Yandy Diaz bolstered his case as one of the best players in Tampa Bay Rays history on Saturday, and the veteran designated hitter shows no signs of slowing down.

Diaz and the Rays look to wrap up a successful weekend on Sunday when they go for a three-game sweep of the Cleveland Guardians in St. Petersburg, Fla.

Cleveland has lost four straight games and scored a total of four runs in its last three.

Diaz, 34, became the fourth player in franchise history to reach 1,000 hits with a first-inning single on Saturday. Diaz also hit a fifth-inning double in the 3-0 victory.

Tampa Bay won for the fifth time in its last six games and boasts the American League’s best record at 61-43. Diaz, who is batting team-best .306 along with 14 home runs and 61 RBIs, has been a model of consistency throughout his eight seasons with the Rays.

“To watch him do what he does every single year, man, it’s incredible,” Rays left-hander Shane McClanahan said. “I think I can speak for the rest of the team and say that Yandy Diaz is special. We love him and we’re glad he’s with us.”

The Rays have won 10 of their last 17 home games against the Guardians, who were limited to five singles in Saturday’s loss.

“We need to keep working and keep battling,” Guardians manager Stephen Vogt said. “It’s been a tough couple days for us offensively, but we just need to keep going.”

Cleveland will send left-hander Parker Messick (8-5, 2.68 ERA) to the mound in the series finale. He allowed two runs (one earned) over 5 2/3 innings in a no-decision against the Minnesota Twins last Tuesday.

Messick, 25, was making his first start since pitching a scoreless inning in the All-Star Game on July 14.

“Parker just does what he does,” Vogt said. “He just continues to go deep into games and I just can’t say enough about the job Parker’s doing. He still feels like he doesn’t have his best stuff right now and he’s still navigating games. It’s just really impressive what he’s doing.”

Junior Caminero is 1-for-9 against Messick, who is 2-0 with a 0.96 ERA in three career starts versus Tampa Bay. He allowed one run over 5 2/3 innings in a no-decision against the Rays on April 27.

Tampa Bay will counter with right-hander Drew Rasmussen (8-5, 3.28), who yielded two runs over five innings in a 12-2 road win over the Toronto Blue Jays last Tuesday.

Rasmussen, 30, escaped a bases-loaded, one-out jam in the bottom of the first inning before the Rays’ offense took control.

“That was huge, because they very easily could have grabbed some momentum,” Tampa Bay catcher Nick Fortes said. “For him to be able to buckle down and keep the runs off the board, that was huge. That’s just the kind of pitcher he is. He competes.”

Steven Kwan is 3-for-9 against Rasmussen, who is 0-1 with a 3.57 ERA in seven career games (five starts) versus Cleveland.

Rays shortstop Taylor Walls has been held out of the starting lineup for each of the past three games with a finger injury, but he entered as a defensive replacement in the ninth inning of Saturday’s win.

–Field Level Media

The League of Legends LCS Summer Split kicked off Saturday in Los Angeles, and LYON wasted little time asserting its dominance in the opening match of the event.

In a stark contrast, Sentinels and Dignitas needed a third map to decide their match, the second of the opening-day doubleheader.

The LCS Summer Split is an eight-team event beginning Saturday and running through the finals in October. The seven-week round-robin regular season — in which each all teams play each other once in a best-of-three match, will set the field for the six-team playoffs.

The top two teams in the regular season will advance to the semifinals in the playoffs, while the third- through sixth-place teams will advance to the quarters. The bottom two teams in the standings are eliminated.

The playoffs, which run Sept. 12 through Oct. 4, are best-of-five and double elimination. The top three teams will advance to the World Championships, played in New York, Los Angeles and Allen, Texas, from Oct. 15 through Nov. 11.

In Saturday’s first match, LYON dominated from the start, winning in 28 minutes on red and 33 minutes on blue. South Korean Kim “Berserker” Min-cheol led all players with 16 kills across the two maps, posting a 16/7/12 kill/death/assist ratio. Jonathan “Armao” Armao led all players with 24 assists in the win.

