In their first matchup this week with an American League division leader, the Tampa Bay Rays were victorious in two of three games against the Texas Rangers to win their 20th series of the season.

The AL East-leading Rays will hope to make it number 21 when they square off with the tops in the AL Central, the Chicago White Sox, on Friday night in St. Petersburg, Fla.

Manager Kevin Cash’s Rays won the series against the AL West-leading Rangers on Thursday when Cedric Mullins’ tiebreaking solo homer in the eighth inning gave Tampa Bay a 3-2 win.

That series win helped the Rays move to 20 games above .500 at 64-44 — the best record in the American League. Forty of those wins have come at home, which tops the majors.

Good things are happening for the Rays, and Cash attributed much of Thursday’s victory to two dynamite defensive plays by right fielder Victor Mesa Jr. that bookended the game.

In the first inning, Mesa ran down Brandon Nimmo’s gapper, which likely that likely would have scored a run. And in the ninth inning, it was an improbable sprint and backhanded snare of Evan Carter’s drive toward the right field line that would have at least tied the game at 3 and left a big mess for closer Bryan Baker.

“The instincts and jumps and reads (of Mesa) just come out of nowhere,” said Cash, whose group is 3 1/2 games ahead of the New York Yankees. “He plays with so much confidence out there, but we have four or five outfielders who are pretty fearless.”

Left fielder Jonny DeLuca also hit a solo homer to give all three outfielders key contributions.

The White Sox’s magical, turnaround campaign continued Wednesday and Thursday on the South Side after losing the first two at home against the Yankees.

The first-place club, which dropped 102 games last season and a record-setting 121 in 2024, rallied from a 4-0 deficit Wednesday by withstanding some incredible five-man infield defense by New York, ultimately winning on Edgar Quero’s 12th-inning single.

On Thursday, All-Star outfielder Tristan Peters worked a base on balls on four pitches with the bases loaded in the 11th inning to drive in the winner on a walk-off walk.

The White Sox recorded their AL-best ninth walk-off win, notching consecutive victories that way for the first time since June 3-4, 2023.

“This is a special group. Just to get a win against the Yankees is awesome,” said Peters, whose first walk-off was a single against the Toronto Blue Jays in Chicago’s home opener on April 3. “Everybody’s ready to go, and we’re not going to give up. It’s just grit.”

The White Sox will embark on a pair of three-game road series in Tampa Bay and Boston over the next week before hosting Cleveland next Friday.

Manager Will Venable’s team is six games over .500 with a two-game lead over the Guardians.

Erick Fedde (5-6, 4.25 ERA) will pitch for Chicago in a matchup of right-handers Friday. He is 2-0 with a 2.03 ERA in two career starts against the Rays.

Tampa Bay with send out its leader in victories, 10-game winner Nick Martinez (10-2, 2.45). The All-Star is 2-4 with a 4.82 ERA in eight games (five starts) versus Chicago.

-Field Level Media

Left-hander Foster Griffin will go for his ninth straight victory on Friday when the visiting Washington Nationals play the Atlanta Braves in the second contest of their four-game series.

The Braves recorded a 5-4 victory in the opener on Thursday and hold a 5-3 lead in the season series. The win extended their lead to seven games over Philadelphia in the National League East and dropped Washington 2 1/2 games out of the final wild-card spot.

Griffin (12-2, 2.76 ERA) will be opposed by Atlanta right-hander Bryce Elder (6-6, 3.96) on Friday.

Griffin began his winning streak on May 19 when he beat the New York Mets.

The last nine starts have been particularly outstanding as the All-Star has gone 6-0 with a 1.58 ERA. He allowed only one run or fewer in eight of those games, the streak ending in his last appearance on Saturday when he gave up three runs in 6 2/3 innings against Arizona.

Griffin has made two career starts against Atlanta, going 2-0 with a 2.25 ERA. He defeated the Braves twice this season, most recently a six-inning scoreless stint on May 24.

It possibly could be Griffin’s final start for the Nationals. Rumors persist that Washington might move him before Monday’s trade deadline unless the two sides can agree on a contract extension.

“We haven’t really talked about (trade rumors),” Nationals manager Blake Butera said.

