Former American Leaguers Rafael Devers, Willy Adames and Matt Chapman will take aim at an AL opponent when their team, the San Francisco Giants, takes on the visiting Baltimore Orioles on Friday night to open a three-game interleague series.

The Orioles and Giants have met just six times since 2019, with the unfamiliar visiting team walking away with a 2-1 series win on both occasions.

All told, the franchises have met just 24 times, which is 97 fewer than Devers has dueled the Orioles, 22 fewer than Adames, and 31 fewer than Chapman.

Of the Giants’ current 2-3-4 punch, Devers has had the best lifetime success against the Orioles. He has 22 homers and 83 RBIs vs. them, with a .294 batting average, which is 17 points higher than his career mark.

Chapman has eight homers with 27 RBIs with a .246 batting average in his career against the Orioles, while Adames has hit .281 with six homers and 16 RBIs.

The trio has solidified the Giants’ lineup during a five-game winning streak, with Adames recording a pair of two-homer games.

Devers had one of the best single-game performances in franchise history with two homers, four hits, five RBIs and four runs in Wednesday’s 12-3 win over the Chicago Cubs, and Chapman contributed a home run and two RBIs to each of the first two victories over the Cubs.

“These are the guys we signed,” Giants manager Bob Melvin said after Thursday’s 4-3 win over the Cubs.

Adames (2025) and Chapman (2024) were added as free agents over the past two seasons, while Devers was acquired at the July trade deadline from the Boston Red Sox.

“For a while now, we’ve expected big-time production,” Melvin said. “These are the guys we expect to be in those kings of spots for years to come.”

While no other current Giant has more than one career hit against Baltimore’s series-opening starter, right-hander Dean Kremer (9-9, 4.19 ERA), Adames, Devers and Chapman have combined for four homers, with Adames hitting .444 in nine at-bats and Devers .304 in 23, respectively.

Kremer will seek to regain the form that saw him shut out the Houston Astros on the road on three hits over seven innings two starts ago. It was the fourth time this season he held an opponent scoreless for a full seven innings.

Kremer, 29, pitched well in his only previous start in San Francisco, limiting the Giants to two runs in six innings in a 3-2 win in June 2023. Overall, he’s 1-1 with a 4.50 ERA in two lifetime starts against San Francisco.

Kremer will oppose left-hander Robbie Ray (10-6, 2.93), another of San Francisco’s former American Leaguers. He’s made seven starts against Baltimore, going 2-3 with a 4.34 ERA.

The Orioles arrive in Northern California off a 1-7 homestand that concluded with a fourth consecutive loss to the Red Sox, 3-2, on Thursday.

The visit to San Francisco will be a rarity for Orioles young stars Jackson Holliday and Gunnar Henderson. Holliday went 2-for-6 when Baltimore hosted the Giants for three games last season but has never played in San Francisco, while Henderson went 1-for-5 when the Orioles visited the Bay Area in 2023.

Neither has ever faced Ray.

– Field Level Media

Once expected to be a key National League West series in advance of the calendar shifting to September, the Los Angeles Dodgers’ three-game set against the visiting Arizona Diamondbacks has lost some bite.

While the first-place Dodgers enter Friday’s opening contest coming off a three-game series sweep of the Cincinnati Reds, the Diamondbacks have a double-digit deficit in the division and are 6 1/2 games out of the NL’s final wild-card spot.

Arizona dealt third baseman Eugenio Suarez, first baseman Josh Naylor, left-hander Jordan Montgomery and right-handers Merrill Kelly and Shelby Miller before the trade deadline last month.

While the franchise reloaded with several talented prospects, the idea that it was doomed for the remainder of the regular season has not yet come to fruition.

Arizona arrives at Los Angeles with wins in six of its last nine games, including an uplifting 6-4 victory at the Milwaukee Brewers on Thursday.

Not only did the Diamondbacks get two RBIs each from the bottom three hitters in their order — Tyler Locklear, Alek Thomas and Ildemaro Vargas — they saw right-hander Taylor Rashi make his major league debut and go three innings while picking up the save.

