The Atlanta Braves placed third baseman Austin Riley on the 10-day injured list Saturday with a right abdominal strain.

The two-time All-Star departed with the injury in the fourth inning of Friday’s 6-5 win at St. Louis.

Riley, 28, is batting .274 with 14 home runs and 48 RBIs in 93 games this season. He leads the team in hits (104) and is second in runs (51) but is tied for third in the National League with 113 strikeouts.

The Braves promoted infielder Nacho Alvarez Jr. from Triple-A Gwinnett in a corresponding move. Alvarez, 22, made his MLB debut last season and batted .100 (3-for-30) in eight games for Atlanta.

Atlanta also added newly acquired left-hander Joey Wentz to the roster after optioning right-hander Nathan Wiles to Gwinnett following Friday’s game.

The Braves claimed Wentz, 27, off waivers from the Minnesota Twins on Friday. Originally drafted in the first round by Atlanta in 2016, he went 2-1 with a 6.88 ERA in 25 relief appearances this season with the Pittsburgh Pirates and Twins.

–Field Level Media

The Arizona Diamondbacks head into Saturday night’s contest against the Los Angeles Angels in Anaheim, Calif., six games behind the San Francisco Giants for the final wild-card spot in the National League and three games below the .500 mark.

That puts Torey Lovullo’s club in the middle of trade speculation as the July 31 trade deadline approaches. And if the Diamondbacks are indeed in the selling mood, right-hander Zac Gallen could be one of the prime pieces on the move.

Gallen (7-9, 5.15 ERA), a two-time top-five finalist for the NL Cy Young Award, has bounced back from a dreadful 3-7 start to win four of his last six decisions. That stretch includes back-to-back wins over the Giants and San Diego Padres that saw him allow just one earned run and 10 hits over 13 innings while striking out 19.

“It’s part of business,” Gallen said of the trade talk. “Obviously, for me, I don’t like hearing that, just for the fact that it kind of signifies that we’re in that spot where it’s a potential.”

A series win over the Angels after dropping Friday night’s opener 6-5 on Travis d’Arnaud’s walk-off, pinch-hit single in the ninth, combined with a strong start after next week’s All-Star break, could mean the Diamondbacks become buyers instead of sellers at the deadline.

“I’m just trying to string a few more starts together and see where we’re at at the deadline,” Gallen said. “Hopefully, we’re in a spot [where] the front office at the very least doesn’t subtract from this team and decides to add some pieces to this ballclub.”

Gallen is 0-1 with a 5.14 ERA in one career start against Los Angeles. That came in a 5-2 loss in Anaheim in 2023 when he allowed four runs on five hits, including home runs by Mike Trout and Mickey Moniak, over seven innings while striking out 12.

All-Star left-hander Yusei Kikuchi (3-6, 3.02 ERA), who is 1-1 with a 5.81 ERA in five career starts against Arizona, is scheduled to start for the Angels on Saturday. Los Angeles moved to within 3 1/2 games of Tampa Bay for the final American League wild-card spot with Friday’s win.

d’Arnaud lined a pinch-hit single off reliever Kyle Backhus down the left field line to drive in Logan O’Hoppe from second base with the game-winning run. It was the sixth walk-off hit of d’Arnaud’s career.

“Just keep things simple, try and put the bat on the baseball,” d’Arnaud said of his approach. “We already had runners on first and second, so I didn’t need a homer to win it. Fortunately, I got a pitch to hit, and I just got lucky and it dropped in.”

Zach Neto and Yoan Moncada homered and Luis Rengifo and Nolan Schanuel both had three hits for the Angels. Kenley Jansen pitched a scoreless ninth to pick up his third win. Randal Grichuk hit two home runs and doubled and drove in three runs for Arizona.

d’Arnaud said the Angels, fourth in the AL West — nine games behind the first-place Houston Astros — still believe they can make a run into the postseason.

“Just keep going. We’re not out of it,” d’Arnaud said. “We all want to make the playoffs this year. Obviously, we want to win the division as well.”

–Field Level Media

Vladimir Guerrero Jr. is in his seventh big league season but still only 26.

