After a miserable first few months of the 2026 season, Texas Rangers center fielder Evan Carter finally showed just what he can do in July.

Carter posted a sub-.200 batting average in each of the first three months of the schedule, but delivered in July with a .315 average and a .912 OPS in 22 games. As the Rangers battle the Houston Astros and the Seattle Mariners for first place in American League West, manager Skip Schumaker and the Rangers will want to see two more months like July from Carter.

The Rangers will look to avoid a sweep on Sunday against the Astros as the teams conclude a three-game series in Houston. The home team won the first two games, 11-2 and 5-4. The Astros are on a 10-1 streak and lead the AL West by 1 1/2 games over the Rangers and three over the Mariners.

Carter didn’t have a hit on Saturday but he walked twice and scored, and Schumaker acknowleged the 23-year-old still has plenty of room to grow. Although he has appeared in 131 games from 2023-25, this is Carter’s first season assigned full-time to the MLB roster.

“The thing is about certain young guys is you have to allow them to develop and to play,” Schumaker said. “You can’t just not play them anymore because they have a bad week (or) a bad month if they’re young. It’s different if they’re 32 years old and they’ve had a chance before.

“He hasn’t played this many games in the major leagues this consistently maybe his whole career. That means he’s still learning. He’s still learning on the bases. The instinctual stuff he’s still growing with, and as far as the at-bats, you can see them continuing to get better and better each month. It’s not surprising to me.”

Right-hander Kumar Rocker (4-8, 4.03 ERA) has the starting assignment on Sunday for the Rangers. He earned a 7-3 victory over the Seattle Mariners last Monday after allowing two runs on four hits and two walks with seven strikeouts over 6 2/3 innings. Rocker has won his past two starts, posting a 1.42 ERA with 13 strikeouts in 12 2/3 innings.

Rocker is 0-2 with a 9.28 ERA in two career starts against the Astros, both of which occured this season. He took a 9-3 home loss to Houston on July 11 after allowing seven runs on eight hits and two walks with six strikeouts over 5 2/3 innings.

Right-hander Peter Lambert (8-5, 3.06 ERA) is the scheduled starter for the Astros. He went 2-0 with a 1.88 ERA in five starts last month with 32 strikeouts in 28 2/3 innings. Lambert allowed two runs or fewer in each outing and has allowed more than two runs only once in his last 11 starts.

The Rangers are 8-3 in those games.

Lambert is 1-1 with a 4.91 ERA in three career appearances (two starts) against the Rangers. Both of those decisions came this season; he is 1-1 with a 4.50 ERA in two starts against Texas in 2026.

The Astros moved right-hander Tatsuya Imai to the bullpen instead of giving him his scheduled turn in the rotation on Sunday. Imai (6-4, 5.83 ERA) has labored throughout his first MLB season after nine seasons of pitching in Japan.

In his most recent start, against the Los Angeles Angels last Monday, Imai failed to complete one inning for the third time this season. The Astros won 6-4, however.

“We’re going to work on a couple of things that we noticed in his last start,” Astros manager Joe Espada said. “Just trying to get him going that way. Hopefully we can give him a few innings (out of the bullpen), but if not, we’ve got a pretty good plan here moving forward to get him back (on track).”

–Field Level Media

The New York Yankees will go for a series victory and a winning road trip when they face the Chicago Cubs in the rubber match of their three-game series on Sunday.

To do that, they will call on veteran right-hander Gerrit Cole (4-5, 3.57 ERA) to continue his domination of the Cubs. Cole, 35, is 11-4 with a 2.47 ERA in 17 starts against the North Siders. The 2023 American League Cy Young winner has beaten Chicago more than any other team in his 13-year career.

Cole’s last start against the Cubs was a loss that took place on Sept. 8, 2024. He allowed two first-inning runs, both unearned, over six innings, striking out seven against three hits and a walk. However, the Cubs made those runs stand in a 2-1 victory.

Manager Aaron Boone’s squad has had to rely on its pitching of late to stay atop of the AL wild-card standings and within striking distance of the AL East-leading Tampa Bay Rays. In the first nine games on the road trip, Yankees starters have allowed just 12 runs over 50 1/3 innings, and nine of those runs came in two starts.

