The Pittsburgh Pirates didn’t stand pat on Friday despite seeing their scheduled series opener against the visiting Milwaukee Brewers rained out.

Pittsburgh sent the 34th overall pick in the upcoming MLB Draft and left-hander Jaden Woods to the Chicago White Sox in exchange for infielder Jacob Gonzalez and left-handed pitcher Brandon Eisert. The trade will give the Pirates some flexibility as they deal with the absence of infielder Konnor Griffin (torn finger tendon).

Pirates general manager Ben Cherington was pleased with the trade.

“We believe in this team and discussed multiple ways to use the comp pick to strengthen it,” Cherington said.

“Jacob Gonzalez can complement Nick Gonzales and Jared Triolo on the left side of the infield in Konnor Griffin’s absence. He’s also a versatile left-handed hitter who has taken significant steps this season and who we believe in long-term.

“Brandon Eisert makes us even deeper in left-handed relief.”

Back to matters on the field, the starters for Saturday’s first game of the doubleheader were not immediately known, although Pirates All-Star Braxton Ashcraft (9-3, 3.24 ERA) likely will square off against fellow right-hander Brandon Sproat (3-4, 5.13) of the Brewers.

Milwaukee planned to send rookie left-hander Shane Drohan (4-2, 2.97 ERA) to the mound for Game 2 against Pittsburgh right-hander Bubba Chandler (3-8, 4.82).

Ashcraft has given the Pirates such length this season, pitching at least six innings in 12 of his 18 starts. He has 122 strikeouts over 108 1/3 innings this season.

“He’s one of the best pitchers in the game, and I don’t really think you can argue that,” teammate Paul Skenes said about Ashcraft. “All the numbers say that, too. Obviously, he’s having a good year. Recognition and going to the All-Star Game is not the end-all, be-all by any means. But he deserves it, and he’s not the only one.”

Ashcraft was named an All-Star replacement with Skenes unable to pitch in the Midsummer Classic since he is scheduled to start this Sunday. Pittsburgh is 12-6 this season in games Ashcraft starts, and he has allowed two runs or fewer in 13 of his 18 starts.

Ashcraft will make his second career start against Milwaukee. On June 23 of last year, he received a no-decision after allowing one hit over three scoreless innings.

The Brewers have won each of the past four times Sproat has pitched. That includes Sproat’s most recent outing this past Sunday against Arizona, which was not his most efficient. Sproat, who has never faced the Pirates, threw 92 pitches in four innings, walked three, struck out four and gave up one run on five hits in his team’s 3-2 win.

While Milwaukee did get quality starts from most of its rotation during its four wins against the St. Louis Cardinals this week, it could use a better performance from Sproat.

The Brewers continue to find ways to win, even though they entered Thursday’s game batting .209 as a team with runners in scoring position over a 17-game stretch, which ranked 28th out of 30 MLB teams.

“We find a way in ‘winning time’ in those last few innings to push something across,” Milwaukee designated hitter/outfielder Christian Yelich said. “We manufacture something even though things aren’t going our way the last few weeks. You run into those stretches during a baseball season, and you have to find ways to survive them.”

Drohan picked up his first win in nearly one month on Monday after allowing three runs (one earned) over six innings in a 4-3 victory over the Cardinals. In his second career game back in April, he faced the Pirates and pitched the sixth through ninth innings of a 6-0 loss, surrendering three runs (one earned) on four hits.

Chandler endured his second straight rough outing on Sunday after yielding four runs on six hits and four walks in four innings of a no-decision versus the Washington Nationals. He was blitzed in his lone career meeting with Milwaukee, permitting nine runs on nine hits in 2 2/3 innings of a 10-2 loss on Sept. 7.

–Field Level Media

The Tampa Bay Rays are riding a power surge and sporting a new All-Star, the team’s fifth, and will try to keep rolling Saturday afternoon when they face the Seattle Mariners in St. Petersburg, Fla.

The American League East-leading Rays hit four home runs in Friday night’s 7-2 rout of the Mariners, who have fallen one game below .500, and Tampa Bay did it behind new All-Star Nick Martinez.

The club’s 16 home runs lead the AL in July.

The Rays moved their home mark to a majors-best 34-14, and Martinez improved to 8-2 with a 2.65 ERA with 5 1/3 innings of two-run ball against Seattle, which has lost four straight games and slipped out of first place in the AL West on a disastrous road trip that began in Miami.

Martinez was added to the AL squad on Friday after an injury to Boston Red Sox pitcher Ranger Suarez took the southpaw out of Tuesday’s game.

Victor Mesa Jr., who hit the third of the team’s long shots, said he could not be happier for his 35-year-old pitcher’s first All-Star appearance.

“He deserves it and more,” Mesa said. “He’s a dog. … Obviously, he deserves everything good that is happening to him. I’m happy for him and his family.”

