Esmerlyn Valdez homers again in doubleheader

Burns got his 15th victory in what sounds like it will be his final traditional start of the year. This one put him at 145 1/3 innings for the season, an increase of 36 from his first professional season last year. Reds broadcaster Jeff Brantley said on Sunday Night Baseball that the plan is for Burns to pitch about three innings at a time in his remaining outings, which would leave him ineligible for wins unless he pitches in relief. Burns, the first Reds starter to win 15 games since Luis Castillo in 2019, is due to face the Brewers next time out.

Pagán had a three-run lead to work with tonight. He did give up another long shot to Seiya Suzuki after PCA’s homer with two outs, but it was caught just in front of the ivy-covered wall at Wrigley. Pagan has a 2.33 ERA and is 12-for-12 saving games since coming off the injured list two months ago.

Imanaga followed up three scoreless innings by giving up a three-run homer to Héctor Rodríguez in the fourth. He then allowed two more homers with his velocity having diminished in the fifth. Imanaga, now 8-10 with a 4.01 ERA on the season, just isn’t at his best right now, and the Cubs could give him some extra rest with rosters expanding. As is, he’s due to face the Marlins on Saturday.

Rodríguez was benched for four straight games, three of them against righties, a week into his major league career, but two weeks later, here he is starting five games in a row, including two against lefties. He has a chance to be useful in mixed leagues in September if Terry Francona keeps him in the lineup.

Crow-Armstrong’s first homer shouldn’t have happened; Chase Burns’ 2-2 pitch caught the corner, but the ump called it a ball and the Reds declined to challenge it. PCA took the next one 417 feet to right for his 37th homer of the year. No. 38, on an Emilio Pagán fastball right down main street, came with two outs and the Cubs down by three, so it didn’t lead to much. However, Crow-Armstrong is now all alone in second place for the MLB lead in homers, two behind Kyle Schwarber.

Busch has been fairly disappointing in hitting .239/.349/.391. It’s the final number there that’s the real problem; Busch hit 34 homers and slugged .523 in 592 plate appearances last season. This year, with his bat speed and his exit velocity numbers all down, he has 17 homers in 607 plate appearances.

De La Cruz was 2-for-4 before departing in the seventh. Consider him to be day-to-day. If he can’t go Monday, the Reds figure to play Matt McLain at short and probably Edwin Arroyo at second.

It’s unclear what was wrong. The Reds were up by four runs at the time, but it’s very unusual for De La Cruz to come out of anything but a true blowout. Ivan Johnson replaced him, with Matt McLain moving from second to short.

He’ll officially be added when rosters expand Tuesday, says Ryan Divish of the Seattle Times. The 21-year-old Montes had 38 homers between Double- and Triple-A, though they came with a .243 average and a 31 percent strikeout rate. One imagines he’ll take time away from Taylor Ward, who has hit just .113/.225/.145 in his 18 games for the Mariners. Montes is a left-handed hitter, so a platoon with Ward might be an option. Since he’s not going to start against lefties and he’ll be hitting in a tough environment, Montes probably isn’t worth an immediate pickup in shallow leagues.

Greene played left field today after DHing on Saturday. Expectations are that he’ll come off the injured list and rejoin the Tigers lineup when rosters expand on Tuesday.