“Basically, everybody was down in the bullpen,” Arizona manager Torey Lovullo said. “On a day when we needed it most, I think (Rashi) blocked all that out and just made pitches and got a massive, massive save for us.”

The Diamondbacks are set to send right-hander Zac Gallen (9-13, 5.13 ERA) to the mound Friday. Gallen, who remained with the club through rumors he might be dealt, is 1-5 with a 4.20 ERA in 14 career appearances (all starts) against the Dodgers.

Los Angeles, which has won four straight games, is set to see left-hander Blake Snell (3-2, 1.97 ERA) return from a short stint on the paternity list for the birth of his second child.

Shoulder inflammation has limited Snell to six starts in his first season with the Dodgers, including four since he has come back from the injured list. He has gone 2-2 with a 1.96 ERA in those outings.

The two-time Cy Young Award winner is 5-2 lifetime against the Diamondbacks, with a 1.99 ERA in 10 appearances (all starts).

The Dodgers rode a strong pitching performance from Shohei Ohtani to a 5-1 victory over the Reds on Wednesday. Ohtani had nine strikeouts over five innings, while the bullpen added 10 strikeouts to set a franchise record for a nine-inning game with 19.

“That’s a big number,” Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said. “It speaks to what our guys can do with the talent that we have, the swing and miss, and so really good performance.”

Dodgers utility man Enrique Hernandez returned from a left elbow injury this week and already has started in two different positions in two games and has driven in a run in each contest. On Wednesday, he was a contributor in a four-run inning that included five singles.

“We’ve always known that if we’re at full strength, as good as our offense is, our pitching is probably even better,” Hernandez said. “We’re getting there. We still have a guy or two that are out. But as far as the rotation, we’re pretty healthy right now. And we feel pretty confident.”

–Field Level Media

With a month left in the regular season, the Chicago Cubs still have a chance to catch the Milwaukee Brewers for the National League Central crown, but they need to start piling up victories.

Now is the time to do it, with 18 consecutive games against teams with records under .500, starting Friday night when the Cubs visit the Colorado Rockies for a three-game series.

The Cubs will send Cade Horton (8-4, 2.88 ERA) to the mound, while fellow right-hander German Marquez (3-11, 5.67) is expected to be activated from the injured list to make his first start since July 20.

Chicago heads to Denver after being swept in three games at San Francisco, concluding with a 4-3 loss on Thursday. The second-place Cubs sit 6 1/2 games behind Milwaukee in the Central as they enter the final series of a nine-game road trip.

The Cubs swept a home series from the MLB-worst Rockies at the end of May. Chicago scored just nine runs in the series but held Colorado to five. Horton and Marquez squared off in the middle game of that set, with both giving up two runs in six innings of a 4-3, 11-inning victory for the Cubs. Neither figured into the decision.

Friday night will mark the 19th appearance of Horton’s debut season and will cap what has been a strong August for him. Horton is 4-1 with an 0.72 ERA in the month and has become a leading candidate for NL Rookie of the Year after tossing six shutout innings at the Los Angeles Angels on Saturday in a 12-1 win.

Horton has dropped his ERA nearly two runs (4.80 to 2.88) over his last nine starts.

“I think it just goes back to my process and continuing to get better at my process and never really being satisfied,” Horton told reporters after the Saturday victory.

Marquez will try to pick up where he left off before he landed on the IL with right-biceps tendinitis. In the 11 starts prior to his injury, he had posted a 3.55 ERA, which started with his outing against the Philadelphia Phillies on May 22.

That was a huge improvement over his first nine outings, in which he gave up 39 runs in 40 innings.

Marquez is 1-3 with a 6.26 ERA in nine career starts against the Cubs. Reversing that trend could help lead him to a feel-good conclusion to 2025.

“If he gets these next five starts to end the season, he’ll end up with about 125 innings,” Colorado pitching coach Darryl Scott said Wednesday. “It would be nice if he could do that. I think that’s important for him, personally, to show that he’s healthy.”

