Randy Vásquez tosses six shutout innings in win

Kikuchi struck out four but walked five and threw 30 of his 57 pitches for strikes. His four-seamer touched 96.5 mph but was mainly around 94 mph, which is not far off from what we see when he’s 100 percent. The command was obviously rusty in this one, and we’d expect him to make at least two more rehab starts with the Angels having no incentive to rush him back to the big leagues this season.

The Twins’ top prospect is hitting .285/.386/.445 in 53 games at Triple-A this season with four home runs, 10 steals, and a 36/31 K/BB ratio. The Twins are still making a run at the playoffs, so they’re not yet going to turn things over to their prospects, but once the deadline passes for Jenkins to retain his rookie eligibility in 2027 (August 14th), we’d expect them to start thinking long and hard about calling him up.

Beck allowed four hits and walked one batter on the day. The 27-year-old has a 2.69 ERA, 1.02 WHIP, and 118/33 K/BB ratio in 110 1/3 innings at Triple-A this season. It’s a bit of a surprise that he was not included in any trade to bring the Yankees more offense at the deadline. He will continue to provide organizational depth for the rotation.

Ziehl was acquired this offseason in a trade for Jordan Hicks. The 23-year-old has posted a 4.33 ERA, 1.35 WHIP, and 96/18 K/BB ratio in 81 innings for Double-A Portland this season and had a 1.93 ERA in his final three starts before being promoted. Unlike many of Boston’s other starting pitching prospects, Ziehl is smaller in stature and doesn’t have a huge fastball, but he has a true five-pitch mix that could serve him well as rotation depth or a bulk reliever.

Wehunt has suddenly rocketed up the Red Sox pitching prospects list after the organization traded away some key arms at the deadline. The 6'7" right-hander has posted a 3.58 ERA, 1.30 WHIP, and 81/21 K/BB ratio in 65 1/3 innings split between Double-A and Triple-A this season. Armed with a funky delivery, Wehunt sits in the mid-to-upper 90s with his four-seamer, while also throwing a cutter, sweeper, and splitter. None of the secondaries is truly a plus offering, but he has good command, and his sweeper has taken steps to being a good whiff option. There is a chance he’s a back-of-the-rotation option for the Red Sox.

He also struck out six and walked four while throwing 55 of his 89 pitches for strikes. Smith-Shawver was used as the 27th man in the Braves’ doubleheader last week, which meant he headed back to the minors after the game. The Braves kept him on schedule during a trade deadline in which they tried to trade for Jacob deGrom and Logan Webb. Considering the Braves only came away with Tyler Mahle, Smith-Shawver still has a clear path to a rotation spot. The expectation is that he may make one more start in Triple-A to continue shaking some of the rust, and then he should be up in the big leagues for the remainder of the season.

Luzardo allowed one or no runs for the sixth time in seven starts and the 12th time this season. He’s probably about due to go on one of those runs in which he allowed six runs in three of four outings, but through 23 starts this year, he’s 10-5 with a 3.36 ERA and 164 strikeouts, which ranks sixth in the majors. He’ll face the Blue Jays on Sunday.

Palmquist flopped as an opener, retiring just one of the four batters he faced, and the Nationals never made a game of it after Littell entered. The loss went to Palmquist, so Littell remains 7-8 with a 4.97 ERA. He’ll face the Reds on Sunday.

Perfect. This is what cleanup Arraez was always supposed to do and always why Arraez was also supposed to bat cleanup. He’s not an OBP guy while hitting singles or doubles every third at-bat. He’s an RBI guy.

Turner has 11 hits in his last six games to raise his average to .252. We’re not testing any theories here, but his average hadn’t been this high since he went 0-for-4 on 4/20.