Joc Pederson homers twice to lead Rangers

The 25-year-old hurler has made 19 starts at Triple-A Memphis this season, registering a 3.13 ERA, 1.14 WHIP and a 111/52 K/BB ratio across 92 innings of work. His strikeout upside could make him an intriguing addition in deeper mixed leagues, though his elevated walk rate does lead to risk in the ratio departments as well.

It looked as though the dynamic 28-year-old infielder had sustained some sort of injury, so it’s encouraging to hear that he was just battling cramping. He’s considered day-to-day and should be good to return on Friday.

It appears to be nothing more than a routine night off for the 32-year-old superstar. Expect Ohtani to be utilized off the bench if a high-impact late-game situation presents itself.

Sheets will get a breather in this one with a left-hander toeing the slab for the Giants. Luis Rengifo will function as the club’s designated hitter in his place and will bat second for the Padres on Thursday night in San Diego.

As has been the case more often than not lately, Ozuna finds himself on the pine with an opposing right-hander on the mound. Bryan Reynolds will serve as the team’s designated hitter while Jhostynxon Garcia will start in center field and bat ninth against Rhett Lowder and the Reds.

The 24-year-old right-hander was a 17th round pick by the Orioles from the 2023 draft class. Barnhart has made 31 appearances at Double-A Chesapeake this season, posting a 4.05 ERA, 1.18 WHIP and a 45/19 K/BB ratio across 40 innings. He’ll add bullpen depth in the upper minors for the Tigers.

The 31-year-old backstop had been designated for assignment by the Tigers earlier in the week, so they were content to flip him for anything that they could get at this stage. Rogers will add quality catching depth for the O’s.

Fernando Cruz got a huge double play ball in the 10th to send the game to the 11th, but he couldn’t come up big again after getting no lead to work with. Munetaka Murakami was intentionally walked to start the inning. Cruz struck out Miguel Vargas, but then Sam Antonacci collected an infield single. Cruz bounced back to strike out Colson Montgomery after falling behind 3-0, but he then walked Peters on four pitches. Peters, a very surprising AL All-Star, didn’t start the game against lefty Ryan Weathers, but he was in his second plate appearances off the bench. He’s hitting .095/.188/.119 in 48 plate appearances since the break.

The velocity spike Burke enjoyed a month ago hasn’t held up over his last three starts, but he’s remained awfully effective anyway. The scoreless outing today was his second in three starts, and he has a 1.42 ERA and a 67/9 K/BB in 50 2/3 innings over his last eight turns. With his peripherals backing up his success, he seems like someone who can be counted on in mixed leagues the rest of the way. He’ll face the Red Sox next week.

Weathers wasn’t as impressive as Sean Burke today, but he wound up with the better end result, completing one more scoreless frame than the White Sox’s right-hander. Weathers struck out four and walked three. He allowed nine hard-hit balls, but just two produced hits and one was a double-play ball. This makes three times this year that Weathers has completed seven scoreless innings, though he’s only gotten a win for one of those. He remains 4-7 with a 3.99 ERA through 21 starts. He’ll face the Cardinals next.