Friday will begin a nine-game homestand for the 38-96 Rockies, their longest of the season. A winning record on the homestand would allow Colorado to reach 42 wins and remove any chance they would finish with the most losses in the modern era. The Chicago White Sox set the record by going 41-121 in 2024.

Colorado has lost six of its past seven games, all but one of those on the road, but has an 11-9 home record in the second half of the season.

–Field Level Media

The Los Angeles Angels will try to bounce back from a shellacking when they play the opener of a four-game series against the host Houston Astros on Friday night.

Los Angeles lost 20-3 to the Texas Rangers on Wednesday; the defeat was the Angels’ ninth in the last 12 games.

Houston will try to keep the good vibes going after recording a 4-3 home win over the Colorado Rockies on Thursday afternoon.

The American League West-leading Astros posted their fifth win in seven games after Christian Walker’s second homer of Thursday’s contest snapped a 3-3 tie in the eighth inning.

Jose Altuve and Walker hit back-to-back homers in the first inning to give Houston a 2-0 lead.

Walker has 11 of his 21 homers this season since July. He also has 37 RBIs in that span.

“Whatever is happening right now is part of the work that started much earlier in the year,” Walker said. “The beauty of the baseball season is the length and the amount of opportunities that you have, and we started working pretty hard pretty early when I didn’t like the way I felt. Here we are with three, four months of reps and work and good stuff under my belt, and I think it’s showing up in the game for sure.”

Walker also has five home runs in his last seven games.

“He’s been working his tail off, and we’ve been getting some big swings from him,” Astros manager Joe Espada said. “Him and Altuve, those home runs, the power surge today was great to see ”

Right-hander Cristian Javier (1-1, 5.40 ERA) is scheduled to start for Houston on Friday.

Javier is 5-1 with a 3.27 ERA with 76 strikeouts in 52 1/3 innings in 12 career appearances (eight starts) against the Angels. But his last outing against them did not go well, as he allowed four runs on eight hits in four innings on May 1, 2024.

Los Angeles star Mike Trout has just one homer in his last 24 games. He remains two shy of 400 for his career.

Trout has 20 home runs and 52 RBIs this season, with a. 232 batting average and a .791 OPS.

“I don’t know how you (couldn’t be thinking about it). It’s the elephant in the room, right?” Angels interim manager Ray Montgomery said. “Those are milestones that very few attain, let alone have a chance to.”

Trout also has been struggling with pain after missing a month with a bruised knee earlier in the season.

“I feel it. It is what it is,” Trout said.

Los Angeles outfielder Jo Adell hit his 30th homer on Wednesday.

Left-hander Tyler Anderson (2-8, 4.73 ERA) will start for the Angels on Friday. He is only 2-5 with a 5.84 ERA in 12 appearances (all starts) against the Astros in his career. But Anderson shut out Houston on one hit over 5 2/3 scoreless innings in a win on April 12.

–Field Level Media

New York Yankees left-hander Carlos Rodon has had a successful August, going 3-0 with a 3.49 ERA over five starts.

On Friday night, he’ll try to help New York secure at least a split of a four-game road series against the Chicago White Sox from a familiar perch: the pitcher’s mound at Rate Field.

Rodon (14-7, 3.24 ERA) spent the first seven seasons of his career with the White Sox after Chicago drafted him third overall in 2014, navigating various injuries throughout his time there.

He signed with San Francisco for the 2022 season but has spent the past three campaigns with the Yankees.

Friday will mark Rodon’s first appearance on Chicago’s South Side since he defeated the Cincinnati Reds on Sept. 29, 2021, while with the White Sox. Rodon has faced his former team just once, spacing two runs and four hits in six innings to beat Chicago at Yankee Stadium on May 19, 2024.

Rodon has won three straight starts and is coming off Sunday’s 7-2 victory against Boston, when he limited the Red Sox to two runs and one hit in 5 2/3 innings. He matched a season high with five walks while striking out three.

New York benefited from four perfect innings from the bullpen and home runs by Cody Bellinger, Jazz Chisholm Jr., and Trent Grisham to win Thursday’s series opener 10-4.

