Rangers flip Josh Smith to Blue Jays for Macko

This could have been worse, as Jones gave up eight hits in the outing, and he gave up a pair of homers. Fortunately both roundtrippers were solo shots, and he did a decent job of wiggling out of jams with four strikeouts. That’s not to say this was an effective outing, but it could’ve been a disaster. He’ll take a 4.02 ERA into a scheduled start against the Mets on Sunday.

Povich gave up seven hits, but they amounted to only eight total bases, and he walked just one. He won for the seventh time in 40 starts since debuting with Baltimore in 2024. The Orioles are about to get Chris Bassitt back, so it’s currently unclear if Povich will get another start. He definitely helped his case, though. If he stays in the rotation, he’ll face the Rangers on Sunday.

Cano was the choice to close over Andrew Kittredge with Tyler Wells gone to Tampa Bay, and he pitched the better of the two, as Kittredge gave up the Angels’ lone run of the game in the eighth. It looks like Cano, who just signed a two-year extensin on Friday, will be the better pickup in mixed leagues.

Rodriguez had a nice night, averaging 96.8 mph with his fastball and completing seven innings for the first time since June 26, 2024. His previous high since his comeback was 5 2/3 innings. He struck out six and walked one. Rodriguez still has a 7.24 ERA at the moment, but it’s safe to say the Orioles wouldn’t trade him for Taylor Ward if they could do things over again.

With Taylor Ward gone, O’Neill should have started this game. He’s been one of the Orioles’ hottest hitters of late, batting .289/.333/.667 since the beginning of July even before the homer tonight, but the Orioles have been hesitant to use him against righties, even though he doesn’t have particularly pronounced splits over the course of his career. The homer tonight was off a lefty reliever, so that’s probably not much help. He should be in the lineup Wednesday against southpaw Reid Detmers, though.