Tigers bring Rainey up for bullpen

Mayo’s first homer off Joey Cantillo was his 16th off a lefty. The second off Slade Cecconi was his fifth versus a righty and first since July 27. He’s sat three of the last six times the Orioles have faced righties, but today’s performance could help with that. Luis Robert Jr.'s absence is also probably a good thing for his fantasy value.

Rogers allowed six hits and walked none. He has an exceptional 69/6 K/BB in 61 innings since the All-Star break, though his 3.54 ERA doesn’t quite match up with his peripherals. He’ll take on the Blue Jays on Saturday or Sunday.

The rally was ruled in part by Rece Hinds losing José Ramírez’s fly to right in the sun, giving him a single. Nathaniel Lowe hit the homer with one out in the ninth, making it a 6-4 game. Kittredge stayed in initially afterwards and got Angel Genao to ground out. It seemed like he could have finished the game at that point, but the Orioles brought in Josh Walker to face Patrick Bailey. Another fly to right followed, but while Hinds again struggled with the sun, he did manage to catch this one. It gave Walker his first save in 50 relief appearances since his debuted in 2023. Kittredge remains a top candidate for saves in the Orioles pen for now.

He also hit two batters. The Guardians let Cantillo wear it last time out, as he gave up nine runs — four earned — in 5 1/3 innings against the Blue Jays. This was another miserable outing fueled by Cantillo’s control woes, and he’s now tied with Robbie Ray for the game’s highest walk total at 77 in 144 innings. He has a respectable 4.00 ERA anyway, and the Guardians are 18-12 in his starts. Pulling him from the rotation probably isn’t the right answer, but Cleveland might consider it after this. If so, they’d probably go back to Slade Cecconi, who allowed two runs in three innings of relief today.

Genao has grounded into a double play in three straight games and is 1-for-15 in his last four games. He hits the ball fairly hard and doesn’t strike out much, but the 72 percent groundball rate... well, that’s a pretty big problem. The Guardians aren’t helping themselves by treating him as an everyday player right now.

It’s happening. Burnes will make his long-awaited return to Arizona’s rotation after missing most of the last two seasons recovering from Tommy John surgery. The 31-year-old former fantasy ace shouldn’t have any significant workload restrictions since he threw 53 pitches in his final rehab outing in the minors last week. It would be surprising if Burnes provided a massive fantasy impact given how much time he’s missed, but he’s capable of helping out in deeper mixed leagues. It’s a nice matchup right out of the gate against a Kansas City lineup that ranks 21st in runs scored this season.

Perdomo extended Arizona’s extra-inning lead with a two-run single to right field with two outs in the 10th inning. It was his lone hit in four at-bats, but it made a huge difference as the Diamondbacks would need all five of their runs to hold off Kansas City’s comeback attempt in the bottom of the frame. It was extremely encouraging to see Perdomo back in the lineup following an early exit from Sunday’s game against the Astros after being struck in the head by a line drive from teammate Ketel Marte.

Santana came on to protect a one-run lead with the potential tying run at second base after Gerardo Carrillo surrendered four runs and recorded only one out to open the 10th inning. He managed to get Michael Massey to fly out to center field before striking out Nick Loftin to end the ballgame. He got the call with Juan Morillo unavailable for workload reasons after both Justin Martinez and Brandyn Garcia pitched earlier in the contest. It was his third save of the season. He’s pitched surprisingly well for Arizona, allowing two runs over 5 2/3 innings since August 17.

Martinez worked around a two-out walk to John Rave by striking out pinch-hitter Isaac Collins to send a scoreless stalemate into extra innings. He was credited with the win in relief after Arizona scored five runs in the ensuing frame. The flame-throwing 25-year--old reliever has yet to allow an earned run across 6 2/3 innings since returning from the injured list for his season debut on August 18. He has yet to record a save for Arizona, but from a raw talent standpoint, he should be their closer of the future.

Cabrera notched only one strikeout, but managed to limit Kansas City to just five baserunners over three frames after opener Derek Law tossed two scoreless innings to get things underway. The 24-year-old rookie lacks the strikeout upside to be a useful fantasy contributor, but he’s done a nice job for Arizona in a multi-inning role, allowing just two runs over 9 1/3 innings across three appearances since returning to the majors on August 27. He’s probably going to continue pitching in relief with Corbin Burnes, Zac Gallen and Michael Soroka close to making it back from the injured list.