Martinez joins teammates Yandy Diaz, Junior Caminero, Drew Rasmussen and Bryan Baker on the AL club for the midsummer classic in Philadelphia on Tuesday.

Seattle starter Luis Castillo, a three-time All-Star, was victimized for three of the homers in five tough innings that led to four runs on nine hits.

“It was all good except for that fifth inning where I gave up two homers,” Castillo said via a translator of the homers by Cedric Mullins and Mesa. “To me, it was just two bad pitches where I put them right where I didn’t want to.”

Seattle was largely unproductive in its final two games in Miami this week, being outscored 10-4 in two defeats and going 0-for-12 with runners in scoring position.

In Friday’s series opener by the bay, it was no different.

Tampa Bay outhit the M’s 14-5, with two of Seattle’s hits coming from shortstop J.P. Crawford. The Mariners were 0-for-7 with runners in scoring position, making them 3-for-40 with 12 strikeouts in that situation over the past five contests.

After losing Thursday’s series finale 8-4 to the Marlins, the AL West club soon fell out of first place that night following Wyatt Langford’s walk-off single as the Texas Rangers won 7-6 over the last-place Los Angeles Angels.

Logan Gilbert (7-5, 3.19 ERA) will start for Seattle on Saturday after going 3-1 with a 2.84 ERA in five June starts. He started July with an 11-0 win over the Toronto Blue Jays on Independence Day, allowing one hit in 7 1/3 innings.

The right-hander has 114 strikeouts in 107 1/3 innings (9.6 per nine) and an 0.95 WHIP after yielding just 80 hits and 22 walks.

In five career starts against the Rays, the Winter Park, Fla., product is 1-1 with a 3.29 ERA.

Tampa Bay’s Griffin Jax (4-6, 3.60 ERA) was outstanding in retiring the first 13 New York Yankees he faced Monday, but he took the loss by walking consecutive batters in the fifth and then seeing Jose Caballero rip a three-run homer in the division rival’s 5-1 win.

In 15 career relief appearances vs. the Mariners, Jax, a right-hander, is 2-2 with a 7.56 ERA.

–Field Level Media

Cristopher Sanchez’s Cy Young Award candidacy took a hit in his last start.

The left-hander will try to bounce back when the visiting Philadelphia Phillies face the red-hot Detroit Tigers on Saturday night.

Sanchez was rocked for nine runs and 12 hits in 3 1/3 innings at Kansas City on Monday, raising his ERA from 2.00 to 2.62. Sanchez (10-4) had tossed seven shutout innings against Pittsburgh in his previous outing, his 13th quality start of the season.

Sanchez only recorded one strikeout against the Royals after fanning nine Pirates. However, he said there was nothing wrong with him physically.

“I feel great,” Sanchez said. “That’s why I was a little surprised to have such an outing (Monday), because I feel really good.”

Sanchez had a celebrated 50 2/3 innings scoreless streak earlier this season, so for the 29-year-old left-hander to give up nine runs in one game was stunning.

“I don’t know how to really explain it, but obviously, as long as he’s healthy, he’s going to be fine,” Phillies interim manager Don Mattingly said. “(Monday’s) hopefully one of those you don’t see very often.”

Kansas City, which scored six runs in the first inning, hit three homers off Sanchez’s normally lethal changeup.

“It’s really tough to see that they hit three homers off me with my pitch,” Sanchez said.

In his lone career outing against Detroit, the All-Star picked up the win after scattering five hits over eight shutout innings last season.

He’ll be opposed by right-hander Casey Mize (4-5, 2.64), who has won his last two starts. Mize blanked the New York Yankees for seven innings while notching 10 strikeouts on June 29, then held Texas to two runs in 6 2/3 innings on Sunday.

“I don’t think I executed my best, but I was still able to go get 20 outs,” said Mize, who struck out 10 batters in 4 1/3 innings but lost his only career outing against Philadelphia.

“The defense played great behind me, and offensively, they put up plenty. So it kind of allowed me just to settle in and try to attack the strike zone and go from there, even when I wasn’t at my best.”

Mize, who will be a free agent after this season, could be dealt this month if the Tigers choose to go into “sell mode” before the trade deadline.

That won’t happen if Detroit keeps piling up wins. The Tigers have won six straight and nine of their last 10, including a 10-2 series-opening victory on Friday. They have outscored opponents 35-9 during their current streak.

“We were playing bad baseball and that isn’t us. I knew eventually we’d get back to us,” said infielder Colt Keith, who hit one of the Tigers’ three homers on Friday.

“It’s a long season and a lot of guys in the clubhouse kept their heads up and just kept working.”

The Phillies have lost four of their last six games. In their last three defeats, their vaunted pitching staff has given up double-digit runs.

The series will conclude on Sunday with another marquee pitching matchup between the Phillies’ Zack Wheeler and the Tigers’ Tarik Skubal.

–Field Level Media