He’s also the newest member of the Blue Jays’ 1,000-hit club, and he will look to add a few more to the total when Toronto visits the Athletics on Saturday night in the middle contest of a three-game series at West Sacramento, Calif.

Guerrero is just the 10th player to reach 1,000 for the Blue Jays. He got there with a single in the fifth inning of Friday’s 7-6 victory and added another hit later in the contest.

“It means a lot,” Guerrero said in a postgame interview with Sportsnet. “It’s a blessing. I have to thank God for helping me get to 1,000 hits.”

The late Tony Fernandez is Toronto’s all-time leader with 1,583 hits. Barring injury or a trade, Guerrero should surpass Fernandez later this decade.

Guerrero’s more immediate focus in on helping the Blue Jays continue their strong play. Toronto has won 11 of 12 games and holds a two-game lead over the New York Yankees in the American League East.

Meanwhile, the Athletics scored three times in the ninth on Friday to give Toronto a scare. But Nick Kurtz struck out against Jeff Hoffman to end it.

Earlier this season, Kurtz delivered two walk-off homers during a four-game series against the Houston Astros.

“The kid can’t come through every time,” Athletics manager Mark Kotsay said. “The fight is there by the club and showed it by getting him up to the plate in the ninth inning as the winning run.”

The A’s unraveled earlier in the game. Toronto’s six-run fifth inning was helped by second baseman Zack Gelof’s throwing error and the club’s failure to execute during a Blue Jays double-steal attempt.

George Springer was on third when Guerrero took off for second. Catcher Shea Langeliers threw to second and shortstop Max Muncy caught the ball in front of the bag and threw home. Muncy one-hopped the throw and Langeliers wasn’t able to glove it as Springer scored.

“If we play catch, Springer is out by 30 feet,” Kotsay said. “That’s the inning where the game got away from us. It seems to be when we make a mistake, it is compounded by a couple of hits and the inning keeps going.”

The A’s hope to have All-Star shortstop Jacob Wilson back on Saturday. He was hit by a pitch on his left hand on Tuesday and has missed the past three games.

The Blue Jays will send right-hander Kevin Gausman (6-6, 4.13 ERA) to the mound on Saturday.

Gausman, 34, has just one victory in his past seven starts. That triumph came when he blanked the Cleveland Guardians on two hits over eight innings in a 6-0 win on June 26.

Gausman wasn’t involved in the decision when he started Toronto’s 8-4 victory over the Athletics on June 1.

He is 1-2 with a 2.25 ERA in seven career starts against the Athletics.

Left-hander Jacob Lopez (2-5, 4.26) will start for the A’s.

Lopez was pounded while lasting just 1 2/3 innings against the Blue Jays in Toronto on May 29. He allowed seven runs and six hits in the 12-0 loss, serving up a three-run homer to Ernie Clement and a two-run shot to Guerrero.

Lopez is 1-1 with a 15.43 ERA in two career starts against the Blue Jays.

–Field Level Media

As one of the best pitchers in the National League, Philadelphia Phillies right-hander Zack Wheeler might have had a chance to start the All-Star Game on Tuesday night in Atlanta.

But Wheeler instead opted for rest over glory and will skip that game, making his Saturday start at the San Diego Padres his last one until after the break.

“He came in the other day and said he wanted to make sure his body was good coming out of the break and carry on through the rest of the year,” Philadelphia manager Rob Thomson said before his team’s 4-2 loss to San Diego on Friday. “He wants to do what’s right by the club. I think he’s being smart.”

Wheeler (9-3, 2.17 ERA) has struck out 148 hitters in 116 innings while allowing an MLB-low .177 batting average and an 0.84 WHIP (walks plus hits per innings pitched). His decision to skip the All-Star Game means Kyle Schwarber will be the only representative of the National League East-leading Phillies in Atlanta.

In his last two starts, Wheeler has allowed just one run in 17 innings and struck out 22. That includes a 3-1 complete-game win Sunday against Cincinnati that saw him strike out 12 in his first complete game since 2021.

