There has been plenty of speculation about Tarik Skubal’s future this season. After all, the Detroit Tigers could trade their ace before he hits the free-agent market.

Another prominent Tigers starter, Casey Mize, also could be dealt before the Aug. 3 trade deadline. The 29-year-old right-hander will start the finale of a three-game series against the Texas Rangers on Sunday afternoon in Arlington, Texas, and there undoubtedly will be plenty of rival scouts and executives evaluating his performance.

Mize, who also will become a free agent after this season, has dealt with adductor and groin issues this year.

He made an All-Star appearance last season and finished with a 14-6 record and a 3.87 ERA in 28 starts. He arguably has been even better this season, though his record (3-5) doesn’t reflect it.

Mize has a 2.63 ERA and 0.97 WHIP in 12 starts while recording 68 strikeouts in 65 innings. His most recent outing may have been the best of his career. He held the New York Yankees to one hit without a walk over seven scoreless innings Monday while notching 10 strikeouts in a 7-3 victory.

The win was his first since April 22.

“He was excellent,” Tigers manager A.J. Hinch said. “He was very pitch-efficient early. Pretty dominant with his strike-throwing, and he got a lot of miss. And when we spotted him a few runs, he locked in even more.”

A leadoff double by Spencer Jones in the third inning was the only hit against Mize.

“I thought we had a good plan,” Mize said. “Ding (catcher Dillon Dingler) and I were on the same page. I didn’t shake him once, and the execution was pretty good. Kept myself out of tough counts for the most part. Couple three-ball counts there, but I felt like the strike-throwing was quality. Just really good execution.”

Mize has started three games in his career against the Rangers, getting a no-decision each time and compiling a 2.57 ERA.

Kumar Rocker (2-6, 3.83 ERA) will start for Texas on Sunday. The right-hander is coming off one of his best outings of the season. He tossed six shutout innings at Toronto last Sunday, walking one and striking out five while throwing 92 pitches in his team’s 3-2 victory.

“I was just trying to get out there and give us a chance to win,” Rocker said. “It was big. … We fought hard and got it done.”

“Rock was fantastic,” Rangers manager Skip Schumaker said. “… He was able to get six innings and 90-something pitches, a lot of balls on the ground, not too many leverage situations. His last couple starts have been really, really good.”

Rocker has given up two runs in 11 innings since Minnesota rocked him for seven runs (six earned) in 3 1/3 innings on June 16.

He is 1-1 with a 5.40 ERA in two career starts against Detroit.

The teams have split the first two games of the series. The Rangers won 10-4 on Thursday but lost 3-0 on Saturday as Detroit’s Riley Greene blasted his third homer in the last four games.

Detroit has gone 4-1 during its current six-game road trip; Texas lost for just the second time in nine games.

–Field Level Media

Less than 24 hours after he learned he was selected to his first All-Star Game in his 11th major league season, Arizona left-hander Eduardo Rodriguez will start the decisive contest of the Diamondbacks’ three-game series against the Milwaukee Brewers on Sunday afternoon in Phoenix.

“It means a lot to me because I’ve been in this game for quite a long time,” Rodriguez, 33, said before the Diamondbacks beat the Brewers 4-3 on Saturday night. “To have the opportunity to go to the All-Star Game (July 14) for the first time, it’s just something that amazes you.”

Rodriguez (7-2, 2.21 ERA) has the fourth-lowest ERA in the majors among qualified pitchers.

“He’s been our rock, he’s been the ace, whatever term you want to use, it’s applicable to what Eddie has done this year for us,” said Arizona outfielder Corbin Carroll, who was selected to his second All-Star team.

“Every single time he’s gone out on the mound, he’s given us more than just a chance to win, but a likelihood of winning. It’s made me proud as his teammate, watching some of the struggles with injuries and, now, to see him put it all together this year, it’s been awesome.”

Rodriguez is coming off a solid win against the San Francisco Giants after holding them to one run and five hits in seven innings of a 5-4 victory last Monday.

“I feel like my best years in the league, it’s always been the second half,” Rodriguez said. “I think the last time I had a really good first half was with Detroit, in my second year in Detroit (in 2023), but it’s always been the second half when I’ve been pitching great. So having it this year is just a blessing, and I feel happy for it and, hopefully, I keep doing it the rest of the season.”

