The Los Angeles Angels placed right-hander Jose Soriano on the 15-day injured list on Thursday, ending his season after he sustained a right forearm contusion from a line drive in Wednesday night’s loss to the host Milwaukee Brewers.

In a corresponding move, Los Angeles recalled rookie left-hander Sam Aldegheri from Triple-A Salt Lake.

The Brewers had runners on first and second with one out in the second inning when Jake Bauers hit a 107-mph scorcher that hit Soriano in his arm. The ball trickled toward the third base line and loaded the bases in a scoreless game. Soriano buckled over in pain, then entered a squatting position.

Interim manager Ray Montgomery and head athletic trainer Mike Frostad went to the mound to evaluate Soriano, who was replaced by reliever Connor Brogdon. All three inherited runners scored in a five-run inning and Milwaukee went on to win 9-2 with Soriano taking the loss.

Soriano, 26, underwent X-rays, which were negative for a fracture.

“I’m good, thank God, it just hit me on the forearm,” Soriano said through interpreter Manny Del Campo after the game. “I was worried, but the X-rays came back negative. Now, I’ll just take it day by day and see how it goes.”

Soriano is 10-11 with a 4.26 ERA and career highs with 78 walks and 152 strikeouts in 169 innings. He entered Thursday tied for major league lead with 31 starts.

He is a career 17-21 with a 3.89 ERA, 146 walks and 305 strikeouts in 324 innings over 91 games (51 starts) since making his major league debut with the Angels in June 2023.

Aldegheri, who turns 24 on Friday, has a 10.38 ERA in 4 1/3 innings for the Angels this season. Ranked the Angels’ No. 14 prospect by MLB Pipeline, Aldegheri was 8-8 with a 3.72 ERA, 58 walks and 110 strikeouts in 128 1/3 innings in 23 games (all starts) for the Angels’ Double-A affiliate Rocket City, and he had a 5.40 ERA for five innings in one start for Triple-A Salt Lake.

–Field Level Media

The Philadelphia Phillies and Arizona Diamondbacks enter a pivotal three-games series in Phoenix with fresh starting rotations.

The D-backs, who enter Friday two games behind the New York Mets in the National League wild-card race, will start right-hander Ryne Nelson (7-3, 3.34 ERA) in the opener after implementing a four-man rotation for the final nine regular-season games.

The Phillies adjusted for a different reason. After clinching a postseason berth Tuesday by winning the NL East, they opted to push No. 1 starter Cristopher Sanchez back to Tuesday, when he will pitch on six days’ rest and also be in line for the playoff opener.

Philadelphia right-hander Taijuan Walker (5-8, 4.17) will start Friday, with Walker Buehler also expected to pitch multiple innings.

“It’ll be a Walker Buehler piggy-back,” manager Rob Thomson said.

The D-backs have a three-game home series against the NL West-leading Los Angeles Dodgers next week before concluding the regular season with a three-game road set against another playoff contender, the San Diego Padres.

With an off day next Monday, all four Arizona starters — Nelson, Zac Gallen, Eduardo Rodriguez and Brandon Pfaadt — will pitch with at least four days’ rest down the stretch.

“The four guys have been leading the charge for us all year long,” manager Torey Lovullo said. “They’ve been throwing the ball well … some have been throwing the ball exceptionally well.

“We wanted to match up the best way we could against the most critical teams in the most critical times. We felt this was the right thing to do.”

Both teams enter on a serious roll.

The Phillies (91-62) are 30-15 since the trade deadline, the best record in baseball. After taking two of three from the Dodgers earlier this week, they won six straight series mainly without ace Zack Wheeler and NL MVP candidate Trea Turner.

Turner, leading the NL with a .305 batting average and 179 hits, has been out since Sept. 7 with a hamstring strain. Thomson said the star shortstop is making “great” progress.

“He just continues to have good days,” Thomson said, indicating Turner could return by the end of the regular season.