Wheeler has dominated the Padres in his career, going 5-1 with a 1.81 ERA in 10 starts and striking out 77 in 64 2/3 innings. He fired eight shutout innings on June 30 in a 4-0 victory over San Diego.

Opposing him in the series’ middle game will be right-hander Yu Darvish, whose season started Monday night — delayed by an elbow injury — in a 6-3 loss to the Arizona Diamondbacks. Darvish lasted 3 2/3 innings, permitting three hits and two runs with three walks and five strikeouts.

Darvish left after 63 pitches but should be able to get deeper into this start. He’s excelled in eight career outings against Philadelphia, going 3-1 with a 2.15 ERA and recording 64 strikeouts in 50 1/3 innings.

As has been the case frequently since a 15-4 start, the Padres could use more length from a starter. Their bullpen, the first in MLB history to send three members to an All-Star Game with the news that Adrian Morejon would replace Wheeler on the NL team, came through with 4 1/3 scoreless innings to protect the win on Friday night.

It’s likely that Morejon, Jeremiah Estrada, Jason Adam and MLB saves leader Robert Suarez will be unavailable after combining for nine innings the past two nights in wins.

Still, the importance of Friday night’s victory can’t be understated for San Diego. It entered the game with a 16-30 mark against teams over .500 and hasn’t won a series against a winning team since taking two of three in Milwaukee from June 7-9. When playing sub-.500 teams, the Padres have feasted, going 34-13.

Friday night’s result also marked the first time San Diego earned consecutive wins since June 24-25, against the Washington Nationals.

Padres All-Star outfielder Fernando Tatis Jr. is grateful for the contribution from his team’s bullpen.

“They are going out there as a group and just competing as a whole group. It’s beautiful to see them lock in and save the lead,” Tatis said. “What they are doing is really special.”

–Field Level Media

The Houston Astros will complete the first half of the season atop the American League West despite debilitating injuries to their rotation, with a trio of starters — right-handers Hayden Wesneski, Ronel Blanco and Spencer Arrighetti — sidelined for significant portions of the season.

If Houston is to hold on to first place, it will need veteran right-hander Lance McCullers Jr. to establish some semblance of consistency. McCullers lasted only three innings in a 7-3 loss to the Texas Rangers on Friday in the opener of a three-game weekend series and continued what has been an uneven return from his two-plus-season injury absence.

Before limiting the Los Angeles Dodgers to one run over six innings in his previous start, McCullers allowed 12 earned runs over 8 1/3 innings in starts against the White Sox and Cubs. He totaled 20 strikeouts over his last two starts of May but allowed seven runs while recording just one out against the Cincinnati Reds on May 10 in his second start of the season.

The challenge for McCullers is eliminating the wide variances in his starts for the Astros, who have lost four straight games after winning six of their previous seven.

“For me (it’s) getting ahead, staying ahead and being able to use his stuff to get the swing-and-miss that he’s capable of doing,” Astros manager Joe Espada said. “Once he gets going and gets ahead of hitters, he commands the at-bat. But as long as he fights himself in that position, it’s going to be tough to navigate.”

Left-hander Framber Valdez (10-4, 2.90 ERA) has the starting assignment for the Astros on Saturday. He allowed four runs on seven hits and two walks with seven strikeouts over six innings in a 6-4 win over the Los Angeles Dodgers on July 5 to remain unbeaten over his last 11 starts (9-0, 2.07 ERA). Valdez has 78 strikeouts against 26 walks in 74 innings in that span.

He is 9-5 with a 2.90 ERA across 18 career appearances (15 starts) against the Rangers. In his last appearance against them on May 18, Valdez allowed three runs on six hits and one walk with eight strikeouts over seven innings in a 4-3 road victory.

Right-hander Jacob deGrom (9-2, 2.29 ERA) is the scheduled starter for Texas on Saturday. He is 5-0 with a 2.09 ERA and six quality starts over his last seven outings.

deGrom produced 14 consecutive starts of five-plus innings with two runs or less, the longest streak in franchise history and the longest by an AL pitcher since Seattle’s Felix Hernandez posted 17 such consecutive starts in 2014. deGrom’s streak was snapped in his last outing when he allowed three runs on five hits and two walks with five strikeouts over five innings on Monday in a 6-5 loss to the Los Angeles Angels.

deGrom made his first career start against the Astros on May 15 when he pitched eight shutout innings and allowed five hits and one walk with seven strikeouts in the Rangers’ 1-0 victory.

