Brandon Lowe swats 23rd homer in loss to Reds

Garcia continues to take over for Paul Sewald, who was pulled from his role as the closer earlier this month. Garcia needed just seven pitches to get through Friday’s inning of work and ends July with a 1.54 ERA over 11 2/3 innings of work. Manager Torey Lovullo hasn’t officially committed to Garcia as the team’s closer, but he has been the first option out of the pen in each of the team’s last two save situations.

Moreno singled in the top of the eighth inning to bring home Corbin Carroll and put the Diamondbacks up 2-1. Ryan Waldschmidt would also come home to score on the play, but that was due to a fielding error by Angel Martínez. Moreno has enjoyed a red-hot July and ends the month slashing .362/.438/.489 with two homers and 19 RBI.

Wells needed just 10 pitches to get through the inning and secure the 6-4 victory for the Orioles. Wells was a perfect 4-for-4 in save opportunities for the Orioles this month and posted a 1.10 ERA over 16.1 innings of work in July.

No word yet on what’s going back to the Orioles in the deal. Kremer finished his Orioles’ tenure on a low note, giving up eight runs over four innings in a miserable effort against the Tigers on Tuesday. That being said, he should help to bring stability to the middle of the Twins’ rotation as they push for a spot in the postseason. Stay tuned.

Harris changed this game with his three-run homer in the sixth inning. It more or less chased Nationals’ starter Foster Griffin and gave the Braves a commanding 5-1 lead. It was an impressive blast too at 112.8 mph off the bat and traveling an estimated 421 feet. He’s in a bit of a cold spell with just five hits in his last 27 at-bats – and of course just one walk over that span – so here’s to hoping this big game can help him get off the schneid.

This was one of the starts where it’s hard to believe Elder only let up one run. The Nationals were all over him for 10 hard-hit balls, but a fair chunk of those were hit on the ground. Still, they looked remarkably comfortable in the box all night and rarely chased any pitches out of the strike zone. He did his job though and got both a win and quality start out of it. Elder closed out July with a 3.00 ERA across 21 innings with 18 strikeouts and 10 walks after pitching to a 8.10 ERA in June. He’s scheduled to face the Marlins at home next time out.

Abrams’ growth as a hitter this season has been remarkable to watch. His home run was his 28th of the season and RBI his 83rd. Each of those are among the leaders in the National League and career-bests for him by a wide margin with two more months left to play. Yet, to watch the Braves pitchers be much more careful with him following that blast and Abrams to just sit back and take walks in his following two plate appearances was lovely. With three walks in this contest, he also set a new career-high in that stat with 51 games in front of him. He’s fully blossomed into a phenomenal offensive player.

This was Griffin’s first rough start in a while. The Braves were on him immediately, scoring in each of the first two innings and had six hard-hit balls in the process. Then, Griffin completely fell apart in the sixth when Matt Olson doubled to start the frame, Ozzie Albies singled just after, and Michael Harris II brought everyone home with a long three-run home run. That was the second left-on-left homer Griffin allowed in this game and it was a start to forget about as soon as possible. If he remains on the Nationals through the trade deadline, he’ll face the Phillies on the road next time out.

Snell is expected to throw around 75 pitches in Tuesday’s outing or around five innings depending on how things go. As long as he makes it through that start without any issues, he could be cleared to return as early as next weekend. Snell told reporters on Friday that his elbow feels as good as it has in years. He could wind up making a major impact down the stretch for fantasy purposes if he can stay healthy.

Varland allowed a one-out single to Masyn Winn in this one, but retired the next two batters he faced to get out of the inning. The righty lowered his season ERA to 0.96 on the season following Friday’s game and is a perfect 24-for-24 in save opportunities this season.