Phillies DH Kyle Schwarber leads the NL with 53 homers and leads MLB with 128 RBIs. He has played all 153 games.

The D-backs (77-76), who spoiled Pfaadt’s nine scoreless innings in a 5-1, 11-inning loss to San Francisco on Wednesday, are 26-18 since the trade deadline, the majors’ fifth-best record. They have won seven of their last nine series and split another.

“The Phillies are a great team — well-managed, and they are loaded with talent,” Lovullo said. “We can’t let them come in here and muscle us. We have to play our game. I think our game matches up against anybody at any time.”

Walker, who spent 2017-19 with Arizona, has given up four runs in each of his last four starts as his ERA has jumped to a season-high 4.17. He yielded four runs in a 5-4 loss to the D-backs last year, his only career appearance against them.

Nelson has gotten stronger as the season has progressed. He has a 2.40 ERA across his last five starts, all quality starts. He is 0-1 with a 4.15 ERA in three starts against the Phillies. Bryce Harper is 4-for-9 with a homer off Nelson.

–Field Level Media

Veteran Justin Verlander isn’t looking back at those 16 consecutive winless starts to begin this season.

His focus is on the ensuing 11 starts in which he has allowed two or fewer runs nine times.

The recent run tells Verlander he has more in the tank and he told USA Today that he would like to pitch again next season, when he will be 43.

Verlander is 3-10 with a 3.75 ERA this season. But over the last five starts, he is 2-0 with an 0.87 ERA.

Verlander blanked the Arizona Diamondbacks on three hits over seven innings on Wednesday but received a no-decision.

The recent performance represents a startling contrast to the pitcher who looked near the end of the line two to three months ago.

“Every day you come to the field for four months, and it’s like, ‘What’s the way out of this?'” Verlander told USA Today. “How do I make the adjustment? What do I need to do? What’s wrong? Because clearly something’s wrong. I just have to try to find it.

“I had a new thought in the bullpen, I took that into the game, and the game results have been what you see. So I’m glad I didn’t give up.”

Verlander, a three-time Cy Young winner and former American League MVP, has 265 career victories but his goal of reaching 300 now looks out of reach.

The nine-time All-Star admits to having mixed feelings about not being closer to 300 as this season winds down.

“I mean, I’m human,” Verlander said. “I think we all know. Like everybody in this locker room, all of you guys, and most of baseball kind of understand where I’m at. So, it would have been nice if possible, but again it’s that point of the year where we’re not playing for individual (stats).

“We’re at that course of the season where I don’t care if I win or lose, I want to give us the best chance to win this, the best chance to sneak into the playoffs.”

Giants manager Bob Melvin is impressed that Verlander is lighting it up in September.

“To be pitching this well late in the season, with this much under his belt at this point, it’s pretty remarkable,” Melvin said.”

–Field Level Media

Liam Hicks homered, singled and drove in a career-high-tying four runs, Otto Lopez and Heriberto Hernandez also went deep and the Miami Marlins held on to beat the Colorado Rockies 9-7 and sweep the three-game series on Thursday in Denver.

Jakob Marsee and Agustin Ramirez also had two hits and Sandy Alcantara allowed three runs in 6 2/3 innings for Miami (73-80), which has won seven of its last eight.

Alcantara (10-12) entered Thursday with a 7.56 ERA in three career starts in Denver but was dominant for most of the afternoon, finishing with eight strikeouts.

Blaine Crim hit two solo home runs and Yanquiel Fernandez also homered and doubled for Colorado (41-112). Tyler Freeman had two hits and Tanner Gordon (6-7) allowed four runs — three earned — on five hits in his six innings.

Mickey Moniak homered for the fourth straight game during a ninth-inning rally that nearly erased a six-run deficit.

Crim started the inning with his second homer, the third of the season and his career. Fernandez and Ryan Ritter hit back-to-back doubles and Moniak homered 452 feet to center, his 24th of the season.

Calvin Faucher entered for Miami and Hunter Goodman singled off him to bring up the tying run, but Faucher got Jordan Beck to hit a comebacker to nail down his 14th save.

