Ronel Blanco will have a tough act to follow when he makes his second start in more than a year on Sunday for the Houston Astros against the host Chicago White Sox.

Fellow right-hander Hunter Brown stymied the White Sox on Saturday over seven shutout innings, allowing just two hits, in a 4-1 victory that saw that Astros move into second place in the American League West, two games behind the Texas Rangers.

Blanco (0-0, 7.71) had not pitched since May 2025 when he took the mound on Monday against the Miami Marlins. He didn’t get a decision in the 8-5 win after allowing four earned runs on two hits — both home runs — in 4 2/3 innings with three walks and eight strikeouts.

Of his 86 pitches, 55 were strikes.

“Just focused on throwing a lot of strikes and attacking the zone because they’re a team that doesn’t go out of the zone too often,” Blanco said after the game. “So that was the main focus.”

In his most recent full season, 2024, Blanco was 13-6 with a 2.80 ERA with 166 strikeouts in 167 1/3 innings.

Blanco has only faced the White Sox once in his career in a two-inning relief stint in which he did not allow a run, walked a batter and struck out four. That was in 8-4 victory on April 1, 2023, in which Blanco left without a decision.

The Astros have won five consecutive games. On Saturday, Brown got help from Isaac Paredes, who drove in three runs on two hits, and Jeremy Pena, who finished 3-for-4 with two runs scored. Josh Hader got the final two outs for his 12th save.

On Sunday, right-hander Erick Fedde (5-6, 4.16) will start for the White Sox, trying to avoid a series sweep after a 9-5 loss in the series opener on Friday. He has made two career starts against the Astros and is 0-1 with a 3.60 ERA.

His most recent start was a no-decision in a 10-3 win over the host Texas Rangers on Monday. Fedde gave up two runs and four hits in four innings, did not walk a batter and struck out six.

Chicago could be without shortstop Colson Montgomery on Sunday.

Before hitting a single that drove in Chicago’s only run of the game in the ninth inning on Saturday, Montgomery fouled a pitch off the same spot on his shin/calf area as he had in a game during the team’s previous series in Texas.

Even though he was wearing a shin guard, Montgomery immediately fell, and the team’s trainer came out to tend to him. He stayed in the game, then lined a pitch into the right-field corner that usually would have been an easy double. But Montgomery held at first for a single.

“It was just above where it got him the other day, so pretty sore,” manager Will Venable said. “Obviously was able to finish that at-bat. He’ll get treatment and see where we’re at tomorrow.”

The White Sox are 6-4 in their past 10 games but have lost two in a row. With Cleveland’s 3-0 loss to the Tampa Bay Rays on Saturday, Chicago stayed 1 1/2 games ahead of the Guardians in the American League Central.

–Field Level Media

The Minnesota Twins will try to win a series with their rotation facing a mound of uncertainty.

The next test for the Twins will arrive Sunday afternoon when they take on the Athletics in the decisive contest of a three-game series in Minneapolis.

The Athletics won Friday’s opener 2-0, and Minnesota bounced back for a 2-0 victory on Saturday evening.

On Sunday, however, the Twins will not have ace right-hander Joe Ryan (6-6, 3.38 ERA), as originally planned.

Minnesota had intended to start Ryan on an extra day of rest on Sunday. But the club updated those plans Saturday and announced that Ryan would not start until Tuesday at the earliest, vs. the Kansas City Royals.

Twins manager Derek Shelton said Ryan is experiencing “general arm fatigue.” The All-Star pitcher is coming off a rocky performance in which he allowed six home runs against the Cleveland Guardians on Monday — and eight runs total over four innings — in his first start after the break as Minnesota lost 13-4.

Ryan downplayed the poor start and the decision to delay his next outing.

“We were working through some stuff for a little bit, and we were trying to figure that out,” Ryan said. “Obviously, it didn’t get figured out (in my last start). So (we’re) just taking time to make sure we get everything all good.

“Injury-wise, am I concerned? No. Zero concern.”

The Twins already are short-handed in their rotation after right-hander Mike Paredes was ruled out for Saturday’s game because of a strained oblique muscle. Kendrys Rojas started and tossed four scoreless innings, and the bullpen preserved the shutout.

