Riley O’Brien fans two, earns 23rd save

That’s odd, especially after The Athletic’s Dan Hayes just wrote about Larnach potentially being available in trade. However, it probably has something to do with the fact that Larnach is 0-for-12 against Cleveland starter Gavin Williams in his career. The Twins have Austin Martin starting in Larnach’s place in left field today. Brooks Lee is leading off.

The Jays lack threatening left-handed hitters right now, so the Rays will let Legumina deal with Ernie Clement and Vladimir Guerrero Jr. in the first. Seymour pitched just three innings and gave up three runs in his last start Saturday against the Red Sox. Working in the bulk role makes him a better bet to get a win today.

Bedell, a 2020 fourth-round pick out of Missouri, needed Tommy John earlier in his pro career and dealt with another round of elbow woes last year. He looked like a legitimate prospect when healthy in 2023 and ’24, but nothing had gone right since. Pitching in relief for the first time, he had an 11.78 ERA in 18 1/3 innings for Triple-A Memphis this year.

Garrett has been thriving of late — he’s allowed one earned run over 30 innings in his last five starts for the Jumbo Shrimp — and seemed like the obvious choice to step into Miami’s rotation in Max Meyer’s place, but it’s not happening right now. They’ll apparently go with a bullpen day on Friday, with Ryan Gusto likely to be featured.

He’ll follow Cam Schlittler and Ryan Weathers in the rotation this weekend. Warren was slated to start Tuesday against the Pirates before the game was rained out. He was excluded from the Yankees’ starting plans Wednesday after it was decided to activate Max Fried from the injured list.

“Never say never,” Wheeler told USA TODAY’s Bob Nightengale. “We’ll see. It’ll probably depend on what happens next year. It’s something to think about for sure.” The 36-year-old Wheeler has returned from thoracic outlet surgery to go 10-2 with a 2.16 ERA in 16 starts this season. While it sounds like he might want to take things year by year, the Phillies would almost certainly try to extend him this winter if he’s open to it.

The Padres have left-hander Kyle Hart opening in front of Griffin Canning today, but with Smith and Mike Yastrzemski in the lineup, the Braves are treating it as if they were facing a right-handed starter. As a result, Joey Bart and Eli White, who both usually start versus lefties, are on the bench. Smith could use a big day; he seems like a candidate to lose his roster spot when Ronald Acuña Jr. is activated.

It’s Chris Sale on the mound for the Braves, so even though Merrill usually plays against lefties, the Padres have apparently decided this is a good time for a day off. Jase Bowen is starting in center.

Alvarez is like an old school heavy-weight boxer. He leans on his opponents until he finds the opportunity to deliver the knockout blow. Then, he puts them to sleep. He and Sandy Alcantara had battled three times over the first seven innings of this game. Despite notching one hit, Alvarez put the ball on the ground three times, which is rare for him. He also swung at one of the first two pitches he saw in all three at-bats, also something he rarely does. In an increasingly odd fourth matchup with the same pitcher in the same game, Alvarez waited back until Alcantara’s third pitch and drove a fastball for an opposite field home run and a late lead the Astros wouldn’t give back. That brought him to 34 home runs and 77 RBI on the season, each now league-leading marks by just one. His .328 batting average is also best in the American League by a wide margin as he has the triple crown in his sights with just over two months of baseball left to play.

Covering for Josh Hader who’d pitched in three of the Astros’ last four games, Abreu easily dispatched of the Marlins here. It was his first save since June 13th as Hader hasn’t missed a beat since returning from injury, so don’t expect any more save chances unless there’s a major shakeup in this bullpen at the trade deadline.