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The 29-year-old right-hander was able to pile up seven punchouts on the night while issuing a pair of walks. The Pirates scratched out a pair of runs against him in the opening inning, then added on with an RBI single by Bryan Reynolds in the second and a solo shot from Andrew McCutchen in the fourth. King got 11 whiffs on 94 pitches on the night — six on his changeup — while posting a CSW of 32 percent. He’ll attempt to get back in the win column as he totes a 3.34 ERA, 1.18 WHIP and a 151/47 K/BB ratio (129 1/3 innings) into a rematch against the Pirates on Monday.

Paredes clobbered a 407-foot (105.5 mph EV) solo shot off of Mitch Keller in the fourth inning that knotted things up at one run apiece. He also worked a walk in the ballgame. The 26-year-old slugger then put the game out of reach with a two-out, 383-foot (104.3 mph EV) two-run shot off of Ryan Borucki in the ninth inning. He has done a nice job for the Astros so far this season, slashing a respectable .252/.347/.474 with 14 homers and 37 RBI in his first 265 plate appearances.

The 24-year-old rookie outfielder smacked a two-out, two-run single off of Mitch Keller in the fourth inning that extended the Astros’ lead to 4-2. He then swiped second base but was left stranded there. Melton also led off the seventh inning with a single and scored on an RBI double by Jeremy Peña. With the two-hit attack, Melton is now 3-for-12 (.250) in his limited action with the Astros. Hopefully this strong performance will start to earn him additional at-bats going forward.

Peña led off the ballgame with a double off of Mitch Keller but he was ultimately left stranded at third base. He then chased Keller with an RBI double in the seventh inning that extended the Astros’ lead to 5-2. Peña then swiped third base before scoring on a sacrifice fly off the bat of Jose Altuve. Peña also legged out a two-out infield single in the ninth and rode home on a two-run blast by Isaac Paredes. He has done a phenomenal job atop the Astros’ lineup this season, slashing .318/.378/.492 with nine homers, 31 RBI and 11 stolen bases in what has been an All-Star caliber campaign.

The 31-year-old southpaw scattered five hits and three walks on the evening. The Pirates scratched out single runs in the third and fifth innings against him — both driven in by Oneil Cruz — but aside from that they were completely stifled. Valdez got a whopping 23 swings and misses on 99 pitches on the night — 18 of them on his curveball — while posting an elite CSW of 38 percent. He’ll look to carry over this fine performance as he does battle against the White Sox at home on Wednesday.

Cruz opened the scoring in the contest with a run-scoring ground out that plated Jared Triolo in the third inning. He also smacked a run-scoring single off of Framber Valdez in the fifth inning that pulled the Pirates to within two runs at 4-2. That would be as close as they would get. The 26-year-old center fielder finished the night 1-for-4 and is now hitting .230/.352/.469 with 12 homers, 28 RBI and 22 stolen bases on the season.

The right-hander allowed just one base on balls on the night while striking out five. He cruised through the first three innings unscathed until the Astros struck for four runs in the fourth inning, including a solo homer off the bat of Isaac Paredes. He then kept them at bay until the seventh where Jeremy Peña smacked a one-out RBI double to chase him from the game and scored later in the inning. Keller got 12 swings and misses on 89 pitches on the evening, posting a CSW of 28 percent. He’ll attempt to bounce back as he brings a 4.13 ERA, 1.27 WHIP and a 61/20 K/BB ratio (76 1/3 innings) into a premium matchup against the Marlins on Tuesday.

Arenado tied the game at 5-5 with a two-run homer off Cole Ragans in the third inning. The 34-year-old has his seventh homer of the season, and he’s driven in 31 runs; putting him around an 80-RBI pace. Arenado is a relative shell of the player he was a few years ago, but he’s not completely incapable of helping fantasy managers.

Garcia also doubled while also drawing a pair of walks. The steal gives the 25-year-old 13 in 2025, and his first-inning homer ups his total to six and gave the Royals a 2-0 lead. Garcia has been excellent in 2025, and now is the proud owner of a .311/.375/.477 slash.

Estévez blew a save earlier Thursday, but evened things out in the second contest of a twin-billing. The 32-year-old needed just nine pitches to retire the Cardinals while picking up a strikeout, and his ERA is still a commendable 1.95 even after giving up the run the first game Thursday.

Ragans was making his first start since the middle of May with his groin strain, and it’s fair to say he was a little rusty. He walked three hitters while landing 47-of-78 pitches for strikes, and he clearly didn’t have his best command. He did strike out four, however, and the stuff looked just fine. He’ll be a risky option for his next scheduled start against the Yankees next week.