Hayden Wesneski strong for seven in defeating A’s

That’s an interesting choice, what with Lambert seemingly running on fumes at the moment. He gave up four in 2 2/3 innings against the A’s on Thursday, and he’s thrown 44 more innings this season that he has in any of the last five years. Most likely, he’ll throw only an inning or two.

It’s hard to see how Crawford, a free agent to be, would fit for the Marines in 2027 and beyond, since he no longer belongs at shortstop, but he might have a little more in store offensively if he gets out of Seattle. He’s hit .220/.335/.352 in 115 games this season. His homer tonight was hit 403 feet off Mitch Ferris, breaking the game open in the seventh.

The Angels let Johnson off the hook by scoring four times in the top of the sixth tonight, but they went on to lose 8-4. Johnson ends the year 5-9 with a 5.04 ERA, but there’s still more reason for optimism here than there was a year ago. He just needs to figure out something with his sinker if he intends to keep throwing it. It’d be better if he does, but it was such a liability while his four-seamer, slider and splitter were all solid this year.

Ward’s one at-bat off the bench produced a 106.6 mph single. That wouldn’t have seemed especially notable a few months ago, but it was hardest-hit ball for Ward since the Mariners acquired him at the deadline. The last time he topped that was on July 9 for the Orioles. Ward has only 19 balls in play in excess of 105 mph this season. Last year, he did it 49 times. One imagines it all has something to do with a hand injury suffered in April, and if so, he could turn into a bargain in free agency this winter. It sure doesn’t seem like the Mariners will seek to retain him, though.

Naylor is the first first baseman to steal 30 bases in consecutive seasons since George Sisler did so each year from 1920 through 1922. Which is incredibly cool, even if it doesn’t save Naylor from being a major disappointment in the first season of a five-year contract. Stealing 30 bases simply doesn’t come close to making up for hitting .261/.318/.349. Even with all of the steals, he’s scored only 58 runs in 646 plate appearances. And he’s driven in 56. He has exactly as many runs scored and RBI as Baltimore’s Leody Taveras, who has also been pretty bad and who has 164 fewer plate appearances than Naylor.

The win keeps the Astros in control of their own destiny in advance of Sunday’s finale. If they win, they’re in, and if they lose, they could still advance with a loss from the Rangers. Peña, who had been slumping of late, turned in his sixth career two-homer game. It’s the first time ever that he’s scored four runs. He’ll take a .276/.325/.477 line into Sunday’s finale.

Wesneski struck out five and walked one in an easy win that will help preserve the Astros bullpen for Sunday’s finale. It moves him to 6-2 with a 3.25 ERA since his return from UCL surgery. He’ll probably start Game 3 of the AL Wild Card series if that turns out to be a thing.

Perkins struck out nine, but he gave up three homers along the way. He ends the year 3-13 with a 6.10 ERA in 17 starts and 20 relief appearances. The stuff is there to make him a potentially adequate fifth starter or a quality reliever, but he’s been handicapped by working in a minor league park more than half of the time since debuting in 2025.

The triple crown isn’t happening, but Alvarez leads the majors with a .316 average, a .432 OBP and a .604 slugging percentage and is tied for second in the AL with 42 homers and is alone in second in the AL with 105 RBI. He’s almost certainly going to wind up with an MVP award.

Paredes got the final two innings off after fouling a pitch off his knee in the fifth. Expectations are that he’ll be good to go on Sunday.