but not in the stolen base department; 12 of his 29 steals have come since Aug. 5. He’s hitting .293/.337/.484 with 15 homers. The .821 OPS is 116 points better than his career mark from his five seasons with the Diamondbacks.

We’re not sure what the Rockies are going for at this point, but there’s no good reason for Johnston having started the last three games while Zac Veen and Jordan Beck played just once apiece. Johnston certainly hasn’t embarrassed himself in hitting .283/.353/.399 in 417 plate appearances this season, but that’s still slightly below league-average offense for a Coors Field player and it comes with weak defense in the outfield. He shouldn’t be in the Rockies’ plans for 2027.

Alvarez’ home run was his 38th of the season, setting a new career-high. He hit a solo shot off Eduardo Rodriguez in the first inning. Alvarez was 5-for-23 (.217) with no home runs and one RBI in his last seven games entering play Sunday. He’s hitting .314 with a 1.031 OPS and 95 RBI this year.