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The A’s have split the first two games against the Pittsburgh Pirates. That’s set up tonight’s rubber match, with one team getting a series win in Sacramento. The Athletics dropped back below .500 with last night’s loss so a win this evening would get them back to even, and depending on how Seattle does tonight the A’s could be within a half-game of first place in the AL West. Can the A’s get back in the win column on Pride Night at Sutter Health Park?

Before tonight’s contest, the A’s announced a minor roster move, activating tonight’s starting pitcher Aaron Civale while optioning righty Luis Morales:

The move doesn’t have major implications but does remove an option from the bullpen for Mark Kotsay. Morales didn’t make an appearance during his brief callup and now he’ll return to Las Vegas and continue trying to fix things down there.

Back to the game at hand. As said above, Civale is the Athletics’ starting pitcher tonight. The veteran right-hander spent just over three weeks on the injured list with shoulder tendinitis in his pitching arm. Everyone held their breath when that was the diagnosis but it seems that the A’s are getting the best-case scenario with Civale’s shoulder. With that short of a layoff he didn’t need more than the one rehab start he made. In that appearance he looked awesome, firing 4 1/3 perfect innings with seven strikeouts against Triple-A hitters. Looks good to go. He got hit hard in his last two appearances before landing on the IL so the hope is that the shoulder was the cause of those rough outings and he can get back to the pitcher he’s been for the majority of the year.

Here’s how the bats will line up behind their starting pitcher for the series finale:

The typical top of the lineup, with Kurtz and Langeliers (DH’ing tonight) batting back-to-back to start things. They’re followed by Tyler Soderstrom and Jacob Wilson, repeating the same top four as last night’s batting order.

With Langeliers DH’ing that means Jonah Heim will be catching Civale and he’s right in the middle of the order batting behind Wilson. Zack Gelof is back at third for the third consecutive night, leaving Max Muncy riding the bench. You can’t take Gelof out of the lineup when he’s riding a 20-game hit streak, and with a right-hander on the mound Kotsay is going with McNeil instead of Muncy tonight. Lawrence Butler is in right field versus the right-handed starter, and Henry Bolte will be patrolling center field this evening in Sacramento.

That lineup will be going up against Pittsburgh starter Braxton Ashcraft. The 26-year-old sophomore has been fantastic for the Pirates this season, his first as a full-time starter at the big league level. In 14 games he has a great 3.30 ERA thanks to his strikeout stuff. He’s also been stingy with the walks, issuing just 19 in 84 innings of work. The A’s will need to take advantage of any and every opportunity they get against the ascending Ashcraft.

And the Pirates’ starting nine tonight:

Not much different from last night’s lineup, aside from two small changes. Former #1 overall pick Henry Davis is back behind the plate batting ninth, while veteran slugger Marcell Ozuna is in the DH role this evening.

Gotta get this win tonight. Let’s go A’s!

Follow the Game:
Watch:
Athletics – NBCSCA

Listen:
Athletics – Talk 650 KSTE, KVMX 92.1/105.5, A’s Cast

The Braves got some bad news on Ronald Acuña Jr.’s hamstring injury. 

The star outfielder is a “long way” getting back on the field, according to Atlanta beat writer Mark Bowman, who added that the “Braves will be more cautious than they were” last month when Acuña went down with a Grade 1 strain in the same hamstring in May.

When he hit the IL last month, Acuña missed nearly three weeks. 

Acuña re-injured the left hamstring trying to run out a ground ball in a June 9 loss to the White Sox in 10 innings.

Braves manager Walt Weiss had previously suggested that the injury wouldn’t be long-term. 

“Grade 1, so it’s not terrible, but enough where we had to IL him,” he said last week. “We’d be waiting around a while, playing shorthanded if we were waiting for it to heal. So we went ahead and put him on the IL.

“Like I said, I don’t think it’s as severe as the last one, but still going to need some time.”

The injury is just the latest in a long list of leg issues Acuña has dealt with throughout his career. 

He played in just 144 regular season games in 2024 and 2025 combined after tearing his ACL in May 2024. 

Three years earlier, Acuna tore his right ACL, which took him out for about a year. 