New York stretched its winning streak to five games while earning its 12th victory in the past 16. The Yankees are a half-game behind Boston in the race for the first American League wild-card berth and are four games back of the Toronto Blue Jays for the AL East lead.

“We’ve been swinging it well, and we’ve just got to keep on rolling,” Bellinger said.

Shortstop Anthony Volpe, who was 1-for-38 before a fourth-inning double, contributed two hits and an RBI.

The White Sox have lost three straight games and also could be without three starters on Friday. Center fielder Luis Robert Jr. (left hamstring strain) landed on the 10-day injured list Wednesday, and shortstop Colson Montgomery has missed two straight games with left side soreness. Also, Miguel Vargas (left wrist contusion) will undergo further evaluation Friday after leaving Thursday’s game in the fifth inning following a collision at first base with Yankees baserunner Aaron Judge.

Vargas delivered a game-tying grand slam in the second and has six multi-hit games and a .281 average in August.

“He’s one of the guys out there who sets the tone for the group, in the clubhouse and on the field,” Chicago manager Will Venable said. “So, hopefully, he gets back out there quickly.”

Right-hander Yoendrys Gomez (3-1, 4.73 ERA) will start for the White Sox on Friday. As with Rodon, Gomez has excelled in August, albeit over a smaller sample size.

Recalled from Triple-A Charlotte on Aug. 12, Gomez, who spent time as a reliever with the Yankees and Los Angeles Dodgers this season, is 2-0 with a 2.45 ERA over 14 2/3 innings in three starts since shifting to the rotation.

He took a no-decision against Minnesota on Sunday, scattering two hits, three walks and six strikeouts over 4 2/3 shutout innings in his team’s 8-0 win. He has never faced the Yankees.

–Field Level Media

–Field Level Media

By almost any standard, Nolan McLean is off to the best start for any rookie pitcher in New York Mets history.

And if the scouting report is correct, Jonah Tong might be even better.

Tong, the Mets’ No. 4 prospect, per MLB Pipeline, will make his major league debut Friday night when he takes the mound against the visiting Miami Marlins in the second contest of a four-game series.

Tong, 22, is slated to oppose fellow right-hander Eury Perez (6-3, 3.44 ERA).

The Marlins cooled off the surging Mets 7-4 on Thursday after taking advantage of three errors to score five unearned runs.

The loss ended a three-game winning streak for the Mets and provides Tong a chance to begin providing an immediate boost a la McLean, whose promotion Aug. 16 coincided with the start of an 8-4 stretch for New York.

McLean is the first pitcher in franchise history to win his first three big league starts. His ERA is 0.89, which also is a team record for a rookie through three starts.

Tong is a seventh-round pick of the Mets in 2022 whose delivery is reminiscent of two-time National League Cy Young Award winner Tim Lincecum. Tong went 10-5 with a 1.43 ERA and 179 strikeouts in 113 2/3 innings between Double-A Binghamton and Triple-A Syracuse.

He pitched 11 2/3 scoreless innings with 17 strikeouts in his two starts at Syracuse before being recalled.

“That kid’s special,” McLean, 24, said following his eight scoreless innings in Wednesday’s 6-0 win over the Philadelphia Phillies. “I remember when I first got drafted (in 2023), I stood in one of those bullpens just to watch. Haven’t seen a fastball like that before. And I know he’s developed three more pitches since then and they are all plus.

“It’s going to be fun to watch him Friday. Can’t wait.”

Tong will oppose a pitcher who knows plenty about heightened expectations. Perez finished seventh in the National League Rookie of the Year voting in 2023 but missed last season following Tommy John surgery.

The 22-year-old returned to the Marlins on June 9 and has rounded into form over his last 10 starts, a span in which he’s gone 6-1 with a 2.63 ERA and 56 strikeouts in 54 2/3 innings.

Perez has allowed two or fewer runs on seven occasions in that stretch — including last Sunday, when he gave up two runs over six innings and earned the win as the Marlins beat the Toronto Blue Jays 5-3.

