Cubs designate Luke Little for assignment

The 23-year-old has posted a 3.72 ERA in 94 1/3 innings across Double-A and Triple-A this season. Kent has a four-pitch mix and added velocity this season, which led to a big boost in strikeouts in Double-A. In 63 2/3 innings at Triple-A, he posted a respectable 25 percent strikeout rate. He remains more of a pitchability-over-stuff prospect, so it remains to be seen how his arsenal will translate to the MLB level.

Burrows was optioned to Triple-A on July 7th, but then that assignment was voided when he was placed on the injured list on July 13th. He’s been sidelined for almost a month, so he’ll need a few rehab starts but could simply remain in the Triple-A rotation even when his rehab is done.

Waldrep has been shut down since July 19th, when he pulled himself from a start for Triple-A Gwinnett with right arm discomfort. There has been no information about specifically what part of the arm was bothering him, but it seems that he’s on the mend. Still, if he begins throwing this week, he’ll need to fully ramp up and then face live hitters before a rehab assignment, so it will be a stretch for him to come back and pitch meaningful innings this season.

Musgrove hasn’t pitched in a game since Game 2 of the 2024 Wild Card Series against the Braves. He left that game injured and underwent Tommy John surgery a week later. During spring training this year, he experienced a setback with his elbow that delayed his recovery. It wasn’t until July that he started to face live hitters again, but he looked good in his last rehab start, throwing 1.6 mph harder than he did in 2024. He’ll likely need two more rehab starts, but he could be an option for the Padres and fantasy managers in September.

Ohtani had gone 67 straight games without a steal before collecting his seventh of the year tonight. It’s unlikely that he’ll do all that much running the rest of the way, but it’s nice to know it’s there when he needs it.

Jac Caglianone singled and homered to drive in all three runs. Skubal finished up with six strikeouts, four of which came on his fastball. He averaged 97.4 mph with that offering, his third highest mark of the season. He also came in at 97.3 mph last time out, so it looks like his stuff might be peaking at a good time for the Dodgers. He’ll likely face the Brewers on Sunday.

It’s been a struggle for Díaz since he came off the IL, but his lone difficulty tonight against the bottom third of the Royals lineup was his shoelace coming untied with two outs. He threw only 12 pitches, so he should be available to close again Tuesday.

Cameron generated 13 whiffs tonight but finished with only two strikeouts. His cutter was particularly ineffective; he threw it 22 times and gave up three hits while generating zero whiffs and only two called strikes. While others have had success lately in ramping up their fastball usage against the Dodgers, Cameron, who has experienced a velocity boost over the last month, threw four-seamers and sinkers only 21 times in the 101-pitch outing. Notably, he gave up zero hits on those pitches. Things will probably go better next time out against the Angels.

Both hits came off Tarik Skubal, who Caglianone had never faced previously. The 23-year-old is now 15-for-36 with four homers and 12 RBI in nine games this month, raising his OPS from .760 to .806.

Loftin was on base all three times up against Tarik Skubal. He’s hitting a solid .249/.336/.400, giving him the third highest OPS among the 12 players with 100 plate appearances for the Royals this season.