Travis Bazzana delivers RBI triple in loss

When you’re hot, you’re hot and Mesa is absolutely sizzling at the plate since last week’s All-Star break. The 24-year-old launched opened the scoring in this one by smashing a 412-foot solo shot into right-center field off Blue Jays ace Dylan Cease in the second inning. It was his lone hit in four at-bats, but it helped set the tone for an eventual lopsided victory. Mesa has now collected four homers and one stolen base over his last seven games. He isn’t likely to help much in the batting average department, but he’s emerging as a viable power and speed source that deserves consideration for a roster spot in deeper fantasy formats.

Guerrero’s inexplicable decline continued with another hitless performance, dropping his season OPS below the .700 mark. The 27-year-old has managed just six home runs through 95 games after clearing the 20-homer plateau in each of the previous five seasons. Few hitters possess his ability to snap out of an extended slump in an instant, but there have been very few signs that a turnaround is coming with only two months remaining. Barring an unexpected power surge, this will go down as one of the most puzzling non-injury-related seasons by an established fantasy superstar in recent memory.

It hardly qualifies as a dominant performance. Martinez failed to record a strikeout and generated just four swinging strikes, but he limited Toronto’s lineup to four hard-hit balls and no extra-base hits. He needed only 82 pitches to navigate six efficient innings and pick up his ninth win of the season, which matters for fantasy purposes. The lone run against him came on an RBI single from Alejandro Kirk with two outs in the fourth. The 35-year-old has allowed three earned runs or fewer in 18 of his 19 starts in his Rays debut. He’ll bring a 2.59 ERA, 1.12 WHIP and 62/20 K/BB ratio across 111 1/3 innings into a home outing against the Guardians on Saturday to wrap up a two-start week.

Cease was tagged for seven hits, including solo homers by Victor Mesa Jr. and Cedric Mullins. He finished with seven strikeouts and only issued one walk. A whopping three errors, including one by Cease himself, led to only one of the additional three runs being earned in this one. It was a rare clunker for the 30-year-old since he had allowed two earned runs or fewer in five of his previous six starts since returning from the injured list on June 9. He’ll wrap up a two-start week with a road matchup against the suddenly red-hot Red Sox on Sunday.

Teel will undergo further evaluation, and is likely headed for imaging as well, after suffering a potentially serious ankle injury on a play at the plate during the second inning of Monday’s game. The 24-year-old backstop appeared to get his left ankle caught under the weight of his body while twisting and attempting to tag out a runner on the play. There should be an update on his status in the coming days, but it certainly looks like an injured list situation.

Halpin homered in his first two at-bats against Joe Ryan, hitting balls 401 and 398 feet to right center. His double in the seventh was also an impressive 105-mph drive. Halpin struggled to hit much better than .250 in the minors, but he is the Guardians’ best defensive center fielder, and he wouldn’t need to excel offensively in order to be at least a useful part-timer. He’s at .222/.243/.375 through 76 plate appearances.

The Guardians have been averaging just three runs per game in Bibee’s starts this year, but they supported him with a season-high 10 runs while he was in the game tonight and 13 overall. After opening up 0-7 with a 4.57 ERA through the end of May. Bibee has gone 4-2 with a 2.88 ERA since the beginning of June. However, his peripherals, which suggest that he deserves that April/May ERA, have held very steady throughout. He’ll face the Rays on Saturday.

The six homers tied the major league record, with Ryan joining 11 other unfortunate pitchers. The last to give up that many were Miles Mikolas last season, Matt Swarmer in 2022 and Michael Blazek in 2017. Ryan’s stuff seemed fine, but everything the Guardians hit traveled a long way. Of the six homers, only four were barrels, and two would have stayed in play in over half of MLB’s ballparks. Ryan, who had allowed 10 homers in 110 1/3 innings coming in, saw his ERA rise from 2.85 to 3.38. He’ll face the A’s at home this weekend.

Both came off Joe Ryan. Hoskins, who has started over Kyle Manzardo in two of the Guardians’ last three games, is just 5-for-30 this month, but four of those hits have been homers. He’s batting .182/.314/.387 on the season. His role figures to be reduced again once José Ramírez and Angel Martínez return from the injured list.

It’s his first four-hit game in two years and fourth of his career. Bailey had the one of the seven Guardians homers that wasn’t off Joe Ryan, as he took Woo-Suk Go deep in the seventh. That was his fourth homer in 207 plate appearances this season and third in 118 plate appearances since he was traded to Cleveland. He’s batting .239/.276/.385 for his new team, which is a modest improvement over his .224/.282/.329 line in parts of four seasons with the Giants.