Noah Schultz fails to escape fourth against Rangers

Lee hit an RBI single off opener Beck Way (who was a loser, baby, today) to stake the Tigers to a 2-0 lead early. That was all they’d need with Tarik Skubal on the mound. Lee added a two-out double in the sixth but was stranded. Lee has mostly worked as a platoon bat against lefties this year, starting 27 games against lefties and hitting .270/.308/.432 against them so far this year.

Bradford and Jordan Montgomery, whose Triple-A start was rained out tonight, are both making their way back from elbow surgery with the hopes of taking Cal Quantrill’s spot in the Texas rotation. One will probably get a chance there, with the other winding up in middle relief. Bradford is the more interesting bet at this point, but that he’s plenty experienced in middle relief might hurt his chances of getting the rotation spot.

Loftin has essentially become a full-time player for the Royals due to injuries, starting 14 of 18 Royals July games to date. He’s hitting .286/.344/.393 in July and .247/.330/.394 on the season with four homers and one stolen base. Obviously, no fantasy upside here with those numbers, but Loftin is at least playing decently enough to not be a major problem for the Royals.

Rodriguez held the Nationals in check all night, with his lone blemish coming in the fourth inning thanks to a two-run homer by Dylan Crews. Three of the seven hits Rodriguez allowed in this one came in the fourth inning, but overall, he did a nice job of limiting base runners against one of the top offenses in the league. A sacrifice fly RBI by Gabriel Moreno in the top of the seventh allowed Rodriguez to exit this one with the lead, and the Diamondbacks’ bullpen did its part to secure him his ninth victory of the season. Rodriguez’s next start is scheduled for Wednesday on the road against the Pirates.

Preliminary tests failed to detect a concussion, so that’s good news. The 20-year-old Bonemer, arguably the White Sox’s top prospect. He entered tonight with a .277/.376/.495 line in 27 games since moving up to Double-A.

PCA doubled in the third inning, but made his biggest impact in the sixth when he drew the Cubs even with the Pirates after blasting a solo homer off starter Jared Jones to tie the game at 1-1. It was the 22nd homer of the season for Crow-Armstrong, who homered for the first time since his two-homer night on July 8th. With one week left to go in July, Crow-Armstrong is slashing a solid .288/.447/.593 with 10 RBI and nine extra-base hits.

He didn’t start, but it doesn’t look like he’ll be sidelined too much longer given the pinch-hit appearance. Caglianone missed the last two games and didn’t start this one. Perhaps he’ll be fully available on Saturday or Sunday.

He got a pinch-hitting Jac Caglianone to fly out, then struck out Vinnie Pasquantino and induced a Nick Loftin pop-up to end it. Jansen’s season has been rough, but he’s thrown seven straight scoreless innings to lower his season ERA to 3.90 and his WHIP to 1.23.

Maybe this will prove troublesome going forward, but it still sounds better than most of the alternatives. Arrighetti exited tonight while warming up for the second inning after a rough first that saw him give up three runs. Cristian Javier could step into the rotation if Arrighetti lands on the IL. The rehabbing Hayden Wesneski would also be an option.

Luzardo did everything he could to give the Phillies a chance in this one, but when your offense is going against Cam Schlittler, runs will be hard to come by. Luzardo nearly matched Schlittler inning-for-inning on Friday night, but it was a solo homer by Paul Goldschmidt that proved to be the difference-maker in an otherwise strong performance by Luzardo. It’s a tough way to pick up his fifth loss of the season, but the Phillies and fantasy managers won’t be disappointed with the start, as Luzardo has now allowed one earned run or fewer in seven straight outings. He’ll look to pick up his 10th win of the season next week when he takes the mound on Wednesday against the Marlins.