Rangel demoted after last poor start

After Patrick Bailey got the scoring going with a solo home run in the third inning, DeLauter plated Cleveland’s second run with an RBI single. He later delivered an RBI double in the fifth inning and also stole his seventh base of the season. After homering on Saturday, DeLauter is now hitting .278/.347/.444 with 12 home runs, seven steals, and 55 RBI. Not a bad rookie season.

Kelly struck out five and had a 13 percent swinging strike rate, but he also walked four and threw just 58 percent of his pitches for strikes. The 37-year-old hadn’t allowed more than two earned runs in a game since June 28th, so we’ll consider this an unfortunate speed bump. The bad news is that he’s set to face the Dodgers his next time out, which is likely a start you’d like to avoid.

Williams’ day might have been even better, but a rain delay chased him with two out in the sixth at 89 pitches. The right-hander sat 98.3 mph on his four-seam fastball with elite extension, as always. He also posted an absurd 24 percent swinging strike rate overall and 36 percent CSW while getting into two-strike counts on 79 percent of batters faced. Williams has now allowed just two runs on six hits over 19 2/3 innings in his last three starts while striking out 33 and walking two. It’s hard to find a pitcher throwing the ball better right now, so you have to just keep rolling him out there.

It was quite likely Stephenson’s final game with the Reds, as the free agent-to-be is likely to be shipped off prior to Monday’s trade deadline. He’s not quite in as high of demand as Hunter Goodman or Ryan Jeffers, but there’s a good chance those two will stay put, making Stephenson the top catcher moved. He is batting .256/.342/.417 with nine homers on the season.

Burns got through six and won his 12th straight decision in spite of a lengthy unofficial delay in the fourth in which the grounds crew spent about 25 minutes working on the infield. He’s 13-1 with a 2.35 ERA through 22 starts. We wouldn’t expect much from him in September, but he’ll probably keep pitching like an ace until the Reds slow him down. He’ll face the Nationals next weekend.

Keller performed well in his first two starts to begin the second half, but with this outburst, his ERA is now higher than ever at 5.29. Some of the blame today surely goes to the rain; his velocity was down by about 1.5 mph and he walked four. Still, this just isn’t a very good pitcher. In his last 14 starts, Keller has given up 58 runs and struck out 54 in 69 2/3 innings. He’ll face the Mets next.

The Pirates were down 9-2 in the eighth, so it didn’t really matter much that Doval surrendered a solo shot to Tyler Stephenson. Still, it’s not a great first impression as he auditions for a late-game role. Even though his groundball rate remains excellent, Doval has allowed a career-high seven homers this season. That’s one homer every six innings, compared to one every 14 innings over the course his career.

Another little late boost for Lowe’s trade value. He’s hit .340/.365/.540 in 13 games to start the second half. With Luis García Jr. now off the table, teams still looking for a left-handed first base/DH type (Arizona? Cleveland?) could turn here.

Caballero was responsible for the only two runs of the game with his two-run shot, but that was one more run than the Cubs scored thanks to Gerrit Cole and the Yankees’ bullpen. Caballero has 11 homers on his campaign, and that roundtripper along with a single ups his slash to .244/.295/.387 on the year.

Bednar issued one walk, but also picked up a strikeout and didn’t allow a hit. The scoreless 1 1/3 frames lowers Bednar’s ERA to 2.61, and he’s now saved 24 games in his first full year as the Yankees’ closer.