However, New York has won only five of those games in large part because of the team’s offensive woes. Yankee batters on the trip are hitting just .199 (62-for-312) and have scored only 30 runs. Their .233 season average is the fourth-lowest in the majors this season.

“We don’t have a lot of margin for error when you’re not putting a lot of points on the board,” Boone said after Saturday’s loss. He noted that getting 10 on base Saturday was a good sign, “but obviously, we need to keep doing a little bit more.”

The inert offense cost the Yankees Saturday as the Cubs rallied with four runs in its last two innings Saturday to pull out a 5-2 victory and even the series at a game each.

Nico Hoerner homered to start the seventh and tied the game at two, but after the game, both he and Cubs manager Craig Counsell raved about Pedro Ramirez’s two-out, pinch-hit walk later in the frame. That seven-pitch at-bat kept the inning alive and allowed Pete Crow-Armstrong to score the rookie on his go-ahead triple.

Counsell said Ramirez, a second baseman who has also seen time at third base and designated hitter this summer, was a player who “opened the most eyes in spring training.”

Since being called up in late May, the switch-hitter is batting .319 in 38 games.

“He’s kind of got his feet on the ground now, and he’s doing a heck of a job” Counsell said.

Chicago is looking to win its sixth series out of the last seven. Righty Colin Rea (8-7, 4.67) will start for the Cubs. In three career starts against the Yankees, Rea, 36, has a 1-0 record with a 4.32 ERA, but that win came more than a decade ago when he was a rookie with the San Diego Padres.

The last time he faced New York came on April 26, 2024 as a member of the Milwaukee Brewers. He went six innings, allowing five runs on four hits and three walks. Three of those hits were homers in a game the Brewers won 7-6 in 11 innings.

-Field Level Media

Cole Carrigg made an impact in his major league debut on June 9, recording a triple in his first big-league game for the Colorado Rockies.

Carrigg has shown versatility, too, moving from outfield to shortstop, where he played Saturday night in Colorado’s 12-6 win over the Kansas City Royals.

The 24-year-old can help the Rockies earn a sweep of the series from Kansas City when the teams wrap up their three-game set Sunday in Denver.

The Rockies will send left-hander Kyle Freeland (2-10, 7.34 ERA) to the mound against right-hander Seth Lugo (4-6, 4.22) of the Royals.

Kansas City will be down a veteran after trading outfielder Lane Thomas to the Atlanta Braves on Saturday night.

Carrigg, who is batting .292 in 43 games, went 0-for-2 with three walks Saturday night. He played shortstop for the fourth time since his promotion to the majors, and the first time he started there. Every other game he has been in the outfield, with a bulk of his time spent in center field.

Despite the limited time in the infield, manager Warren Schaeffer showed no hesitation in putting the rookie at shortstop.

“You guys can see it, the ultra-confidence he exudes on a daily basis,” Schaeffer said. “I know it’s everybody’s job to make a big deal out of a guy doing a bunch of stuff, but it’s another day for him.”

Freeland exudes confidence despite his results this season.

He is 0-3 in his last four starts and has one quality start since getting the victory against Houston.

Sunday will be his fourth career outing against the Royals. He is 0-2 with a 4.34 ERA in the three previous starts and received a no-decision when he last faced them on July 5, 2024, despite allowing one earned run over seven innings.

Lugo is taking the hill for the 23rd time this season and 14th in his career against Colorado. In his previous 13 games – six starts – he is 3-1 with a 2.72 ERA in those outings.

Lugo, at 36, is one of the elder statesmen on a Royals roster that has plenty of young talent.

One of those is catcher Carter Jensen, who is tied for second on the team in homers with 15. Jensen, 23, has split time with veteran Salvador Perez behind the plate.

Jensen, who made his debut on Sept. 2, 2025, serves as the designated hitter when he is not catching. He got his feet wet in 2025 when he caught 10 games and has played 67 games there this season.

Manager Matt Quatraro feels Jensen has been somewhat inconsistent at the plate.

“This year we’ve seen some of the ups and downs, we’ve seen him expand at times, strikeouts have been up at times and then other times he really controls the zone, uses the whole field,” Quatraro said. “The power’s been there since the beginning of the year. I think he’s going to be a really good hitter in the big leagues, and he’s learning to handle both sides of the ball and the ups and downs that go with a long season.”

–Field Level Media