Here are three things to watch for around the baseball world Wednesday\u2026<\/p>\n
1. Can anyone stop the Brewers or Mariners?<\/p>\n
The Brewers haven\u2019t lost a game since before the trade deadline. Their last defeat was a 10-3 loss to the archrival Cubs on July 30. Milwaukee has won 11 straight games and 14 of their past 15, catapulting them into a commanding 7.5-game lead in the NL Central. The Brewers bludgeoned the Pirates with 14 runs last night in a game started by arguably the best pitcher in the league, Paul Skenes<\/a> (though \u201conly\u201d four of the runs came against Skenes). They\u2019ll go for 12 in a row today when resurgent ace Brandon Woodruff<\/a> (2.29 ERA in 35 1\/3 innings) takes on Pirates righty Mitch Keller<\/a> (3.86 ERA in 137 2\/3 innings) in a day game being broadcast on MLB Network.<\/p>\n The Mariners are on their own blistering win streak, having picked up their eighth straight win in a 1-0 victory over the Orioles last night. Deadline pickup Josh Naylor<\/a> singled home a run in the top of the first inning, and that proved to be the lone run scored on either side of the box score in a brilliantly pitched duel between Seattle\u2019s George Kirby<\/a> and Baltimore\u2019s Dean Kremer<\/a>. Logan Gilbert<\/a> heads to the mound Wednesday to try to secure Seattle\u2019s ninth consecutive victory, but he\u2019ll have a tough opponent in lefty Trevor Rogers<\/a>, whose miserable partial season with the O\u2019s last year feels like a distant memory. Rogers (1.44 ERA in 62 1\/3 innings) hasn\u2019t looked this good since finishing runner-up in 2021 NL Rookie of the Year voting. Can he quell Seattle\u2019s momentum? A win today for the M\u2019s and a loss for the Astros would give the Mariners sole possession of the AL West lead.<\/p>\n 2. Health updates on star closers?<\/p>\n The Orioles declared closer Felix Bautista<\/a> out for the season yesterday, with manager Tony Mansolino<\/a> citing a \u201csignificant\u201d shoulder injury<\/a> as the cause. Just a couple hours later, the Astros placed Josh Hader<\/a> on the 15-day IL with a shoulder strain<\/a> \u2014 the first arm injury of his outstanding career. Both pitchers were slated to continue undergoing testing as their teams gathered additional information on their respective injuries.<\/p>\n With regard to Bautista, there\u2019s obviously greater cause for concern. He missed all of the 2024 season due to Tommy John surgery and returned with good bottom-line results but diminished velocity and a walk rate near 16%. He was placed on the injured list due to shoulder inflammation late last month and has now been ruled out entirely with more than six weeks of the season yet to play out.<\/p>\n There\u2019s no indication Hader\u2019s season is in jeopardy, and until the Astros gather additional opinions, they\u2019ll be tight-lipped on the left-hander\u2019s outlook. It\u2019s possible that we could get updates on one or both pitchers today, and we should certainly know more about at least one of them by the end of the week.<\/p>\n 3. Kelly faces his old team:<\/p>\n The D-backs traded right-hander Merrill Kelly<\/a> to the Rangers back on July 31, parting ways with a right-hander who\u2019s spent the past six-plus seasons as a fixture in the rotation. A 2010 Rays draftee, Kelly never made it to the majors with Tampa Bay before heading to the Korea Baseball Organization and reinventing himself overseas. He\u2019s become not just a stable big league arm but a high-end, playoff-caliber starter who\u2019s enjoying one of his best seasons at age 36. Kelly was sharp in his first Rangers start but struggled in his second. He\u2019ll now face Arizona for the first time since the deal and square off against longtime rotation-mate Zac Gallen<\/a>.<\/p>\n Gallen, like Kelly, is an impending free agent whose name was heavily discussed prior to the trade deadline. The D-backs ultimately held onto Gallen, whose 5.31 ERA and huge spike in home runs allowed this season combined to tamp down his trade value. Gallen has put together two strong starts since the deadline (12 innings, three runs, 13 hits, three walks, nine strikeouts) and will look to keep building momentum against a Texas club whose offense has continued to struggle. Even with the rough season, he\u2019s still a qualifying offer candidate \u2014 particularly if he can string together a series of strong starts to close out the year.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Here are three things to watch for around the baseball world Wednesday\u2026 1. 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