Jonathan Ornelas signs minors deal with A’s

Kerkering entered in the eighth inning with the Phillies holding a 4-1 lead, so even though Philadelphia scored a run in the ninth, he still gets the save. It’s the second save of the year for the 25-year-old, and there’s a decent chance it’ll be the last.

Kikuchi pitched well, but Zack Wheeler pitched better, so Kikuchi is now 0-5 on the season. The 35-year-old gave up a pair of solo homers, and unfortunately for the southpaw and the Angels, that was enough to prevent the victory. Kikuchi will hope to get some run support and pitch at a similar level against the Pirates in Pittsburgh on Sunday.

Wheeler did walk three, but he was able to keep the damage to just the one run while striking out six and scattering four hits allowed. It’s a nice rebound for the right-hander after he was shellacked for four homers and eight runs in his previous outing against the Mariners. This one won’t go on Wheeler’s ‘best of’ DVD, but that’s more compliment to his previous success than insult to this one. He’ll take on Atlanta next weekend.

Duran’s 15th homer overtook his previous high of 14 from 2023. His .273/.331/.450 line this year is a near match for his .276/.324/.443 line from his one other nice season as a big leaguer. He hit just .237/.278/.309 with three homers over 504 plate appearances in the two years in between.

86 pitches to get nine outs. Rocker struck out seven of the 17 batters he faced today, but four walked and the six who put the ball in play against him collected four singles. Rocker finishes August with a 6.00 ERA, 31 strikeouts and 17 walks in 27 innings over six starts. It’d seem to be time to try him in relief if either Nathan Eovaldi or Jack Leiter were ready to return, but since they’re clearly not, Rocker should face the Rays next weekend.

Latz fanned one and got a couple of easy flyballs to end the game. It’s the first time in eight appearances this month that he went without walking a batter. Only the first of those appearances was a bad one, though. He’s pitched nine scoreless innings and collected six saves in his last seven outings.

May had decent enough stuff today after leaving his last start because a comebacker got him in the shoulder, but the five hard-hit balls he allowed all did damage, turning into a homer, three doubles and a single, and he hurt the cause by walking three batters and hitting another. He dropped to 6-9 with a 4.69 ERA. He’ll face the Reds next weekend.

Carter has hit .145/.188/.197 in 82 plate appearances this month, lowering his OPS from .672 to .608. His defense in center still grades out well, and he’s not going to make much money as a first-time arbitration-eligible player next year, so September isn’t necessarily a make-or-break month for his future in Texas. It sure would be nice to see something encouraging from him offensively, though.

It’s been slow going in recent years, but Sánchez is the 21st catcher (min. 50 percent of career games) to reach 200 homers. Four of those catchers barely made it (200 for Bill Freehan, 201 for Gene Tenace and 202 for Bill Dickey and Todd Hundley), so Sánchez should move up a few spots quickly. He will, however, also get overtaken by Willson Contreras, who is at 198 and is still a couple of years away from no longer qualifying here.

The homer was a two-run blast off Seth Lugo in the fourth, J-Ram’s first since June 6. He missed time with a hamate injury, which has since sapped some of his power. It was only his 11th homer of the season, though he’s partially made up for it with 31 stolen bases. Ramírez is on pace for his third consecutive 40-steal season despite the injury. Flashing more power down the stretch will go a long way toward easing any concerns fantasy managers have entering 2027, his age-34 campaign.