On Sunday, Twins left-hander Connor Prielipp (2-5, 5.00 ERA) is expected to come off the injured list and make his 14th start of the season. He has been sidelined because of a blister on the middle finger of his throwing hand.

Prielipp will go for his first victory since June 2 against the Chicago White Sox. In his most recent start July 8 against the Guardians, he allowed three runs on four hits in five innings. He walked two and struck out six in Minnesota’s 6-5 victory.

This will be Prielipp’s first career appearance against the Athletics, who will counter with left-hander Jeffrey Springs (3-9, 5.96 ERA).

Springs is set to make his 21st start. The 33-year-old boasted a 3-0 record on April 14 but has lost nine straight decisions since then.

In his most recent start, Springs drew a no-decision against the Arizona Diamondbacks on Monday. He allowed two runs on six hits in five innings and threw 50 of 78 pitches for strikes in his team’s 5-2 victory.

Springs is 2-0 with a 1.89 ERA in four career games (two starts) against the Twins.

The Athletics will have slugger Nick Kurtz available for a second straight game after he was activated from the 10-day injured list on Saturday. Kurtz went 0-for-4 with four strikeouts in his return from a thumb injury but said his tough return did not have to do with the injury.

“Swinging on the thumb felt good,” Kurtz said. “I just didn’t get (the results).”

Athletics manager Mark Kotsay said he is happy to have one of his best hitters back.

“Overall, we just wanted him to come out of this game healthy and continue forward,” Kotsay said of Kurtz, who has a .263 batting average, 20 homers and 66 RBIs in 93 games this season.

–Field Level Media

Despite struggling as a group for most of July, the St. Louis Cardinals continue to hang close in the National League playoff picture.

Their next chance to make progress comes Sunday afternoon in the decisive contest of a three-game series against the visiting Cincinnati Reds.

To make a genuine postseason push over the final third of the regular season, the Cardinals will need production from slugger Ivan Herrera like he provided in their most recent victory.

Herrera went 2-for-4 from the cleanup spot Saturday night, lining a two-run double to help the Cardinals pull away for a 7-0 victory.

Herrera also caught right-hander Andre Pallante, who allowed two hits and tied a season high with eight strikeouts over seven innings.

After starting the month with an 8-13 record prior to Saturday’s win, the Cardinals closed within 1 1/2 games of the Arizona Diamondbacks for the final wild-card spot.

“We’ve struggled with the offense, but we came up big today,” Herrera said. “It’s good to see guys coming up clutch.”

Herrera batted .284 with 19 home runs and a .464 slugging percentage in 2025, which led to big expectations at the plate. His production has not quite matched them — yet. While Herrera was named to the National League All-Star squad, but he’s not performing like teammates Jordan Walker, Alec Burleson or rookie JJ Wetherholt.

Cardinals manager Oliver Marmol said he’s hopeful that Herrera’s swing is coming around. He hit two balls with exit velocities of 102 mph or faster against the Reds, including his double in the sixth against right-hander Hunter Greene that put the Cards on the path to a six-run inning.

“Things he’s been working on, he’s been able to carry over to the game,” Marmol said. “His misses were what they needed to be and his hits were too. A good combo.

“When he’s going well, it’s certainly helpful.”

Four trailing teams are within 1 1/2 games of the Cardinals, who send right-hander Kyle Leahy (7-4, 3.59 ERA) to the mound on Sunday against left-hander Andrew Abbott (5-6, 3.89) in the series finale.

Leahy allowed one run on three hits in six innings of a no-decision against the Los Angeles Angels on Monday.

He also recorded a pair of no-decisions versus the Reds this season, yielding a total of eight runs on 12 hits over nine innings. He has a 7.11 ERA without a decision in 10 career appearances (two starts) against Cincinnati.

Abbott lost for the second time in his last three outings on Monday despite allowing just one unearned run on four hits in six innings of an 8-0 setback to the Seattle Mariners.

He is 4-4 with a 3.94 ERA in nine career appearances (all starts) versus the Cardinals.

The Reds, who stand six games out of the projected playoff field, are 2-5 against the Cardinals this season.

Cincinnati couldn’t muster any rallies against Pallante, and while Greene performed well until the sixth inning, his third trip through the order against the Cards lineup unraveled his night.

“The mistakes he made were mainly with his breaking ball,” manager Terry Francona said.

–Field Level Media