James Wood homers again, but Nationals lose

Ritchie worked behind opener Danny Young, who was charged for a run while going 2/3 of an inning. Ritchie allowed just one hit after taking over, and he walked two and struck out a pair before exiting before the start of the sixth. The 23-year-old has long-term potential and deserves some plaudits for pitching well enough in this game, but there’s still as much risk as there is reward in his fantasy profile.

Iglesias didn’t allow a hit and struck out a batter while throwing 7-of-10 pitches for strikes. It puts the 36-year-old at 19 saves on the season, and his ERA dips to 2.23 on the campaign. The next time Iglesias pitches will likely be the All-Star game in Philadelphia on Tuesday.

May needed 84 pitches to get through the four frames, as he issued four walks while procuring four strikeouts. It’s a disappointing end to the first half for May, who has pitched much better as of late than his 4.55 ERA on the year might indicate. The 28-year-old could be back on the bump over the weekend after the All-Star break, but the Cardinals haven’t set their rotation as of yet.

Altuve got the Astros on the board with his 11th homer of the season; a solo shot off MacKenzie Gore in the fourth. The 36-year-old has shown some decent pop, but he’s mostly scuffled in the first half of 2026 with a .235/.307/.404 slash.

Nimmo’s RBI triple — his fourth three-bagger of the season — would give the Rangers a 4-1 lead. The Astros were able to comeback and actually take a 5-4 lead before Texas tied the game in the ninth on a Kyle Higashioka homer, and Nimmo cemented the win with the walk-off off Josh Hader. He’s now driven in 34 runs in his first season with the Rangers, and he’s slashing a respectable .263/.331/.425 to end the first half. You can do a lot worse.

It’s the first loss of the season for Hader. The 32-year-old gave up a pair of hits without recording an out, and then an RBI single from Brandon Nimmo gave the Rangers the win. Even with the struggle Sunday, Hader still has an ERA of 1.17, and to say he’s in no danger of giving up his closing gig is the understatement of understatements.

It’s a small sampler because of injury, but it’s probably not a good sign when three innings of three-run baseball sees your ERA actually drop to 9.98. It was his first start since returning from the shoulder strain, and it somewhat predictably didn’t go well as he allowed four hits and three walks to go with four strikeouts. It remains to be seen if Javier will remain in the rotation. It should be not be that same type of situation for fantasy managers who streamed Javier on Sunday.

Gore volunteered to start Sunday’s game on short rest, and it went as well — if not better — than could be expected. He blanked the Astros over the first three innings, with the only blemish a solo shot from Jose Altuve in the fourth. He gave up just one more hit along with a walk while striking out four. It’s not a great fantasy outing, but one that the Rangers should be pretty thankful for. Gore will be back on the bump after the All-Star break.

Alexander is “going to miss some time” according to manager Craig Albernaz The 27-year-old has been a quality contributor for the Orioles since the start of June, but now will assuredly be placed on the injured list prior to Friday’s game, and Baltimore will have to turn to Norfolk for a replacement.

Monasterio came up with the bases loaded against Devin Williams in the ninth and worked a walk even after declining to challenge a called strike on a clear ball to begin the at-bat. That gave the Red Sox their first run before Jarren Duran tied the game with a shallow flyball. Before that, Monasterio had Boston’s only extra-base hit of the game off Zach Thornton. He’s 3-for-5 with a homer and three RBI the last two days, raising his OPS from .629 to .694. The win was Boston’s ninth in a row, with sweeps over the Angels, White Sox and Mets. It’s the first time since 1977 that they’ve gone 9-0 on a road trip.