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Tyler Locklear moved into the lineup in his place, with Tim Tawa and Ildemaro Vargas switching positions. Consider Marte to be day-to-day.

He allowed just a pair of singles in the process and recorded an immaculate inning in the fourth, striking out Byron Buxton, Ryan Jeffers and Josh Bell on nine pitches. Williams’ secondaries were downright nasty today, as he generated 18 whiffs on 39 swings between his sweeper and curveball. It was a good bounceback from a five-earned run clunker against the Pirates in his last start that was fueled by three homers, and Williams moved his ERA on the season back under 4 with the effort. He’ll take his talents to Great American Ballpark next week.

The move makes room for fellow reliever Ron Marinaccio, who was acquired from the Padres. How much better off would the Pirates be right now if they had kept David Bednar, instead of taking a poor return from the Yankees, and traded Santana last summer? Santana was great last season, but with his strikeout rate down to 20 percent, he’d posted a 6.05 ERA in 41 2/3 innings this year. He’s a free agent at season’s end and any team that claims him would owe him about $1.5 million over the rest of the year, so there’s a good chance he’ll clear waivers.

The assumption had been if the Mariners made a move in their rotation, it would likely be jettisoning Luis Castillo. Hancock would have more value to other teams as a controllable starter who is not making $22.75 million a season. Hancock has had a breakout year, with a 3.16 ERA in his first 19 starts, with 97 strikeouts in 105 1/3 innings pitched. The Athletic’s pair of reporters believe the Cubs and Mariners could match up well in a trade, though stop short of reporting that the Cubs have engaged with the Mariners on Hancock.

It’s the second game in a row he’s missed since leaving Tuesday’s game with shoulder soreness. Nick Loftin is getting some run in right field for the Royals on Thursday after Starling Marte played there yesterday.

Acuña will play in Triple-A Gwinnett tonight and looks likely to return at some point this weekend against the Orioles. Weiss added that if he wasn’t activated Friday, “almost certainly” he’d be activated this weekend. Acuña has been rehabbing his hamstring since July 13 in the FCL league and then at Gwinnett. The fantasy superstar should be safe to plug in to lineups immediately upon his return.

All of the runs came in the second after Mauricio Dubón greatly misjudged what seemed like a routine flyball to left field, resulting in a single. Sale wasn’t blameless in the inning, as he plunked light-hitting lefty Jake Cronenworth and walked Fernando Tatis Jr. with the bases loaded, but that all happened after what should have been the third out. Sale matched his season high with the 11 strikeouts. It’s his 94th career 10-strikeout game, moving him past Curt Schilling and into seventh place on the all-time list. Next up is Sandy Koufax at 97. He’ll make his next start Tuesday against the Mets.

That doesn’t necessarily mean that the Brewers will get either player — or that either player will be traded at all — but it’s a notable shift from Milwaukee’s usual deadline strategy. “I’ve been on the phone a lot,” Brewers president of baseball told McCalvy. “We’re definitely active.” The Brewers are clearly looking to snag a bye in the National League playoffs. Skubal’s availability seems to come and go as the Tigers win and lose games — it sounds like if a Skubal deal does come it’ll be one that happens on August 3, the actual day of the deadline.

Alvarez is like an old school heavy-weight boxer. He leans on his opponents until he finds the opportunity to deliver the knockout blow. Then, he puts them to sleep. He and Sandy Alcantara had battled three times over the first seven innings of this game. Despite notching one hit, Alvarez put the ball on the ground three times, which is rare for him. He also swung at one of the first two pitches he saw in all three at-bats, also something he rarely does. In an increasingly odd fourth matchup with the same pitcher in the same game, Alvarez waited back until Alcantara’s third pitch and drove a fastball for an opposite field home run and a late lead the Astros wouldn’t give back. That brought him to 34 home runs and 77 RBI on the season, each now league-leading marks by just one. His .328 batting average is also best in the American League by a wide margin as he has the triple crown in his sights with just over two months of baseball left to play.

Working on a limit of about 60 pitches in his return from a bone bruise in his elbow, Fried got through five in 57, 37 of which were strikes, and averaged 96.2 mph with his fastball, which was 1.5 mph better than his season average. He left a scoreless game, so there was no win to be had. However, it was an awfully encouraging showing. He’ll get the White Sox next.