Grayson Rodriguez beats Twins in first start back

Chaparro’s first homer was projected at 467 feet off José Suarez. He then hit a ball 406 feet off Yunior Tur two innings later. Those drove in five runs and his two singles accounted for three additional runs, giving Chaparro the eighth eight-RBI game in ExpoNats history. The previous two came in 2018, with Trea Turner knocking in eight runs on July 5 and Mark Reynolds driving in 10 two days later in the same series against the Marlins. Chaparro is now hitting .220/.352/.424 in 71 at-bats. He’d typically be on the bench Saturday against right-hander J.T. Ginn, but maybe the huge showing will get him a nod at DH at the expense of Dylan Crews or Jacob Young.

Both runs came on Tyler Soderstrom’s homer in the fourth. Cavalli went without a walk for the sixth time in 21 starts this season and upped his K/BB ratio to 119/32 K/BB in 104 2/3 innings. He might start to run out of gas at some point — his career-high for innings is 123 1/3 — but things continue to look quite good for the short term. He’ll face the Rockies in Coors next week, and while that’s not necessarily a great ERA bet, he should have a pretty good chance at notching another win.

Jump was perfect through two before a walk and three hits produced a three-run third inning. In the fourth, he walked a batter with one out and gave up an RBI double with two outs, resulting in his removal after 87 pitches. It his fourth consecutive loss, leaving him 3-5 with a 3.78 ERA since his callup. He remains one of the game’s most intriguing young pitchers, but in a really tough situation with the A’s, he’s probably just a streaming play at the moment. He’ll likely pitch in Arizona on Wednesday.

It could have been an even bigger night, but Mead lined out while getting to face outfielder Carlos Cortes in the Nationals’ five-run ninth inning. It’s still his first career game with three extra-base hits. He scored four runs for the second time. Mead is 18-for-41 with three homers this month, raising his OPS from .780 to .865.

Ford had just four homers in 58 games in Triple-A this season, but it took him only three plate appearances to go deep for the Nationals. It’s his first major league homer, as he didn’t have any in his eight plate appearances for the Mariners in his cameo last season. Ford’s fantasy potential has taken a major hit with his stolen base ability vanishing — he had no steals in Triple-A this year after dropping from 35 in Double-A in 2024 to just seven for Tacoma in 2025 — but there’s still hope for him as a starting catcher for the Nationals. He’ll probably return to Triple-A once Drew Millas returns from the IL, but he’ll see a fair amount of action until then.

Up until the eighth inning, the Orioles had only scratched one run across in this game and it came via three consecutive walks in the third inning. Their pitching kept them in the game and Ward turned this game on its head with a two-run shot that pushed them to victory. It was a key fifth straight win for them as they try to claw back into the playoff race and Ward finding some power could really help their chances. This was just his seventh home run of the season after hitting 36 last year as one of the league’s leaders. He’s held up his value somewhat with a sky-high .388 on-base percentage that’s mostly been fueled by his ultra-passive approach, but fantasy managers and the Orioles alike would love to see more of that power return.

It got a little stressful, but Wells found a way to dig deep and secure this save. First, Yordan Alvarez came up with the tying run on base and Wells forced him to hit a comically high pop-up. Afterwards, he walked Isaac Paredes to push the tying run into scoring position, but struck Christian Walker out after a seven-pitch battle to end it. Wells has been excellent in relief this season with a 2.96 ERA, 1.05 WHIP, 26% strikeout rate, and a true four-pitch mix that’s stuck with him since he was a starter. He’s a capable closer, just be advised that Andrew Kittredge has saved a handful of games as well and it’s likely these two share this job moving forward.

Kremer was inefficient in this short start and struggled to find the zone with any pitch besides his sinker. Something interesting though, he practically threw all five of his pitches the exact same amount: 18 sinkers, 17 splitters, 17 four-seam fastballs, 16 cutters, and 15 curveballs. It made sense to bounce around so evenly too because again, he couldn’t really command any of them. He’ll look to have a better start next time out against the Red Sox in Boston.

Peña started this game with a leadoff walk and came around to score immediately after when Yordan Alvarez doubled him home. He then singled to start the third and quickly came around to score again. He’d work his way into scoring position again in both the seventh and ninth, but wound up stranded both times. A couple of injuries have overshadowed a solid year from Peña so far with a .293/.357/.429 slash line, six home runs, and eight stolen bases across 52 games.

Lambert leaned on his fastball for a dominant start here. He located it well at the letters all night and the Orioles hitters couldn’t help but swing under it. In all, it forced nine of his 14 total swings-and-misses and seven called strikes as well. That helped the pitch turn in an elite 77% strike rate. From there, he mixed his bevy of secondaries to keep the Orioles. His three walks were a blemish on his ledger and came in three consecutive plate appearances which forced home the only run he allowed. He’s become a breakout star this season with a 3.03 ERA, 91 strikeouts, and 36 walks through 92 innings as a steadying force in the Astros’ otherwise chaotic rotation. He’s scheduled to face the Marlins at home next time out.