Betting

It’s a massive relief that Kurtz appears to have avoided serious injury after he was drilled by Red Sox starter Patrick Sandoval in the first inning. It’s a bit unclear whether he already underwent X-rays, but the fact that the Athletics are calling it a contusion is a massive relief. He’s presumably day-to-day heading into Thursday’s series finale.

Sale’s phenomenal season hasn’t been talked about enough. He faced just two batters over the minimum and didn’t let a single runner into scoring position as he decimated the Mets here. His fastball and slider combined to force 14 swings-and-misses and many of those were very ugly chases. They say father time is undefeated, but the 37-year-old Sale now has a 2.08 ERA with 143 strikeouts and 26 walks across 117 innings this season. If not for Jacob Misiorowski, those would be clear and obvious Cy Young numbers. He’s lined up for a two-start week coming up against the Marlins and Yankees.

The trade is now official. O’Hoppe heads to Triple-A Round Rock as additional catching depth for the Rangers behind veteran starter Elias Díaz. The 26-year-old has struggled mightily at the dish over the last two seasons following a 20-homer breakout campaign back in 2024. He also grades out as a below-average defender behind the plate. This feels like more of a long-term play for Texas than an immediate impact, but they didn’t really give up a whole lot to bring in a backstop from a division rival that they’re extremely familiar with.

Gore authored one of the more unique pitching performances of the season as he appeared to be on the verge of a complete meltdown before somehow locking in and dominating into the late innings. He ran into an absolute buzzsaw in the opening frame as Yandy Díaz went deep on the first pitch of the ballgame and he also served up a two-run shot to lefty-masher Ryan Vilade with two outs in the frame. He deserves a ton of credit for settling in afterwards and holding the Rangers without a baserunner over his final six innings of work. He got zero run support from his teammates and was still saddled with a tough-luck loss. He’s in line for a favorable matchup against the Giants on Monday to kick off a two-start week.

Rutschman is currently on the injured list with wrist inflammation. It’s unclear whether the Orioles are even going to be sellers since they’ve shown some signs of life recently. Heyman adds that the Yankees are casting a wide net in search of an upgrade at catcher, listing Tyler Stephenson as another potential target in the lead up to next week’s trade deadline.

He’s back. Díaz figures to immediately reclaim the closer role in Los Angeles with lefty Tanner Scott remaining in the mix to vulture the occasional opportunity. The 32-year-old former elite stopper’s stuff looked sharp in a handful of minor league rehab outings, piling up 11 strikeouts over 5 2/3 innings, while working his way back from surgery to remove loose bodies from his elbow back in late April.

The revelation comes as a bit of a surprise as the Angels appear to be more willing to move on from someone like Neto, who was viewed as one of their more long-term building blocks. There are plenty of teams that could use a shortstop, which is probably why Los Angeles interim general manager John Mozeliak is going to entertain overtures. It doesn’t sound like anything is imminent, but the Angels could be headed for more of a full-scale teardown than many anticipated.

Susac’s first homer off Thomas Pannone was a three-run shot that opened the scoring in the second inning. His second, a solo shot off a 60-mph fastball from Andrew Vaughn in the eighth, was less significant but still counts. Susac is now batting .256/.306//372 in 136 plate appearances. The start today was his first in four games, as the Giants prefer Drew Cavanaugh behind the plate at the moment. They also have Jesus Rodriguez up as an occasional option. However, Susac, as a Rule 5 pick, is locked into a spot the rest of the way.

Murray notes that the White Sox, Dodgers, Rays, Rangers, Diamondbacks and Phillies were among teams in attendance for Holmes’ minor league rehab start for Low-A St. Lucie earlier this week. The 33-year-old, who is coming off a fractured fibula that put him on the shelf back in mid-May, tossed four scoreless innings while sitting in the low-to-mid 90’s with his fastball. There are a plethora of teams looking to upgrade their rotations at next week’s trade deadline and Holmes would make a ton of sense as a fallback option for clubs that miss out on the Tarik Skubal sweepstakes.

Buxton has been battling a lingering hip ailment for the last couple months and didn’t look right at the dish after coming off the injured list last week, hitting just .160 (4-for-25) with zero extra-base hits in seven games. It’s challenging to forecast exactly when Buxton will return since the Twins would probably prefer that he finally put the hip issue to bed once and for all. Fantasy managers should anticipate a multi-week absence. There should be a definitive return timetable at some point in the near future.