Elder has recovered from his struggles prior to the All-Star Game. In two starts since the break, he has allowed only three earned runs over 11 combined innings. In his last outing on Sunday at Baltimore, Elder surrendered two runs (one earned) in five innings, striking out eight.

“I thought my stuff was really good,” Elder said. “We’ll take that as a positive. But a couple of the walks after the double plays just kind of — it’s just exhausting. You feel like you’re rolling, then all of a sudden you’re back down in a hole. As rocky as it was, I guess, I gave us a chance.”

Elder has faced the Nationals twice this season, going 1-0 with a 2.84 ERA. He received no-decision versus Washington on May 22, despite giving up only one run in six innings. In eight career starts against the Nationals, Elder is 3-2 with a 2.98 ERA.

Washington hit three home runs on Thursday, giving the Nationals a league-leading 162 for the season – one more than they hit for the entire 2025 season.

Daylen Lile hit two homers and Luis Garcia Jr. crushed a 455-foot shot among his three hits on Thursday.

Atlanta’s Ronald Acuna Jr. on Thursday hit his first home run since missing 38 games with a left hamstring strain. It was his eighth homer and first since May 31.

“It’s good to have Ronald back and to see him hitting balls in the right-center bullpen, that’s always a good sign,” Atlanta manager Walt Weiss said.

Atlanta is expected to return struggling third baseman Austin Riley to the lineup on Friday. He was given a “mental health” day on Thursday with Mauricio Dubon starting at third base. Riley went 3-for-22 (.136) on the road trip and is hitless in his last 10 at-bats.

–Field Level Media

Hunter Goodman wasn’t picked to compete in the Home Run Derby during All-Star Week, but he has plenty of suitors now.

Goodman, the Colorado Rockies’ power-hitting catcher, is drawing interest from several teams ahead of Monday’s trading deadline. For now he is still with Colorado and is expected to be in the lineup when the Rockies open a three-game home series against the Kansas City Royals on Friday night.

Colorado will send Tomoyuki Sugano (10-4, 4.69 ERA) to the mound against Kansas City’s Michael Wacha (5-7, 3.60).

Sugano, who is 1-1 with a 2.38 ERA in two career starts against the Royals, has helped the Rockies improve on their 119-loss season in 2025. So have Mickey Moniak, Jake McCarthy and Goodman, three of the most rumored Colorado players in trade scenarios.

Goodman, who leads the team with 31 home runs and 60 RBIs, has drawn the most buzz when it comes to possible trade partners. The 26-year-old catcher set the franchise record for home runs by a catcher in 2025 with 31, and he tied it in fewer than 100 games this season. He is poised to break his own record – should he still be on the roster this weekend.

Colorado has not ignored the rumors and talk about players being dealt.

“We talk about it openly,” Rockies manager Warren Schaeffer said. “It’s just a thing that might happen, and everybody knows it. It’s not like you pretend it’s not happening. These are human beings and their lives might change [over the next] couple of days here.”

The Royals are also expected to be sellers before Monday. They are coming off a tough 4-3 loss in Minnesota on Thursday afternoon when Kody Clemens hit a grand slam with two outs in the bottom of the ninth, and one of their movable players is Wacha.

The right-hander, who is 2-2 with a 5.11 ERA in nine career appearances – eight starts – against Colorado, was an All-Star this season and is pitching well. He has just one win since May 9 but has tossed at least six innings in 10 of his 13 starts since beating Detroit 11 weeks ago.

Wacha, along with Seth Lugo, are veterans in their mid-30s and would hold value for a team needing to bolster its staff for a playoff chase. That doesn’t mean Kansas City general manager J.J. Picollo is compelled to move either one.

“We have to be very, very pointed on what we want to get out of any one of those two,” Picollo said recently. “And it’s also, they made a commitment to us, and that’s big. And I think that’s important to the morale of the team.”

Both teams are dealing with injuries to key players ahead of their weekend matchup. The Royals placed shortstop Bobby Witt Jr. (low back) on the 10-day injured list on July 22 – retroactive to July 21 – and he is eligible to be activated Friday.

Rockies third baseman Kyle Karros missed the two-game series in San Diego earlier this week with right biceps inflammation but has not required a trip to the IL.

-Field Level Media