Rodriguez is 0-3 with a 4.44 ERA in five career starts against Milwaukee. He faced them on April 29 and came up an out short of earning the win after allowing two runs and five hits in 4 2/3 innings of his team’s 6-2 victory.

Rodriguez opposed right-hander Brandon Sproat in that game, and the two will square off in Sunday’s series finale.

The Brewers could depend on Sproat (3-4, 5.28 ERA) even more in the second half of the season after Brandon Woodruff left with an injury to his throwing arm on Saturday night.

Woodruff was making his third start since missing nearly two months because of right shoulder inflammation.

“We’ve got to get a better opinion of where we are, so we’ll get that and move forward,” Brewers manager Pat Murphy said of Woodruff after Saturday’s loss.

Sproat has won his past two starts, both against the Cincinnati Reds. He most recently held them to two runs and four hits in 5 1/3 innings of a 7-2 victory on Tuesday. A week earlier, he blanked the Reds on one hit over six innings in a 2-0 triumph.

Sproat’s only appearance against the Diamondbacks came on April 29, when he took the loss after giving up four runs and six hits in 4 1/3 innings of a 6-2 game.

–Field Level Media

For the Houston Astros, there are roster moves, and then there are roster moves.

The Astros reinstated outfielder LaMonte Wade Jr. from the 10-day injured list and recalled utility player Zach Dezenzo from Triple-A Sugar Land before Saturday’s 10-8 walkoff victory over the Tampa Bay Rays, with outfielders Jake Meyers and Joey Loperfido optioned to Sugar Land as corresponding moves.

Dezenzo recorded a game-tying, pinch-single that capped the Astros’ three-run seventh inning. He pinch hit for Wade, who finished 0-for-3 with a strikeout. Wade had missed 22 games due to a right hamstring strain.

Houston ended Tampa Bay’s nine-game winning streak on Yordan Alvarez’s two-run homer with no outs in the ninth. The teams will meet in the decisive contest of their three-games series in Houston on Sunday afeternoon.

Of the roster moves, Astros manager Joe Espada said: “We’re just trying to improve our club. We’re trying to get some production from the outfield. Getting Wade and Dezenzo, you change things up, just trying to get some quality at-bats.

“There’s still a lot of season left. Hopefully, these moves make us better, and we will get some more offensive production.”

Espada acknowledged that Meyers’ demotion was a difficult conversation. Meyers, 30, has played in 517 games with the Astros since his debut on Aug. 1, 2021, with Jose Altuve (752) and Alvarez (677) the only position players currently on the active roster with more games played for the club since the start of the 2021 season.

Jeremy Pena (616 games) is on the 10-day IL.

Meyers was batting .206 with three home runs and 11 RBIs in 52 games this season. He hit .292 with three homers and 24 RBIs in 104 games last year.

“Not easy,” Espada said of the conversation with Meyers. “He’s helped us win a lot of games. He’s part of this organization’s success, but he understood.

“We’re going to help him. We’re going to pinpoint some things he’ll be working on in Triple-A.”

Right-hander Peter Lambert (6-5, 3.51 ERA) will start the series finale for the Astros on Sunday. He allowed four runs on five hits — including three home runs — and three walks with four strikeouts over 5 2/3 innings in a 5-4 loss to the Minnesota Twins on Monday, his first loss since May 17 against Texas. Lambert was 4-0 with a 2.97 ERA over the six starts between losses.

He has a 2.57 ERA across two career appearances (one start) against the Rays. He threw two scoreless innings of relief against them with the Colorado Rockies on April 5, 2024, allowing two hits and one walk with two strikeouts in the Rockies’ 10-7 victory.

The Rays did not announce a starter for the series rubber match. The club will make a roster move early Sunday and will name a starter following that transaction.

After needing only 28 pitches to induce 11 outs in the series opener, the Rays’ bullpen allowed five runs over the final three-plus innings on Saturday. Before the walk-off loss, the Rays’ bullpen had averaged 11.6 pitches per inning during the first four games of the team’s current six-game road trip.

“The bullpen has just been tremendous for us. That inning just snuck up,” Rays manager Kevin Cash said of the Astros’ three-run seventh. “We had a little bit of a hiccup.”

–Field Level Media