The Rangers continued their recent offensive resurgence by recording 13 hits on Friday. While scoring 37 runs in their four-game series split against the Angels this week, the most runs they’ve scored in a series in nearly seven years, the Rangers scored eight-plus runs in three consecutive road games for the first time since Sept. 22-24, 2015.

Texas entered this season with the talent to produce at a level comparable to the top teams in the AL. The Rangers finally appear to be rounding into that form.

“We’ve been saying all along it’s a talented club that has the ability to explode offensively,” Rangers manager Bruce Bochy said.

–Field Level Media

The Milwaukee Brewers are winning games, yet they are far from satisfied.

The hottest team in the National League took its fifth straight victory on Friday in the series opener against the Washington Nationals. The host Brewers will try to keep pounding out timely hits in the middle game of the set Saturday afternoon.

Eight of Milwaukee’s 10 hits on Friday came off Washington starter Mitchell Parker as the Brewers sailed to an 8-3 triumph. The first six batters to come to the plate in the bottom of the third inning had hits and scored, as Christian Yelich capped the outburst with a two-run homer 405 feet to right field.

Milwaukee’s latest win followed a three-game sweep of the Los Angeles Dodgers. Manager Pat Murphy appreciated what he saw from the Brewers as they drew within one game of the Chicago Cubs for the NL Central lead.

“When they have a chance to think about four days (off) and going home (during the All-Star break), it’s just easy to look ahead and not take care of today,” Murphy said, per MLB.com. “We’ve got to be a little uncommon when it comes to how we think about games, because they all matter.”

After the game on Friday, Murphy got to inform history-making rookie pitcher Jacob Misiorowski that he was selected to the All-Star Game as a replacement for Cubs pitcher Matthew Boyd.

Misiorowski, 23, has made just five major league starts and is 4-1 with a 2.81 ERA. The flame-thrower broke Paul Skenes’ record — set last year — for the quickest All-Star selection after a major league debut.

Skenes pitched in 11 games before being named an All-Star.

On Saturday, the Brewers will turn to veteran right-hander Brandon Woodruff (1-0, 1.50 ERA) to oppose left-hander Shinnosuke Ogasawara (0-1, 13.50).

Woodruff pitched in his first major league game since 2023 due to shoulder surgery last Sunday against the Miami Marlins. He limited them to one run on two hits in six innings of a 3-1 victory and tossed eight strikeouts without a walk. Woodruff, 32, is 4-0 with a sparkling 0.96 ERA against the Nationals in seven career games (five starts).

Ogasawara also will make his second start of the season Saturday. The 27-year-old signed with Washington in the offseason after a career in Japan but suffered an oblique injury while at Triple-A.

He made his major league debut on Sunday in a 6-4 loss to the Red Sox, removed after 2 2/3 innings and 55 pitches after Boston touched him for four runs on seven hits.

The Nationals have dropped six of their past seven games, including three of four since firing manager Dave Martinez and general manager Mike Rizzo. They managed just six hits on Friday after a meager four-hit effort the day before in an 8-1 loss to the St. Louis Cardinals.

Interim manager Miguel Cairo tinkered with the batting order Friday, dropping Luis Garcia Jr. from the third spot to sixth, among other adjustments. Garcia went 0-for-3 with two strikeouts and is 1-for-17 in his past six games.

“We got to take it one day at a time,” Cairo told reporters. “The guys are playing hard. I got to continue being myself and put the players in the best situation possible for them to succeed. That’s my main goal.”

–Field Level Media

Going into the All-Star break with momentum will be vital for the New York Mets, who have righted the ship following a 12-15 record in June.

The Mets will look for a second straight win and a series victory Saturday afternoon against the host Kansas City Royals, who don’t want to be streaking in the wrong direction headed into the break.

