Betting

Expressing an interest and being willing to meet the likely high asking prices are two separate things, but it’s interesting to note that the Rays are looking to be aggressive, especially when it comes to pitching. According to Murray, any additional starter the Rays bring in wouldn’t necessarily mean Griffin Jax or Ian Seymour are out of the rotation. Instead, the Rays are looking for pitching depth to help offset innings and injury concerns surrounding Shane McClanahan and Drew Rasmussen. The team could decide to use a six man rotation or occasionally skip starts in order to keep those guys healthy for the playoffs. Considering Peralta is a free agent at the end of the season, he would be the most likely target of the trio.

Wheeler allowed five runs in three innings, and his health was the subject of many overnight rumors after the training staff and coaches huddled in the dugout before removing Wheeler from the game. The veteran averaged 93.5 mph on his four-seamer and 93.1 mph on his sinker, both of which were down almost two mph from his season average. Considering Wheeler had a potentially career-ending blood clot injury last season, there was some concern that the 36-year-old was injured; however, Wheeler shot down those concerns after the game: “The ball just wasn’t coming out like I wanted to. My body wasn’t moving like I wanted it to. I was trying to get through it. Some games I can. Just today, I couldn’t.” We’ll see how his bullpen and arm maintenance sessions go during the week, but it seems like this may be just a one-game blip.

Rafaela thought he just missed on the slam, spiking his bat on the fly to left. Colby Thomas really should have made the catch, but he didn’t time the play very well and had the ball go off his glove as he jumped at the wall. Rafaela had hit .355 in 32 career plate appearances with the bases loaded, but this was his first slam, and it put the Red Sox in position to claim a 10th straight road victory. Rafaela, who was dropped to fifth in Boston’s lineup with new arrival Curtis Mead hitting second tonight, is batting .278/.320/.442 in 414 plate appearances.

Hoerner hit a two-run homer off Hunter Dobbins to essentially put the game away in the top of the ninth. It was his first homer since way back on Apr. 21, when he hit his fourth in 23 games to start the year. It now seems pretty official that he’s turned things around after a two-month slump; he’s batting .432/.432/.545 in 10 games to start the second half, raising his OPS from .631 to .666.

Lindor now has eight home runs on the season. He hit a two-run shot off Martín Pérez in the third inning and a three-run shot off Braves reliever Connor Thomas in the eighth inning. Lindor’s 2026 has been an injury-ravaged season to forget, but he certainly looked like himself at the plate on Monday. He’s hitting .233 with a .743 OPS and 23 RBI.

The positive news here is that Mead appears to have avoided serious injury during his Red Sox debut after initial X-rays came back negative for any fractures. He was struck by a pitch from Athletics starter Jack Perkins during his second at-bat of the contest. The 25-year-old infielder, who was acquired from the Nationals in a trade over the weekend, is presumably day-to-day moving forward. It’s a significant relief for Boston and fantasy managers as well.

Conine’s home run was his eighth of the season. He hit a solo shot off Zack Wheeler in the second inning. In the ninth inning, Conine hit a walk-off single in a tie game with the bases loaded and one out. Conine is hitting .266 with an .887 OPS and 18 RBI in 109 at-bats.

Lowe had the day off on Saturday with the Pirates facing Cubs left-hander Shota Imanaga. Since then, he’s had three hits in back-to-back games. On Monday, he singled to get the Pirates on the board in the sixth inning, doubled in the eighth inning and hit a walk-off single in the 10th inning. Lowe is hitting .251 with a .797 OPS and 67 RBI, which leads all second basemen.

Mayo extended Baltimore’s early advantage with an RBI single against Tigers starter Keider Montero in the third inning before taking reliever Brenan Hanifee deep for a no-doubter to left field in the fifth. It was his 14th round-tripper of the season and fourth time he’s gone deep since the start of July.

Valdez was struck by a pitch on the left hand during the fourth inning of Monday’s series opener in Pittsburgh. The 22-year-old rookie sensation, who has hit 14 homers in 38 games this season, will head for X-ray to determine whether he suffered any fractures. There should be an update on his status following the contest.