Héctor Rodriguez homers twice in high-scoring victory

The versatile 29-year-old has been sidelined since August 20 due to inflammation in his left hamstring. It sounds like he’ll play a couple of games in the minors before rejoining the Jays as soon as his 10 days on the injured list are up.

With Bryce Eldridge returning on Thursday, the Giants needed to clear a spot on their active roster and Kennedy wound up as the odd man out. It’s not the first time he has been designated for assignment this season and may not be the last. The versatile 27-year-old is once again likely to attract interest on waivers and could be donning a new jersey for the weekend.

Eldridge was away from the club for a few days to attend his grandfather’s funeral. The 21-year-old slugger jumps right back into the Giants’ lineup on Thursday, serving as the designated hitter and batting third against Diamondbacks’ right-hander Jose Cabrera.

Jenkins, 21, is expected to be in the Twins’ lineup for Friday’s series opener against the White Sox. The fifth overall selection from the 2023 draft class has slashed an impressive .308/.407/.532 with 12 homers, 28 RBI, 17 stolen bases and a 48/42 K/BB ratio over 307 plate appearances in 69 games at Triple-A St. Paul this season. He has all of the tools to make an immediate impact from a fantasy perspective.

Urías just returned Sunday from missing 3 1/2 months with an elbow injury, so the homer off Trevor Rogers today was his first since Apr. 6. Masyn Winn’s injury has gotten Urías a little more playing time than expected this week, and he’ll be due even more if Blaze Jordan is forced to the IL after getting hurt today.

The Cardinals surely got more than they expected from Graceffo in his first start since being moved to the pen in Triple-A early last year. He hadn’t pitched more than 2 1/3 innings in any of his 52 appearances this year, but he needed just 38 pitches to get nine outs today. In spite of his success, he’ll probably head back to the pen and make an appearance against the Pirates this weekend.

O’Brien gave up one run to take a loss in a tie game last night and six runs in a blown save/loss Sunday against the Phillies, but he had an easy time in an 11-pitch ninth today. He leads the National League and is third in the majors with his 34 saves. With O’Brien and George Soriano both having pitched back-to-back days, Ryne Stanek might be in line for a save chance on Friday.

Rogers had good velocity today, struck out seven and allowed just four hard-hit balls, but the first six batters to reach against him all scored on a three-run homer in the second, a two-run homer in the fourth and an RBI single in the fifth. It’s the first time in 17 starts since May 18 that he’s allowed more than four earned runs. He should still be fine to use in Colorado next week.

The homer was Mayo’s 14th off a left-hander, which ties him with Matt Olson for first in the majors. He’s also first with an 1.109 OPS against southpaws (min. 100 PA), with Andrew Vaughn second at 1.041. And the homer today was projected at 446 feet, making him one of just eight players this year to exceed 440 feet four or more times (Junior Caminero and Kyle Schwarber are tops at six times apiece). Unfortunately, Mayo is still at a pretty horrible .199/.227/.272 in 225 plate appearances against righties this year, leaving his future as a regular rather murky. The power spike would be more promising if it wasn’t coming with a 32.5 percent strikeout rate. He finished at 28.6 percent as a rookie last year.

Nothing has changed in the prognosis for Clase, who is still battling plantar fasciitis on his left foot, this was done as a procedural move to clear a spot on the club’s 40-man roster for the addition of Michael Lorenzen on Thursday. Clase now isn’t eligible to return until the end of September and may end up missing the remainder of the season.