“He had a really electric fastball today, and the command of his pitches was great,” Miami manager Clayton McCullough said after Perez struck out four and walked one while throwing a career-high 94 pitches. “I think he utilized all of his stuff.”

Perez made his lone start against the Mets in the final appearance of his rookie season on Sept. 20, 2023, when he took the defeat after allowing three runs (two earned) over three innings in the Mets’ 8-3 win.

–Field Level Media

The Boston Red Sox reportedly are calling up their top pitching prospect, Payton Tolle, to start on Friday against a young player whose early career they would like to see him emulate.

The 22-year-old left-hander will go up against Pittsburgh Pirates phenom Paul Skenes in the opener of a three-game series in Boston.

Tolle has pitched for three Boston farm teams this year, going 3-5 with a 3.04 ERA in 20 games (18 starts). He has 133 strikeouts and 23 walks in 91 2/3 innings. His past three starts were for Triple-A Worcester, and he went 1-1 with a 3.60 ERA, 17 strikeouts and two walks in 15 innings.

The Red Sox selected Tolle in the second round of the 2024 draft out of TCU.

Skenes (8-9, 2.07 ERA) recorded his ninth scoreless start of the season and second in four outings on Sunday, striking out seven while holding the Colorado Rockies to three hits over seven innings.

That effort moved his career ERA to 2.02, which is the second-lowest of any major league pitcher through his first 50 starts in the live-ball era (since 1920). Vida Blue holds the mark of 2.01, set from 1969-72 with the then-Oakland Athletics.

“It’s amazing what he’s able to do,” Pirates manager Don Kelly said on Sunday. “You see the fastball. The velo, the command was there today. Being able to mix it up in and out, up and down. Go to the changeup, the sweeper. He’s always in control, which is really impressive.”

Still, Sunday marked the reigning National League Rookie of the Year and now-Cy Young hopeful’s first time reaching the seven-inning plateau since June 8, when the 23-year-old tossed 7 2/3 innings against the Philadelphia Phillies.

What’s next?

“Just gotta do it in the next 50 and the 50 after that,” Skenes said. “Consistency is the biggest thing, I feel. Being on the field, doing the same thing every day. … Just got to keep going.”

The Boston series marks the second stage of a seven-game road trip for the Pirates, who swept three games in their 2023 visit to Fenway.

Pittsburgh has won seven of its last 10, but split a four-game set in St. Louis following a 4-1 loss to the Cardinals on Thursday afternoon.

The Pirates will look for more from Oneil Cruz in Boston. The center fielder stole his NL-leading 35th base on Thursday, but he has gone 0-for-9 in three games since returning from the concussion injured list.

“Really looks in between up there at the plate,” Kelly said. “He’s got to continue to work, continue to grind.”

The Red Sox know all about the challenge that they will face in Skenes.

“It’s super special, because you always hear, oh, this prospect is the next coming of that, this is the next Ted Williams, this is the next Cy Young,” first baseman Nathaniel Lowe said. “And it’s like, yeah, he’s worth the No. 1 pick, worth the multiple All-Star Games already, the Cy Young contention.”

After finishing a four-game road sweep of the Baltimore Orioles with a 3-2 win on Thursday, though, the Sox are feeling good.

“At this point of the year, four in a row is nice,” Story said. “We’re trying to chase down the division.”

The Red Sox are now just 3 1/2 games behind the first-place Toronto Blue Jays in the American League East.

Trevor Story and Rob Refsnyder homered as Boston overcame blowing two leads to finish 7-1 on its road trip and move to 15 games above .500 for the first time since 2021. The game also included rookie Jhostynxon Garcia’s first career hit — a double.

Refsnyder was returning from a left oblique strain that sidelined him for two weeks.

Story, who also made a diving catch that turned into a double play, is the only American League player with at least 20 homers, 20 stolen bases and 80 RBI2 this year.

The Red Sox are 20-1 when he goes deep this season.

“Just a good player playing elite baseball,” Red Sox manager Alex Cora said. “All the work he put (in while injured) last year is paying off. … He has a team around him, but a very special player.”

–Field Level Media