Paul Sewald takes loss to Cardinals in ninth

Arias passed every test in three months in Double-A, hitting .319/.407/.581 with 18 homers and just 46 strikeouts in 327 plate appearances. There still isn’t much reason to think he’ll reach the majors this year, but he’s not too far away from taking over as Boston’s shortstop. Trevor Story and Marcelo Mayer might wind up battling it out for second base next year.

Holmes’ velocity was pretty close to normal in his first start back from a fractured fibula, but he walked two and gave up five hard-hit balls to Yankees prospects while throwing 51 pitches and getting seven outs. He’ll almost definitely make at least one more rehab start. Whether he’ll still be a Met when he’s ready to return in early August is currently up in the air.

Even with Nolan Arenado resting, Locklear wasn’t going to start this one until Ketel Marte was scratched. At that point, the D-backs moved Tim Tawa from first to third and Ildemaro Vargas from third to second to make room for him. Locklear was on a terrific hot streak in Triple-A before getting called up last week and is 5-for-12 with a five RBI and just one strikeout since being recalled. However, if not for the Marte injury, he would have been on the bench today for the fifth time in seven games. It’s hard to say if he’ll play Friday; he’s supposed to start against lefties, but the Nationals only have Carson Palmquist going as an opener and will follow with righty Zack Littell.

Pfaadt struck out just one and allowed 10 hard-hit balls, but he made it work in earning a fifth straight victory. He’s allowed eight runs and posted a 14/3 K/BB over 27 innings during the streak. Pfaadt has certainly improved as a groundball pitcher, but not to the point that it currently makes sense to bet on him while he’s missing so few bats. He’ll pitch in Pittsburgh next week.

McGreevy came up a little shy of his fifth straight quality start by giving up three runs in the fourth and one in the fifth. He surrendered seven hits, walked three and struck out three in dropping to 4-8. He’ll face the Cubs for the first time this season next week.

Moreno has bettered his excellent .901 OPS in June with a .960 mark so far this month. At 262 plate appearances, he’s short of qualifying for the batting title. However, his .309 average ranks sixth among all major leaguers with at least 200 plate appearances.

Winn is looking like a No. 8 hitter, yet the Cardinals haven’t been able to bat him lower than sixth in any game this season. He’s currently hitting .237/.314/.320, giving him an 82 OPS+ that’s down from 91 last year and 104 in his first full season in 2024. He’s still just 24 and might get stronger, but the trends certainly aren’t good.

Palmquist opened ahead of Miles Mikolas on Tuesday and gave up four runs in 1 2/3 innings in Colorado. The Nationals will hope the arrangement works better this time.

It sounds like the Royals might use an opener in front of Cameron, though assuming it’s a right-hander, that will just invite the Tigers to stack lefties at the top of the order. Assuming the Royals follow through with the idea, it’d be Cameron’s first relief appearance after 43 starts to begin his major league career.

Springer lined a hot smash to the right of shortstop Ben Williamson to knock in Yohendrick Piñango and put the Blue Jays up 2-1. He’d later add a double, but was stranded on the basepaths. Springer is hitting .237/.286/.407 over this last 15 games with two homers and is probably on the cut line in mixed leagues at this point, but perhaps this will get him going.