The Rockies have lost 22 of their last 26 games.

The Marlins took a 1-0 lead in the second on a two-out RBI single by Dane Myers, but Crim’s first home run and an RBI single by Freeman gave the Rockies a 2-1 lead in the bottom of the inning.

Hicks and Lopez hit back-to-back home runs in the third for the Marlins. Hicks’ two-run shot was his sixth of the season, and Lopez’s 15th homer made it 4-2. Hicks added a two-run single in the seventh to make it 6-2.

Alcantara retired 15 straight batters before Fernandez hit a solo homer with two outs in the seventh. Ritter walked to end Alcantara’s day.

The Marlins got the run back in the eighth on Troy Johnston’s RBI single to center for a 7-3 lead. Hernandez then hit a pinch-hit, two-run homer in the ninth, his ninth of the season.

–Field Level Media

Future Hall of Famer Clayton Kershaw will retire after the 2025 season, the Los Angeles Dodgers announced Thursday.

The left-handed ace won three National League Cy Young awards and the 2014 NL Most Valuable Player in a stellar 18-year career spent entirely with the Dodgers. He contributed to World Series champion teams in 2020 and 2024.

“I’m gonna call it. I’m gonna retire,” Kershaw said during a news conference on Thursday. “I think it’s the right time. It’s been such a fun year.”

Kershaw, 37, was limited to seven games for Los Angeles last year but wanted to play another season in 2025. He was named to his 11th All-Star Game this summer and carries a 10-2 record and a 3.53 ERA into the home stretch of the season.

Kershaw is scheduled to start Friday against the San Francisco Giants. It will mark Kershaw’s final regular-season start at Dodger Stadium, as the Dodgers play the final week of the season on the road.

However, Kershaw could appear again in the playoffs. The Dodgers entered Thursday at 85-67, clinging to a 2 1/2-game lead over the San Diego Padres in the NL West.

“We still have a lot to accomplish, obviously, this month, and the last thing I want to do is be a distraction to anybody for accomplishing our ultimate goal.” Kershaw said. “I’m really not sad. I’m really not. I’m really at peace with this. It’s just emotional.”

Kershaw, who also won the 2012 Roberto Clemente Award for work in his community, is 222-96 with a 2.54 ERA in 452 career games. The ERA is the lowest among active, qualifying pitchers. He’s thrown 25 complete games, including 15 shutouts, which also leads all active players.

“On behalf of the Dodgers, I congratulate Clayton on a fabulous career and thank him for the many moments he gave to Dodger fans and baseball fans everywhere, as well as for all of his profound charitable endeavors,” Dodgers owner and chairman Mark Walter said in a statement. “His is a truly legendary career, one that we know will lead to his induction in the Baseball Hall of Fame.”

–Field Level Media

Luis Castillo threw six stellar innings, Jorge Polanco and J.P. Crawford each had RBI doubles and the visiting Seattle Mariners posted a 2-0 victory over the Kansas City Royals on Thursday afternoon.

Castillo (10-8) allowed three hits in his scoreless outing, striking out three and walking none for Seattle (84-69), which won its 11th game in 12 tries and pulled even with the Houston Astros atop the American League West. The Mariners begin a three-game series in Houston on Friday.

Andres Munoz worked around Vinnie Pasquantino’s one-out double and a hit-by-pitch in the ninth by striking out Adam Frazier to earn his 36th save.

Stephen Kolek (5-6) threw 7 1/3 innings of two-run (one earned), two-hit ball, while striking out a career-high eight batters and walking one for Kansas City (76-77), which has dropped eight of its last 11.

Seattle struck first in the second, as Josh Naylor hit a leadoff single followed by Polanco’s RBI double to give the Mariners a 1-0 edge.

After Salvador Perez and Frazier recorded consecutive one-out singles in the bottom of the second, Castillo retired 10 straight Kansas City batters before Carter Jensen’s single in the fifth.

