Catcher Nick Fortes has emerged as an unlikely force for the Tampa Bay Rays, who will continue their three-game series against the Cleveland Guardians on Saturday night in St. Petersburg, Fla.

Fortes is 11-for-19 during a five-game hitting streak, including four hits with two RBIs in an 11-3 win over the Guardians on Friday.

The Rays reportedly are in the market for a catcher with the trade deadline approaching on Aug. 3, but Fortes’ play might change their plans.

“I’m just trusting the work and staying consistent with it,” said Fortes, who has a .281 batting average, four homers and 27 RBIs this season. “There’s going to be ups and downs, but you’ve got to continue with the same approach and routine, and that’s just kind of where I’m at right now.”

Tampa Bay owns the best record in the American League at 60-43 and is a major-league-best 36-15 at home.

Ryan Vilade hit a two-run homer and Richie Palacios added a three-run blast on Friday for the Rays, who pounded out 15 hits.

Cleveland trailed 5-1 after four innings and lost its third straight game. Right fielder Chase DeLauter extended his season-high on-base streak to 16 games with a first-inning walk before lining a double to right field in the fourth.

“I thought early in the game … we were getting some momentum going there,” Guardians manager Stephen Vogt said. “I thought we had some good at-bats. We just weren’t really able to get much, and then they kind of stretched the game out.

“Just kind of took the wind out of our sails. But, again, tough night. These nights happen. We’ll flush it and be ready to go tomorrow.”

Before Friday’s game, Cleveland activated outfielder/infielder Angel Martinez and left-handed reliever Tim Herrin from the injured list and optioned utilityman Daniel Schneemann and left-hander Will Dion to Triple-A Columbus.

Saturday’s pitching matchup will feature a pair of right-handers as Cleveland’s Tanner Bibee (4-9, 3.86 ERA) opposes Tampa Bay’s Nick Martinez (9-2, 2.59).

Bibee, 27, allowed two runs over six innings in a 13-4 home win over the Minnesota Twins on Monday. After going 0-7 with a 4.57 ERA to start the season, Bibee is 4-2 with a 2.88 ERA in his last eight starts since the beginning of June.

Yandy Diaz is 4-for-13 (.308) with a home run in his career against Bibee, who is 1-3 with a 3.82 ERA in five career starts vs. Tampa Bay.

The Rays will counter with Martinez, who tossed six innings of one-run ball in a 7-1 road win over the Toronto Blue Jays on Monday.

“He’s been huge for us all season long,” Rays manager Kevin Cash said of Martinez. “We needed a really good start, he gave us one. Pitched out of a couple jams there early on but then got on a roll where he was just super efficient, throwing all his pitches and letting the defense play behind him.”

Martinez, 35, has allowed three earned runs or less in 18 of his 19 starts this season.

Cleveland’s Jose Ramirez is hitless in eight at-bats against Martinez, who is 2-2 with a 5.66 ERA in seven career games (three starts) vs. Cleveland.

-Field Level Media

The Minnesota Twins will hand out Hall of Famer Kirby Puckett No. 34 jerseys to the first 10,000 fans who arrive for Saturday’s game against the Athletics.

Expect the team to play some highlights on the scoreboard of Puckett’s biggest hits, regardless of whether or not the Twins’ lineup is able to deliver some of their own in real time.

Minnesota will try to bounce back from a sleepy performance at the plate when it faces the Athletics in the second contest of a three-game set in Minneapolis.

The Twins are coming off a 2-0 loss against the Athletics in Friday’s series opener. Minnesota managed only two hits in the game: a double by Austin Martin and a single by Ryan Jeffers.

Twins manager Derek Shelton hopes that his hitters can bounce back one day later.

“We had (seven) walks, we had two hit-by-pitches, and we hit into (three) double plays,” Shelton said. “I think that was the story of the game. We just couldn’t get a big hit to break it open.”

Athletics right-hander Mason Barnett (1-0, 4.64 ERA) will try to maintain his team’s hot pitching in the second game of the series. He is slated to make his first start of the season and the sixth of his brief career.

Barnett has 21 strikeouts in 21 1/3 innings out of the bullpen this season. This will be his first career appearance against the Twins.

Minnesota had not named its starting pitcher as of early Saturday morning. The Twins plan to save ace right-hander Joe Ryan for Sunday’s series finale.

