Sonny Gray strikes out five in win over Rays

The assumption had been if the Mariners made a move in their rotation, it would likely be jettisoning Luis Castillo. Hancock would have more value to other teams as a controllable starter who is not making $22.75 million a season. Hancock has had a breakout year, with a 3.16 ERA in his first 19 starts, with 97 strikeouts in 105 1/3 innings pitched. The Athletic’s pair of reporters believe the Cubs and Mariners could match up well in a trade, though stop short of reporting that the Cubs have engaged with the Mariners on Hancock.

It’s the second game in a row he’s missed since leaving Tuesday’s game with shoulder soreness. Nick Loftin is getting some run in right field for the Royals on Thursday after Starling Marte played there yesterday.

Acuña will play in Triple-A Gwinnett tonight and looks likely to return at some point this weekend against the Orioles. Weiss added that if he wasn’t activated Friday, “almost certainly” he’d be activated this weekend. Acuña has been rehabbing his hamstring since July 13 in the FCL league and then at Gwinnett. The fantasy superstar should be safe to plug in to lineups immediately upon his return.

The Braves got all of their runs on homers, with Michael Harris II, Ozzie Albies and Drake Baldwin contributing solo shots. Smith’s homer came off Griffin Canning in the fourth. The Padres had Yuki Matsui up in the pen at the time, and it would have been interesting to see if Smith, who is 4-for-28 with one extra-base hit against southpaws this season, would have remained in the game had they made the switch. The homer was Smith’s seventh on the season. He’s likely looking at a reduced role or perhaps the loss of his roster spot when Ronald Acuña Jr. comes off the IL.

All of the runs came in the second after Mauricio Dubón greatly misjudged what seemed like a routine flyball to left field, resulting in a single. Sale wasn’t blameless in the inning, as he plunked light-hitting lefty Jake Cronenworth and walked Fernando Tatis Jr. with the bases loaded, but that all happened after what should have been the third out. Sale matched his season high with the 11 strikeouts. It’s his 94th career 10-strikeout game, moving him past Curt Schilling and into seventh place on the all-time list. Next up is Sandy Koufax at 97. He’ll make his next start Tuesday against the Mets.

This one wasn’t quite as eventful as Wednesday’s save, but Iglesias did allow two singles with two outs before striking out Luis Rengifo to end the game. Iglesias will probably get Friday off after working the last two days. Dylan Lee would be the favorite to close in his place.

After relieving Kyle Hart, Canning gave up three homers, the last being a three-run shot from Dominic Smith in the fourth. Canning should have already been lifted by that point and would have been if Austin Riley had reached ahead of Smtih, but with the strikeout of Riley, manager Craig Stammen kept Yuki Matusi in the pen and gave Canning a chance to finish the inning with two outs. It was a decision that might have cost the team the game. Canning fell to 1-9 with a 6.97 ERA in 62 innings over 15 appearances. If he keeps his spot, he’ll at least have a nice matchup at home against the Rockies next week.

Harris will need to go on a stolen base tear to get to 20/20 for the second year in a row — he’s just 6-for-7 there at the moment — but at least the home runs don’t seem to be in doubt. He’s also eighth in the majors with a .299 average and tied for 20th with 61 RBI.

Murphy was placed on the injured list on May 12 and expected to miss eight weeks at the time. It’s taken a little longer to heal than expected, but Murphy is likely in line to be activated next week if his rehab assignment is setback-free. With Drake Baldwin demanding a spot in the lineup now, Murphy won’t be returning as an everyday catcher.

Pozo spent most of the first half in the season in the bigs, hitting .242/.242/.273 in 33 plate appearances with the Cardinals. The 29-year-old has also played in 21 games for Triple-A Memphis, hitting .229/.256/.386 with three homers in 86 plate appearances. He’ll trade Triple-A clubhouses as he heads to Norfolk.