Cruz (hand) cleared for all baseball activities

This was an unbelievable baseball game. Tied 0-0 after nine, Pete Crow-Armstrong swatted a two-run home run in the top of the 10th to give the Cubs a commanding lead. Facing a sweep and swirling rumors about teammates being traded, the Cardinals rallied for three in the bottom of the inning with Herrera’s walk-off double landing the final blow. It was his second of two doubles – with the first being hit 111 mph – and saved the day. Herrera himself has been at the center of some recent rumors and hopes to get off the schneid after putting up a .545 OPS over his last 30 games.

May put together a solid start here while it was obvious that the Cardinals were trying to protect him. He got through his five scoreless innings, but didn’t face a single batter for a third time and was yanked at just 70 pitches. His fastball also trended down closer to 95 mph from his usual 97 in that fifth or final inning. To further defend that decision, May’s command was all over the place and he only forced three total swings-and-misses. In the end, May has faltered over the last month, was wild again here, and the Cardinals did well to quit while they were ahead. May is a trade candidate ahead of Monday’s deadline, so keep an eye out for where and when his next start is.

Crow-Armstrong came to the plate in the 10th inning with this game still tied at 0-0 and launched a 424 foot, 109 mph home run. He celebrated like he’d just won them the game and for a moment it felt like they had, until the Cardinals rallied for three runs of their own in the bottom of the inning. Nevertheless, Crow-Armstrong is putting together a MVP-worthy campaign with 24 home runs, 26 stolen bases, and a .284/.382/.538 slash line on the season.

Boyd and Cardinals’ starter Dustin May traded zeroes in this pitcher’s duel that went to extra innings scoreless. Boyd was the better of the two though with his second straight seven inning start. In fact, he completed at least six innings in all five of his July outings and has put a long trip to the injured list through May and June behind him. His command wasn’t even great in this game, but his trusted changeup got him out of trouble when he needed a boost and he now has a 3.41 ERA through 66 innings on the season. Next up is a two-start week against the Dodgers and Royals.

Passan added that Detroit will begin to engage with interested teams in the next day or two. Skubal recorded his 1,000th career strikeout while punching out six and allowing three runs over 6 2/3 innings against the Orioles on Wednesday in what appears to be his final start in a Tigers uniform. The back-to-back Cy Young Award winner left the game with Detroit ahead 7-0, but they still wound up losing to drop four and a half games out of the final AL Wild Card spot. The general consensus, according to Passan, is that the Dodgers and Brewers are the clear frontrunners in the Skubal sweepstakes since they have the volume of prospects and big-league talent to facilitate a deal. Every contending team in baseball should be reaching out to try to land Skubal.

This was a box score gem when in reality, Twins’ fans were pulling their hair out watching it. Dobnak let up 11 hard-hit balls and only four turned into hits. To be fair, most of them were hit on the ground as he did an excellent job of keeping his sinker, sweeper, and changeup down. It’s been a great five-game run for Dobnak in his return to the bigs with just three earned runs across 26 innings, just gear up for some regression.

Tolbert was everywhere in this one. He homered off Joe Ryan in the third inning to break a scoreless tie and scored again during their two-run rally in the fifth inning. He stole a base later on and has made the most of his opportunity to play more with Bobby Witt Jr. on the injured list. In his last seven games spanning nine days, he has two steals, one home run, and four runs scored.

Lee manned the two-hole in the Twins lineup in their first game without Byron Buxton, who went back on the injured list with yet another right hip injury before this game. Lee couldn’t muster a single hit or hard-hit ball in a game where the Twins had 14 as a team. He’s struggled to a .687 OPS over his last 30 games and will need to pick up the slack without Buxton.

Yikes. Ryan followed up his stinker against the Guardians last week with another tough start after being pushed back with arm fatigue. This one wasn’t as bad as that eight run, six homer implosion, but still poor against a lackluster Royals lineup that was missing Bobby Witt Jr. They scored in each of the third, fourth, and fifth innings and made plenty of hard contact on the way. In all, Ryan allowed 11 hard-hit balls and this rough patch is the last thing the Twins need as they try to fight for a Wild Card spot. His velocity was in line with his season averages though, so hopefully this is not a health issue. He’ll look to right the ship in a rematch against these same Royals next time out that will begin a two-start week where Ryan will also face the Brewers.

Snell threw a staggering 45 of 60 pitches for strikes and looked completely unhittable against low-level minor league hitters. He allowed just one baserunner over four frames. His next steps and return timeline remain murky since the Dodgers appear to be slow-playing the process in an effort to have Snell ready for the home stretch and postseason. The 33-year-old former fantasy ace is coming off nanoscope surgery to remove loose bodies from his elbow back in mid-May. It’s challenging to forecast his next steps, but he should be close to making it back to Los Angeles.