Justin Verlander will retire at the end of year

Michael Conforto, Carson Kelly and Seiya Suzuki joined Crow-Armstrong in homering for the Cubs. Crow-Armstrong’s first was just 94.2 mph off the bat, but it traveled 350 feet anyway. The second was hit 106.7 mph and was projected at 419 feet. Crow-Armstrong also walked and scored a third run in the contest. He’s the first player to go 20/20 this year, having totaled 21 homers and 23 steals. Last year, he finished the first half with 25 homers and 27 steals, though he went on to add on just six homers and eight steals after the break. He’ll probably slow down some this year, too, but the improvement in his plate discipline makes it unlikely that he’ll again experience such a dramatic decline.

Rea allowed seven hits, walked two and struck out just two. He also gave up a two-run homer to Pete Alonso. Still, he kept it together and departed with a 4-3 lead that held up, even though the final score was 9-7. Rea ends the first half 7-5 with a 4.75 ERA. Ideally, the Cubs will be able to stick him in middle relief at some point, but it’s not like he’s holding them back.

Webb helped set up Trent Thornton last night, but this makes two saves in four days for him. He threw just nine pitches tonight and seven on Tuesday, so maybe the Cubs would risk having him close again on Thursday. It’d also be a third straight day for Thornton if he were to work again.

The last three homers came in a four-batter span in the fifth. Of the four, two actually came on balls that fell just short of being hard-hit; Pete Crow-Armstrong’s first homer left the bat at 94.2 mph, and Michael Conforto’s checked in at 94.5 mph. Those probably weren’t homers a month ago. Kremer is 1-2 with a 4.09 ERA in four starts. Between his two outings in April and his two since coming off the IL on July 1, he’s given up nine homers so far but only 10 earned runs. Unless the baseball starts traveling more like it did in April, he’s not going to be a mixed-league option in the second half.

Suzuki is still in a 1-for-19 slump, but the one hit was big, as he took Grant Wolfram deep in the seventh. Suzuki is batting .260/.342/.449 through 325 plate appearances. If that holds up in the second half, he’ll enter free agency coming off four straight seasons with a 120 OPS+.

O’Neill homered off Drew Pomeranz in the seventh and Caleb Thielbar in the eighth. The latter was the second of back-to-back homers with Coby Mayo. O’Neill had just three homers in 164 plate appearances this season prior to tonight. He’d been playing mostly against lefties, even though his scant production this year had come versus righties. Both homers tonight were off southpaws, though. He should be in the lineup with the Orioles throwing a lefty in David Peterson on Thursday.

The double traveled 392 feet and would have been a homer in 14 ballparks. Holliday entered the night hitless in his last 13 at-bats and was batting .159 in 97 plate appearances since his last multihit game way back on May 29. This raises his overall average from .183 to .212, and one has to hope he’s now over the Mendoza Line for good.

Griffin allowed five hits, lowering his ERA to 2.77. The lefty has been a strike-throwing machine in his return to the majors, though his peripherals suggest he hasn’t been quite as good as the surface numbers indicate. Still, it’s been an incredible first half for fantasy managers who scooped him up early. He has now allowed one run or less in six consecutive starts. This was his final outing before the All-Star break. A difficult matchup awaits after the midsummer classic if Griffin winds up pitching in Sacramento.

García became just the fourth National since the team moved to Washington in 2005 to hit 11+ homers in 18 games. He’s been sensational lately, and the Nats now have three hitters with 20 homers, tied with the White Sox for the MLB lead. The lefty-swinging first baseman regularly bats second against righties, cementing a strong lineup position for one of the highest-scoring offenses in the league.

Arrighetti walked six, struck out two, and allowed two homers in the ugly performance. It isn’t a surprise given it came on the road against one of the highest-scoring lineups in MLB, but he has scuffled badly lately. He now has an 8.74 ERA over his past seven starts. This was his final outing of the first half. The Astros host the Orioles coming out of the All-Star break.