Kolek’s streak went even further, as the Kansas City starter retired 16 consecutive Mariners before Naylor’s two-out walk in the seventh.

In relief of Castillo, Eduard Bazardo threw a perfect seventh.

After Kolek struck out Eugenio Suarez to begin the eighth, Dominic Canzone seemingly grounded out to second baseman Michael Massey. Seattle then challenged that Massey began the play with his heels on the outfield grass, resulting in a defensive shift violation.

Daniel Lynch IV then relieved Kolek and surrendered Crawford’s run-scoring double to push Seattle’s lead to 2-0.

Both teams finished with just five hits. Naylor was the only player to hit safely twice.

–Field Level Media

Brent Rooker homered during a three-run first inning that helped the visiting Athletics defeat the Boston Red Sox 5-3 on Thursday.

Rooker’s home run, his 30th of the season, came against Boston starter Brayan Bello and gave the Athletics a 2-0 lead. Nick Kurtz scored on Tyler Soderstrom’s single later in the first inning to make it 3-0.

J.T. Ginn (4-6) pitched the first six innings to earn the win. He limited Boston to two runs on two hits, struck out three and walked one. Hogan Harris earned his fourth save by pitching the final two innings. He gave up one run and struck out three.

Bello (11-8) was pulled after four innings. He allowed four runs (three earned) on five hits.

The Athletics (72-81) won two games in the three-game series and have won six of their last seven.

The Red Sox (83-70) dropped the opener 2-1 on Tuesday before winning 5-4 in 10 innings on Wednesday. Boston has lost five of its last seven games.

David Hamilton and Trevor Story each homered for Boston, but shortstop Story also committed two errors, each of which cost the Red Sox a run.

Story and Nate Eaton both collected two hits in the loss. The Athletics retired 13 straight Boston batters before Eaton singled with one out in the seventh.

It was 3-1 after Story scored on Masataka Yoshida’s sacrifice fly in the bottom of the first. Hamilton’s fifth home run of the season made it 3-2 in the second.

Kurtz scored on Story’s throwing error to make it 4-2 in the third, and the Athletics led 5-2 after Lawrence Butler scored on Story’s throwing error in the seventh. Butler had two of his team’s eight hits.

Story’s 25th home run trimmed Boston’s deficit to 5-3 in the eighth.

Boston had just two hits over the final seven innings and seven total.

–Field Level Media

Tampa Bay starting pitcher Shane Baz crafted five scoreless innings, Chandler Simpson had his second straight three-hit game and the Rays split their four-game series against the visiting Toronto Blue Jays 4-0 on Thursday afternoon.

After being rocked in a 6-4 loss to the Chicago Cubs last Friday, Baz (10-12) was 1-9 with a 6.21 ERA in his past 13 starts dating back to the beginning of July.

However, the right-hander rebounded with a sharp outing, allowing just two hits while whiffing four and walking one for the Rays (75-78), who had played five consecutive one-run games.

Simpson went 3-for-4 with a double and two RBIs. Carson Williams was 2-for-4 with a solo homer and two runs and Jake Mangum produced two hits and a stolen base.

The American League East-leading Blue Jays (89-64) got a hit apiece from Nathan Lukes, Daulton Varsho, Ernie Clement (double) and Vladimir Guerrero Jr. They had only three runners in scoring position and were blanked for the sixth time.

After a lengthy second inning, starter Chris Bassitt (11-9) lasted just 4 1/3 innings and surrendered three runs on eight hits. He fanned three, walked two and hit a batter.

Following consecutive singles by Hunter Feduccia, Williams and Bob Seymour to fill the bases with two outs in the second, Simpson looped a single into shallow center for a 2-0 lead. Brandon Lowe then singled to right — Tampa Bay’s fifth straight hit — to plate Seymour.

After a first-inning single by Lukes, Baz retired 11 of the next 12 batters into the fifth before Varsho’s single, but Toronto produced little else.