The second match opened with a tightly played first map, which Dignitas ultimately won in 37 minutes on red. Sentinels bounced back with a 27-minute on red then won the deciding match on blue, wining in 30 minutes.

Ham “HamBak” Yoo-jin of South Korea led the winners with a 27/5/24 K/D/A.

Week 1 continues Sunday with a pair of matches.

LCS 2026 Summer Split Schedule

Sunday

–Team Liquid vs. Cloud9

–Shopify Rebellion vs. Disguised

LCS 2026 Summer Split Standings

Place, Team (Match Record, Map Record)

1. LYON (1-0, 2-0)

2. Sentinels (1-0, 2-1)

T3. Team Liquid (0-0, 0-0)

T3. Dignitas (0-0, 0-0)

T3. Disguised (0-0, 0-0)

T3. Shopify Rebellion (0-0, 0-0)

7. Dignitas (0-1, 1-2)

8.. FlyQuest (0-1, 0-2)

–Field Level Media

Maybe the way Saturday night’s game played out, there will be special momentum for the Baltimore Orioles as they close out the weekend.

They’ll take on the visiting Atlanta Braves again Sunday afternoon following a thrilling 3-2 triumph.

“Any win is a big win, but a tight game like that (especially),” Orioles manager Craig Albernaz said, emphasizing the importance.

Baltimore, which swept a three-game series last year in Atlanta, will try to win this year’s series when the teams meet in the rubber game.

The teams have played a pair of one-run games. Atlanta won 7-6 in 10 innings Friday night and Baltimore responded by scoring the winning run in the ninth inning of Saturday night’s escape.

That final run came on Dylan Beavers’ two-out hit which plated Jackson Holliday.

“I think everyone in this clubhouse believes we can be really good,” Beavers said. “We just need to be better more consistently, all around. We’re all kind of in agreement on that. But I think, every day, we’ve got to win the day.”

Few things have come easily for the Braves lately, but despite Saturday’s result, they’ve won seven of their last 10 games.

“You’ve got to play well to beat teams in this league,” Braves manager Walt Weiss said. “There are some good things happening right now. It’s well documented, the tough June we had. But after the break, we’ve really turned it around and we’re playing well in pretty much all phases.”

The Orioles like what they’re seeing from third baseman Christian Encarnacion-Strand, who has played in six games for the team. He has hit three home runs, driven in nine runs and has at least one hit in five of those games.

“It has been really impressive,” Albernaz said. “It has been fun to watch. He hasn’t been missing good pitches to hit, and that’s a testament to him.”

The Braves will have right-hander Reynaldo Lopez (4-3, 3.95 ERA) in a starting role for Sunday’s series finale. He has come out of the bullpen in 13 of his 23 appearances this year, but he has worked into the fifth inning in each of his four starts in July.

Lopez has been roughed up for nine total runs in 9 1/3 innings in his last two outings. All-time against the Orioles, he’s 2-2 with a 2.38 ERA in 10 matchups, including three starts.

The Orioles have right-hander Shane Baz (4-9, 4.05) ready for another start. He has been sharper in his last two outings, allowing a combined three earned runs over 10 2/3 innings, recording 15 strikeouts without issuing a walk. Still, Baz is without a victory since June 12 — and the Orioles have won a game in only one of his last six stints.

Baz will be facing the Braves for the first time in his career.

The Orioles, who will be concluding a three-game homestand, might want to stay away from using reliever Rico Garcia for at least a game. In each of the last two games, he surrendered a game-tying home run in the eighth inning, running his streak of consecutive appearances with a homer allowed to three.

There was concern late in Saturday’s game about Atlanta outfielder Eli White, who fell while making it to second base on what turned out to be a pinch-hit double in the seventh inning. He later left the game.

–Field Level Media