After being swept in a doubleheader at Baltimore on Thursday, New York registered just two hits while trailing 3-1 after seven innings at Kansas City on Friday. Then Mark Vientos, who entered 4-for-34 in 10 games since returning from a hamstring injury, laced a three-run double to put the Mets ahead 4-3. Francisco Lindor added a three-run insurance homer in the ninth, and Juan Soto followed with a solo shot as New York won for the sixth time in nine games.

“I don’t care how bad I’m feeling at the plate, I want to be up there (in that situation),” Vientos told SNY. “It felt good to (do that) for the team.”

Bobby Witt Jr. gave Kansas City that two-run lead with a two-run homer in the seventh Friday and is batting .397 with four home runs and 14s RBI during a 14-game hitting streak. The loss snapped a four-game winning streak for the Royals, who had won six of their previous seven contests.

Witt is 1-for-4 with two strikeouts against New York’s Frankie Montas (1-1, 6.14 ERA), who will make his fourth start Saturday since making his season debut June 24 following a lat strain. The right-hander has allowed 10 runs and 12 hits — four homers — in 9 2/3 innings of his last two outings.

He gave up four runs and five hits without a walk over a season-high 5 2/3 innings last weekend in a 12-6 victory against the New York Yankees, but earned his first win as a Met.

“I thought I threw the ball pretty well,” Montas said. “My splitter hasn’t really been really consistent. I’ve been working on it. I feel like when I have that pitch, it’s going to be tough to hit.”

Montas is 3-2 with a 3.31 ERA in five career starts versus Kansas City.

After allowing nine runs and 19 hits over 15 2/3 innings of his previous three starts, scheduled Kansas City starter Michael Lorenzen (5-8, 4.61 ERA) was brilliant in yielding two hits and a walk while striking out seven over seven frames of Sunday’s 4-0 victory at Arizona. For the right-hander, it was just a second winning decision in his last 12 starts.

“Was able to stay focused, keep it slow and continue to make quality pitches,” said Lorenzen, who had little trouble executing his trademark changeup.
“Hopefully, I can continue that trend with that pitch, because that’s my bread and butter.”

Lorenzen is 2-0 with a 2.61 ERA in four career starts against the Mets.

–Field Level Media

The Colorado Rockies have a chance Saturday to do something they’ve accomplished only twice this season — and an opportunity to put the Cincinnati Reds on the verge of suffering a fate they haven’t endured this year.

The Rockies will look to lock up a rare series victory Saturday afternoon when they visit the Reds in the middle game of a three-game set.

Bradley Blalock (0-2, 12.94 ERA) is slated to start for the Rockies against fellow right-hander Brady Singer (7-7, 4.32).

The Rockies earned a much-needed win Friday night when Hunter Goodman scored the tiebreaking run on a wild pitch in the eighth inning of a 3-2 game.

Before Friday, Colorado hadn’t won a game in which it scored three runs or less since a 3-1 victory over the Washington Nationals on June 18.

“That’s been the story of the season,” said Rockies third baseman Ryan McMahon, who went 3-for-4 with a two-run homer on Friday. “If we score a bunch of runs, typically we win. It’s these hard-fought games that we need to find a way to get that little edge, score that extra run, stuff like that. Tonight we did a good job of that.”

The win also was just the fifth in a series opener this season for the Rockies, whose 22-72 record has them on pace to finish 38-124 — three games worse than last year’s Chicago White Sox, who set the modern record for losses in a season.

Colorado’s last two victories in series openers yielded series wins over the Miami Marlins and Nationals — the Rockies’ only series wins of the season.

On the other end of the spectrum are the Reds, who are the only team in the majors that hasn’t been swept yet.

The Reds continued their inconsistent ways on offense Friday night, when they fell to 0-6 this month when scoring three runs or less. Cincinnati has scored at least six runs in each of its four wins since July 1.

The Reds went 0-for-11 with runners in scoring position Friday. With two outs in the ninth, Austin Hays struck out to strand potential tying run Santiago Espinal at second base and potential winning run Elly De La Cruz at first base.

Hays finished 0-for-5 with four strikeouts while stranding nine runners. He entered Friday batting .321 with runners on base.

