Francisco Alvarez homers in loss to Dodgers

The 35-year-old southpaw struck out eight batters in the contest while issuing a pair of walks. Seven of those eight runs came during the first inning, after which he settled in nicely. He threw 80 pitches (56 strikes) in the ballgame, so physically he’s probably ready to rejoin the Angels’ rotation over the weekend unless they want to see him have success in a minor league setting first.

The 28-year-old right-hander has been sidelined since mid-July due to right hip inflammation. He should only need a couple of outings there before he’s cleared to rejoin the Diamondbacks’ bullpen.

Langford’s 14th homer off J.T. Ginn gave the Rangers a 4-3 lead in the sixth and gave Langford his first runs batted in since Aug. 1. He’d gone 3-for-37 in his previous 12 games, which led to him receiving a day off on Wednesday.

Gore pitched better against the Giants and Angels in his previous two starts, but this one earned him his first win of August. He’s now 7-9 with a 4.45 ERA overall, and he should be a nice play with a home start versus the Halos next week.

Latz hadn’t pitched since Monday, so the Rangers asked him for six outs tonight, and he recorded them without incident. He did allow a hit in the eighth, but a caught stealing allowed him to face the minimum over the two innings. Since he did throw 36 pitches, he’ll probably be unavailable Sunday.

Ginn struck out seven and walked none, but he gave up eight hits, including a two-run homer to Wyatt Langford. As a result, he took his first loss of the second half and dropped to 8-7 with a 3.53 ERA. He has a favorable matchup in Kansas City coming up next week.

Bolte’s homer off MacKenzie Gore gave the A’s all of their runs this evening. He’s back up to .261/.334/.368, which certainly isn’t great but is still impressive for someone who strikes out or hits grounders two-thirds of the time.

It took facing the Royals to get Detmers his first win since June 16 and fourth overall in 25 starts. It’s the third time in his career that he’s completed eight innings and the eighth time he’s struck out at least 10. Detmers certainly would have been a better bet down the stretch in fantasy leagues had the Angels sent him to a contender to the deadline. He’ll take on the Rangers next time out.

Joyce edged out Jacob Misiorowski for the hardest pitches of the night, topping out at 104.5 and 104.4 mph. Misiorowski couldn’t do better than a measly 104.2 mph. Expect Joyce to keep getting save chances for the Angels when things line up properly. However, they shouldn’t be using him on back-to-back days in his first month back from shoulder surgery, and they’re probably going to have only so many leads over the final six weeks.

Dobnak has always been more about the groundout than the strikeout, and his only previous start with six K’s came way back on Sept. 25, 2019 against the Tigers. He’s now sporting a 1.73 ERA in six starts and two relief appearances for the Royals, and even if he fades some, it seems pretty likely that Kansas City will want to bring him back in 2027. And they will be able to, since even though his five-year, $9.25 million deal with the Twins is ancient history, he has only three-plus years of service time and will be eligible for arbitration for just the first time this winter.