Williams put the home side up 4-0 with a homer to left, his fourth of the season, leading off the sixth against Eric Lauer.

Rays relievers Griffin Jax, Kevin Kelly, Garrett Cleavinger and Bryan Baker each fired a scoreless inning to complete the club’s 11th shutout.

–Field Level Media

Pete Alonso and Brandon Nimmo homered Thursday while rookie Jonah Tong pitched five solid innings for the win as the New York Mets stopped the visiting San Diego Padres 6-1.

Tong (2-2) allowed only four hits and an unearned run while walking none and fanning a career-high eight in his fourth MLB start. Four relievers closed the game out as New York (79-74) upped its lead for the National League’s final wild-card spot to two games over Arizona, and 2 ½ games over Cincinnati and San Francisco.

Randy Vasquez (5-7) was charged with four hits and four runs over 2 1/3 innings with a walk and three strikeouts as San Diego (83-70) dropped 2 ½ games behind the Los Angeles Dodgers for first place in the National League West.

A four-run third inning gave the Mets their working margin. Cedric Mullins and Francisco Lindor started it with singles, with Lindor taking second on the throw to third. Juan Soto’s groundout cashed in Mullins and Alonso worked a walk.

Padres manager Mike Shildt hooked Vasquez for Wandy Peralta to create a left-on-left matchup with Nimmo. But Nimmo pulled a 1-2 changeup an estimated 389 feet over the wall in right-center for his 24th homer of the year and New York’s 10th homer of the series.

Given that cushion, Tong worked clean innings in the fourth and fifth, striking out four straight at one point. San Diego managed only six hits off five Mets pitchers.

Alonso initiated scoring in the first by demolishing a hanging breaking ball from Vasquez. The shot, estimated at 445 feet, found the seats in deep left-center for Alonso’s 37th homer of the year.

The Padres’ only run came in the third with help from Tong. Fernando Tatis Jr. singled with one out, reached second on a wild pickoff throw and then made third on a wild pitch. Luis Arraez’s fly ball to shallow left scored Tatis when he beat Nimmo’s throw home.

Alonso capped the scoring in the seventh with a sacrifice fly against reliever Ron Marinaccio that plated Lindor.

–Field Level Media

Jose Ramirez clubbed a tiebreaking, two-run homer and the visiting Cleveland Guardians completed a three-game sweep of the first-place Detroit Tigers with a 3-1 win on Thursday afternoon.

Cleveland (81-71) has won seven straight and 12 of its last 13 games to pull within 3 1/2 games of the Tigers (85-68) in the American League Central. They will square off in another three-game series next week, this time in Cleveland.

Jhonkensy Noel supplied a solo home run for the Guardians.

Colt Keith supplied an RBI double for Detroit before he departed in the third inning due to low back tightness. The Tigers have lost six of their last seven games.

The first six innings featured a pitchers’ duel between Detroit ace Tarik Skubal — who departed his previous start in the fourth inning due to left side tightness — and Tanner Bibee.

Skubal gave up one run, seven hits and two walks while striking out nine on 102 pitches. Bibee (11-11) allowed one run on four hits with two walks and struck out eight on 100 pitches.

Hunter Gaddis recorded the last three outs to collect his third save.

Detroit scored first during the second inning but squandered a chance to build a bigger lead. Spencer Torkelson led off with a double and moved to third on Wenceel Perez’s single. Keith’s double drove in Torkelson and moved Perez to third. Perez was thrown out at home on a fielder’s choice and Bibee then set down the next two batters on a strikeout and flyout.

Noel’s fifth homer of the season tied it with one out in the fourth. He drove an 0-2 changeup over the left-center-field wall.

The Guardians took the lead in the seventh against Troy Melton (3-2). Angel Martinez drew a one-out walk before Ramirez blasted a cutter over the right-center-field wall for his 29th homer.

Torkelson led off the bottom of the ninth with a single but Perez bounced into a double play. Andy Ibanez then popped up to end the game.

–Field Level Media