Martin could get another turn in the Twins lineup after being one of the few players to stand out in Friday’s series opener. Shelton praised his patience at the plate as well as his contributions in left field, where he started alongside center fielder Byron Buxton and right fielder Luke Keaschall.

Martin is hitting .241 this season and boasts a .356 on-base percentage. He hit leadoff Friday with Buxton in the No. 2 spot and Jeffers batting third.

“Good at-bats tonight,” Shelton said. “Two walks and a double. He made two really good plays in the outfield. It was a good game from Austin.

“We played well defensively, too. We did a nice job. But, again, we couldn’t break through offensively.”

Athletics left fielder Tyler Soderstrom will look to stay hot at the plate. He went 1-for-3 with a double and an RBI on Friday, and he has three homers and eight RBIs in his past nine games.

Athletics manager Mark Kotsay praised Soderstrom for his recent approach.

“‘Sody’ is a big part of this group,” Kotsay said. “He puts a lot of pressure on himself. He expects to get hits every time he’s up. (That was) a big hit.”

Another player who has stood out for the Athletics is left-hander Hogan Harris, who picked up his eighth save Friday. He has 61 strikeouts in 45 2/3 innings.

Minnesota will try to gain ground in the American League wild-card race on Saturday as the team’s front office continues to evaluate whether to buy, sell or stand pat at the upcoming trade deadline. The Twins are three games out of the last wild-card spot.

–Field Level Media

The Atlanta Braves have found ways to boost their stock recently, even as they wait for one of their key players to return to the lineup.

The Braves will visit the Baltimore Orioles on Saturday night in the second game of a three-game series.

Atlanta used late-inning breakthroughs to produce a 7-6, 10-inning victory Friday night to move to 6-2 since the All-Star break.

The Braves, though, are 16-20 without injured outfielder Ronald Acuna Jr., who had been projected to be ready to play at some point during the series in Baltimore. Instead, he had his rehab assignment with Triple-A Gwinnett extended for at least another day.

Acuna has been out since June 10 because of a strained hamstring. He has a .251 batting average, seven homers and 22 RBIs in 53 games this season.

“He’ll let us know when he feels like he’s ready to go,” Braves manager Walt Weiss said. “… He’s been away from the game for a long time. So he’s going to have to get quite a few at-bats, I’m sure, before he feels like he can come up here and hit the ground running.”

The Braves have other producers, such as Drake Baldwin, who’s putting together another strong season after winning National League Rookie of the Year in 2025.

In his 80th game this season, Baldwin hit his 20th home run Friday night, eclipsing last year’s 19-homer total, which came in 124 games.

As for the Orioles, they have found production with a team newcomer. What infielder Christian Encarnacion-Strand has provided since his promotion from Triple-A Norfolk has been a jolt for the offense.

Encarnacion-Strand has homered three times across five games with Baltimore. He ended the scoring on Friday with a two-run smash in the 10th.

The Braves never led until the 10th inning Friday, so in the aftermath it will be another test on the emotional barometer for the Orioles.

“Our players know what’s at stake,” manager Craig Albernaz said. “Also, they’ve done a great job of navigating this season through the ups and the downs of never wavering their confidence, how they go about their business.”

The Orioles were bemoaning a defensive snafu with second baseman Jackson Holliday’s errant throw — following his diving stop to gain possession of the ball — opening the way for Atlanta’s four-run 10th inning.

“I made a good play and made a terrible throw,” Holliday said. “So got to finish the play.”

The Braves will have right-hander Bryce Elder (6-6, 4.06 ERA) on the mound Saturday in only his third outing of July. He was the winning pitcher Monday in a 3-2 victory against the San Diego Padres, giving up two runs and five hits over six-plus innings. This will be his 20th start of the season.

Elder, who owns a 30-30 overall career record, doesn’t have a decision against Baltimore. His only matchup vs. the Orioles lasted 5 1/3 innings, as he gave up one run in a 3-2 win in extra innings on May 7, 2023.

Right-hander Brandon Young (8-2, 3.25 ERA) will start for Baltimore on Saturday. He’s 3-0 across his past five starts, lasting seven innings in each of his past two.

Young, in his second season, has never faced the Braves, but Baltimore is 4-1 against National League teams this year when Young pitches.

For the Orioles, this will be the middle game of a three-game homestand, marking their only three home games during a 12-game stretch since play resumed after the All-Star break.

–Field Level Media