“Austin had a tough night tonight,” Reds manager Terry Francona said. “We’ll take him in that situation all the rest of the year, believe me.”

Blalock, who hasn’t pitched since he tossed five innings for Triple-A Albuquerque on July 4, last appeared in the majors on May 10, when he gave up 12 runs over 3 2/3 innings and took the loss as Colorado suffered a 21-0 demolition by the San Diego Padres. He was optioned to Albuquerque the next day.

Singer took the loss in his most recent start on Monday night, when he surrendered two runs over five innings as the Reds fell 5-1 to the Miami Marlins.

Blalock was the losing pitcher in his lone previous appearance against the Reds on April 27, when he allowed six runs over four innings as Cincinnati cruised to an 8-1 win.

Singer is 2-0 with an 0.71 ERA in two career starts against the Rockies.

–Field Level Media

Alex Bregman’s return from the injured list earlier Friday gave the Boston Red Sox a boost, but Ceddanne Rafaela provided the biggest.

Rafaela’s walk-off, two-run home run helped the Red Sox overcome a 4-1 deficit and beat Tampa Bay 5-4, setting up the opportunity for a third straight win to begin a four-game series against the American League East rival Rays on Saturday afternoon.

Rafaela, a 24-year-old center fielder, was not the only Red Sox youngster to make an impact on the big win, though, as 22-year-old Marcelo Mayer had a key double and Roman Anthony, 21, walked to set up Rafaela’s heroics.

“It was Marcelo, Roman and Rafaela,” Red Sox manager Alex Cora said. “The future of this organization is bright. The present is bright, too.”

Bregman, playing in his first game since May 24, went 1-for-4 with a double. He had been out because of a quad strain.

Bregman and Boston will look to continue the team’s run — the longest active win streak in MLB at eight games — as left-hander Garrett Crochet (9-4, 2.39 ERA) makes his final start before the All-Star break and his first career start against Tampa Bay on Saturday. The All-Star has struck out at least seven batters in each of his last eight outings, giving him 151 in 120 1/3 innings this season.

Crochet worked through allowing nine hits to pitch five innings of two-run ball with seven strikeouts in last Sunday’s series-sweeping 6-4 win over the Washington Nationals.

The 26-year-old earned his second straight All-Star selection, but it was announced Friday that he would not pitch in next Tuesday’s game in Atlanta due to a heavy workload.

“No need to … throw in a game that doesn’t affect our team,” he said. “It’s an unnecessary risk. It’s a huge honor to be invited. … But this year … it would be selfish, in a way, to the team. I want to come back from the break ready to throw another 60, 70 innings.”

It is an opportune time, though for a Crochet start for the Red Sox — who are in third place in the American League East — because Hunter Dobbins exited after just 1 2/3 innings Friday due to right knee pain.

Friday’s game marked the second straight in which the Rays’ bullpen lost a lead, as three unearned runs in the third inning broke open a 1-1 game. Their five blown saves this month are the most in MLB, with newcomer Bryan Baker and Pete Fairbanks taking the losses thus far in Boston.

Despite the loss, All-Star Jonathan Aranda and Jake Mangum recorded multiple hits apiece. Aranda is on a seven-game hitting streak.

“It’s too much if I look back to the past — it’s been a long journey,” Aranda said this week. “But now being named an All-Star, it’s something that I will always be grateful for. And I’m just going to enjoy the moment.”

Tampa Bay right-hander Shane Baz (8-4, 4.34 ERA) will look to remain unbeaten against the Red Sox in his career, as he is 3-0 with a 2.96 ERA in four starts. In this season’s head-to-head series, he struck out 11 in six innings of two-hit ball on April 14 (a 16-1 Rays win) before taking no-decision on June 9, an eventual 10-8 Rays victory.

Baz has thrown three straight quality starts, including striking out seven while getting tagged for three runs on seven hits by the Detroit Tigers in a 5-1 loss on Monday.

Baz has walked just four batters over his last three starts combined after issuing four walks in each of the previous two.

“So the commitment to the strike zone for Shane has certainly helped in his last couple of starts,” Tampa Bay manager Kevin Cash said.

–Field Level Media