Josh Hader converts 26th save against Royals

Raleigh drove in runs with a sac fly in the first, a double in the fifth and a single in the sixth. He has 22 RBI in his last 23 games.

The Mariners scored three times in the top of the fifth to take a 5-2 lead, but Kirby didn’t get a chance at a win after a J.P. Crawford error and one last walk with one out in the fifth. Kirby had never walked more than three batters in an outing before until tonight. His 4.0 percent walk rate was the fourth lowest mark of pitchers with 800+ innings in expansion era, behind only Josh Tomlin (3.4 percent), Dan Quisenberry (3.8) and Bob Tewksbury (3.8). Kirby, though, has issued more walks the last two years than he did in his first three seasons. Some thought that might be a good thing — that he used to simply throw too many strikes — but it hasn’t worked out this year. Kirby is 1-3 with a 5.37 ERA in his last 10 starts. He should face the Astros next week.

Kikuchi fell to 1-6 with a 5.02 ERA. He had a 6.4 percent walk rate between 2023 and ’24, but he’s up to 9.9 percent in his two seasons with the Angels. He’s due to face the A’s on Tuesday and then could make another start against the Mariners in Game 162.

The second steal was of third base in the seventh inning. Afterwards, though, he got himself doubled off third base thinking that a sinking liner to short caught by Zach Neto had hit the ground. Fortunately, Seattle was up 7-2 at the time, so it wasn’t a huge deal in terms of win probability. Still, it’s another one to add to the extensive 2026 Mariners bloopers real.

Guzman didn’t exactly crush the ball; the four hits had xBAs of .530, .530, .150 and .060 and just one was hard hit. Still, he was probably due for some good luck after hitting .169 with a 27/3 K/BB ratio in 81 plate appearances over his previous 25 games. The 22-year-old Guzman is at .230/.271/.351 overall. He probably shouldn’t be in the Angels’ plans for the beginning of 2027, unless maybe Zach Neto gets traded. Guzman’s offense would be easier to tolerate at short than at third. He does have the bat speed to take a step forward, though.

Although they have no real shot at this point, the Marlins have gone all out the last two days, resulting in a pair of crushing defeats for the D-backs. Marsee had his second nice game of the series, having gone 3-for-4 with a homer and a triple on Monday. He’s hitting .447 in his last 10 games, raising his average from .208 to /227 and his OPS from .659 to .702.

Pavin Smith and Gabriel Moreno homered for the runs, so the other six hits didn’t do any damage. Gusto, though, failed to complete five innings for the sixth time in his last eight starts. He’ll likely face the Cubs next week.

After giving up four runs in five innings Monday, Alcantara tonight made his first ever relief appearance with the Marlins and got three outs on 329- and 396-foot flyballs and then a caught stealing after a walk. The 329-footer was actually closer to being a homer than the 396-footer, since it was right down the left field line. Alcantara averaged 100.4 mph with his fastball in the one-inning outing, which is three mph better higher than his average as a starter this season. Alcantara’s only previous relief appearances came in his only eight games with the Cardinals in 2017 before he was traded to the Marlins that winter. He’s still slated to start Sunday against the Padres.

Kelly fanned nine, topping his previous season high for strikeouts by two, but that wasn’t enough tonight. He walked two in a two-run second and then gave up a two-run homer in the third. Kelly is 1-6 with a 5.32 ERA since the beginning of August and 9-14 with a 5.00 ERA overall. He’ll pitch in Colorado next week.

It’s Hernández’s first four-hit game of the year. He was batting just .193 in his previous 46 games, though that did come with 10 homers. At .232/.316/.450 overall, he’s seemingly assured himself of a place in the Marlins’ plans for next year. Still, his status as a full-timer will probably be up in the air.