Romy Gonzalez starts at 1B with Contreras out

Rodriguez got the call for his MLB debut on Saturday against the Guardians. In his first at-bat, he took Franco Aleman deep for a solo home run, a 111.1 mph, 420-foot blast for the first of his career. The 23-year-old outfielder should get plenty of run the rest of the way and offers solid power with excellent on-base ability.

A day after Yoendrys Gómez took the loss against the Guardians, Minter got the call to close out Saturday’s contest with a one-run lead. The left-hander faced two left-handed hitters to start the frame, suggesting this was matchup-based. It worked. He tossed a clean inning, striking out two batters for his first save.

Prielipp tossed a scoreless first inning, then gave up a run on three hits in the second. He recovered for two more scoreless innings before the Guardians brought two more runs home in the fifth on a hit batter, a base hit, and a double. Prielipp recorded the first out in the sixth and departed at 77 pitches with just one strikeout. The 25-year-old left-hander will take a 5.24 ERA, 1.34 WHIP, and a 117/40 K/BB ratio across 113 1/3 innings into a start against the Angels in Anaheim on Friday.

Kirk singled in a run in the first and hit a two-run homer in the third. He’s hitting .303 with six homers and 20 RBI in his last 23 games, raising his OPS from .695 to .776.

Arrighetti entered with a 5-0 lead to start the fourth after two innings from Spencer Miles and one from Joe Mantiply and then got eight outs while allowing two hits, walking two and striking out two. It’s his first win after four losses to open his Blue Jays career. He was 7-1 for the Astros after two months this season, but he’d been 0-8 with an 8.26 ERA since, which is why he was pitching in relief and not starting today. it’s unclear if he’ll get a start next weekend after the Jays’ off day Thursday.

It’s probably time for the Orioles to shut down Bradish, who is up to 155 innings in his first full season back from Tommy John. This is the third time in four starts that he’s failed to complete five innings, and he’s allowed 33 runs — 27 earned — in 41 2/3 innings while going 0-5 in his last nine starts. He’s due to make his next start Friday against the Brewers, but we’ll have to wait and see if that happens.

Alonso hit a two-run homer off Paul Sewald in the seventh. He’s one homer away from 300 for his career and one RBI away from 100 this season.

As disappointing as Gunnar Henderson has been this year, it’s still hard to understand why the Orioles want him hitting two spots behind Holliday right now. Holliday is 4-for-31 with a 10/0 K/BB in his last eight games. He’s hitting .192 with one homer and a 29/3 K/BB in 125 plate appearances since Aug. 11. He’s still just 22, but that everything has gone at least a little bit backwards from last season is making it rather difficult to be excited about his future.

Espino opened Saturday’s contest against the Twins with two scoreless frames before departing at 26 pitches. He threw 21 for strikes and struck out two batters while giving up one hit. The 25-year-old right-hander has pitched out of the bullpen in his brief time with the Guardians, posting a 2.25 ERA, 1.17 WHIP, and a 20/4 K/BB ratio across 12 innings.

The Red Sox had just one run on the board through five innings before Abreu broke a tie game with a two-run double in the sixth, his 36th double of the season. The 27-year-old outfielder is hitting .257/.337/.467 with 24 homers, 79 runs scored, 74 RBI, and eight steals across 632 plate appearances.