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Montero got off to a good start, holding the Padres scoreless through three innings before Jackson Merrill took him deep for a three-run shot in the fourth. Manny Machado would drive in two more runs on a base hit in the fifth. Montero’s day would be done with one out in the inning with the game tied. The 24-year-old right-hander ends the day with a 5.47 ERA, 1.39 WHIP, and a 60/26 K/BB ratio across 74 innings. He’s in line for a start against the Rockies in Detroit on Tuesday.

Moniak exited the game after being hit by a pitch in the eighth inning. The outfielder was replaced by Michael Stefanic (calf) in the contest, and he’s already undergone initial imaging. For now, Moniak should be considered day-to-day, but more info will likely come Monday.

The three pitchers combined to face the minimum, as the lone hit, an Ezequiel Duran single, was followed by a double play. Kirby struck out only three today, but he also allowed just three hard-hit balls. Kirby is now 6-0 with a 0.92 ERA in eight career starts against the Rangers. He’s 12-11 with a 3.62 ERA overall this year.

The Rangers had won Heaney’s last four starts, but the offense never had a shot today. Heaney allowed seven hits, walked one and struck out three. He’ll probably face the Mariners again next Sunday, but since Texas is using a six-man rotation, he won’t be matched up against George Kirby again. Alas, that’ll be Bryan Woo instead doesn’t make a win much more likely.

Garver’s last three appearances, which have taken place over a 12-day span, have seen him knock in a total of nine runs. The Mariners haven’t done much lineup tweaking of late, but maybe they’ll start getting Garver more time to see if he can stay hot. It’s especially likely to happen if Victor Robles is sidelined for any length of time.

The HBP was very much a result of how much he enjoyed the homer, and it looked like the benches would have cleared if Arozarena didn’t tell his teammates to stay in the dugout. The pitch him on his elbow shell anyway, so it didn’t do any damage. It was Arozarena’s 20th homer, giving him a 20-homer/20-HBP season for the first time. He’s also gone 20 homers and 20 steals four years in a row, but the 20 HBPs are quite a bit more valuable, especially in his case (he’s been caught stealing an MLB-high 41 times since 2021).

Lukes hit his stride late in this game with doubles in the sixth and eighth innings. His second one vaulted the Blue Jays one inning after Lars Nootbaar tied the game with a homer. Lukes – like a lot of these young, upstart Blue Jays hitters – has found success late this season by peppering tons of balls in play. It’s only been 47 plate appearances, but he has a beautiful .357 batting average as a part-time player who’s now started four straight games at the top of the order.

Green hadn’t saved a game since August 29th before Sunday and blew three with three losses in the process. He did his best to fumble this one as well as the Cardinals had runners on first and second before Jordan Walker popped out to end the game. Saves are scarce this time of year, but Green is riskier than most.

Nootbaar momentarily brought the Cardinals even with his seventh inning homer. He scorched it too at 110.2 MPH. He’s finally found his footing of late with an .885 OPS and just two more strikeouts than walks over his last 30 games. Better late than never, right?

Rodríguez cruised through four innings allowing just two base runners, but ran into trouble in the fifth and was yanked after Jordan Walker scorched a double to break the 0-0 tie. It was mildly frustrating for him to have such a quick hook with just 62 pitches after he’d comfortably worked over 70 in all but two of his starts since July 1st. His next start is scheduled to come against the Rays in Tampa.

Mikolas looked like he’d breeze through the Blue Jays’ lineup in this one until Davis Schneider sent one deep over the left center field fence. At that point, the Blue Jays lineup was about to turn over for a third time and the Cardinals felt that was a good time to pull Mikolas. He’d faced the minimum until that fifth inning, so it was a little peculiar to not see him get a shot in the sixth. He’s lined up to face the Guardians at home next time out.