Carson Whisenhunt holds Astros to one run in win

Albies also had a sac fly, because of course he did. Tonight’s was his 13th of the season, overtaking Henry Aaron and Del Crandall for the Braves’ single-season record (oddly enough, both of them did it in 1960). Vinnie Pasquantino in 2023 is the only other player to have 13 sac flies in a season this decade. Francisco Lindor, with 15 in 2016, was the last to have more than that. According to Baseball Reference, the record since sac flies were first tracked in 1954 is 19 by Gil Hodges in 1954.

Elder struck out five and walked none. He allowed eight hits, but all of them were singles. Elder was half-skipped in the rotation again last week, making the start tonight on eight days’ rest. He also pitched on 11 days’ rest in his final start before the break and 10 days’ rest in his first start after the break. It suggests he’s not quite 100 percent and hasn’t been for some time. However, he’s been more effective than not lately. He’ll take a 3.95 ERA into his next start, whenever that might come; the Braves probably won’t pitch him Sunday and they have next Monday and Thursday off, so they could give Elder another long rest if they’d like.

Shohei Ohtani hit the triple to the wall in left. It would have been a homer in 28 ballparks, according to Statcast. In Atlanta, it could have been an out, but Lane Thomas had it go off his glove while attempting a jumping catch. It proved no problem for Iglesias. He struck out Freddie Freeman, got Mookie Betts to ground out and, after an intentional walk of Max Muncy, got Tommy Edman to fly out to center to end the game.

All of the runs came in the first, and he actually should have given up one more, but a wild pitch that would have scored Michael Harris II was wrongly called a foul ball. After that, though, Glasnow was terrific. He allowed just two singles and walked none over his final four innings, and his stuff was excellent throughout. There’s no guarantee he’ll remain healthy in September, but if he does, he could be a top 20 SP for the month.

After coming into a 3-3 game, Scott gave up a double to Matt Olson and later a soft line-drive single to Ozzie Albies that plated the go-ahead run. It’s his first loss since June 3. Even if he wasn’t held back in the hopes of a ninth-inning lead materializing tonight, he’s still pretty clearly the Dodgers’ first choice to close right now.

Scherzer gave up four hits, walked five and struck out four. He fell to 1-7 with the loss. Scherzer rebounded after allowing seven runs in his last start, but it still wasn’t enough to avoid losing his third consecutive start. He has a 7.02 ERA. Scherzer’s lined up to face the Mariners at home on Sunday.

Lugo gave up six hits, walked one and struck out five. He improved to 6-7 with the win. Lugo had a 7.48 ERA in four starts in August entering play Tuesday, but responded with an excellent outing against the Blue Jays. He has a 4.61 ERA. Lugo is lined up to face the Guardians at home on Sunday.

Gasper is doing everything imaginable to prove that he should stay up with the Red Sox when Roman Anthony, Trevor Story and Isiah Kiner-Falefa return from the injured list. The unheralded 30-year-old journeyman launched solo homers in the second and sixth innings, respectively, to record the first multi-homer performance of his career. He’s gone deep an astounding five times in his last eight games after failing to leave the yard in 34 games to open the year. He’s the most likely candidate to lose playing time at DH once Anthony is back from the injured list later this week.

Lopez is up to 27 thefts on the season and is a near-lock to reach the 30-steal plateau for the first time in his career. He’s cooled off considerably at the plate since last month’s All-Star break, but he’s on pace to deliver borderline first-round fantasy value this season, hitting .306 with 77 runs scored, nine homers, 59 RBI and 27 steals in 561 plate appearances.