Lower body injuries aren’t the only thing plaguing Acuña this year after having suffered a bone bruise in his left thumb in late May, though he opted to play through the ailment. 

When on the field this season, Acuña hasn’t quite looked like his MVP-like self. 

In 52 games, Acuña, a five-time All-Star, has hit .251/.373/.421 with seven home runs and 15 stolen bases. 

Despite Acuña’s hamstring issues, the Braves remain the class of the National League East. 

After Wednesday’s loss to the Giants, Atlanta sits at 46-26, seven games up on the Phillies for first-place in the division.

Pittsburgh Pirates vs. Athletics, June 17, 2026, 9:40 p.m. ET

The Pittsburgh Pirates are playing in the series finale against the Athletics in the capital of California.

The Pirates are handing the ball to Braxton Ashcraft, who is looking for his first win in June. Ashcraft has made two starts so far this month, but lost to the Atlanta Braves on June 6 by giving up six runs in five innings. He was given a no decision in his last start against the Miami Marlins, where he pitched five innings and gave up two runs, but the Pirates could not hold on late to pull out a win.

Veteran right-hander Aaron Civale is pitching for the A’s. Civale has played for six teams in the last four years but has found a bit of a rhythm with the A’s this season. Civale is 5-2 with a 4.20 ERA, but has been on the injured list for the past couple of weeks due to shoulder tendinitis. Civale is back on the mound today for the first time since May 25 and is looking for his first win in over a month as he is brought back to the lineup to face the Pirates.

Going into the off day, the Pirates want to make sure they finish the series out strong.

Location: Sutter Health Park, Sacramento, CA

Broadcast: KDKA AM/FM, Sportsnet Pittsburgh

Pitching Matchup: Braxton Ashcraft (5-3, 3.30 ERA) vs. Aaron Civale (5-2, 4.20 ERA)

BD community, chime off in the comments section below.

Welcome to SB Nation Reacts, a survey of fans across the MLB. Throughout the year we ask questions of the most plugged-in Diamondbacks fans and fans across the country. Sign up here to participate in the weekly emailed surveys.

At the start of the year, and through the early weeks of the season, it felt like Arizona could almost have assembled a full roster of players on one of the injured lists. However, it now feels like the tide may have turned, and the team are now looking to get these players back and available again. For this week’s question, I want to take a look at one player who returned this week, and three who should be returning in future, and see which one you think will have the most impact. To that end, I purposely excluded Corbin Burnes and A.J. Puk, because they are really going to be back in September, if at all. That’s a little too far out for purposes here.

But here are the four candidates, in alphabetical order.

Lourdes Gurriel Jr.

He’s already back, having rejoined the team on June 15, and contributed a key RBI hit in that night’s 4-3 win over the Angels. Gurriel had missed the least amount of time of the four candidates, having been out for 21 games with a left hamstring strain. But he also missed the first twenty games this year recovering from ACL surgery in his other leg. The results have been underwhelming so far, with just a .563 OPS and worth -0.4 bWAR. He’ll need to pick up the pace significantly – and also, avoid further IL stints – if he wants the team to pick up his $14 million option for next season.

James McCann

McCann has been out for almost exactly a month, hitting the IL on May 19 with a strain of his right quadriceps – not something you want as a catcher. However, Torey Lovullo said on Monday that James will start playing in the Arizona Complex League next week. While the backup catcher spot is perhaps not particularly important, the fact that in his absence, the role has been filled by Aramis Garcia (OPS+ 28) and Adrian Del Castillo (55) mean there’s definite room for improvement. That’s in addition to McCann’s good reputation for calling games and working with the pitching staff. And besides, we need his arm out of the bullpen. 🙂

Justin Martinez

We haven’t heard much about J-Mart of late. He was originally expected to be the last of our three big pitching pieces back, but it now looks like he’ll beat Puk and Burnes. The last update was on May 10, when Torey Lovullo said Martinez had started throwing bullpens, and was already hitting 99 mph. It is his second Tommy John procedure, so caution is to be expected. But an August return would potentially be a valuable addition to the bullpen for the Diamondbacks, if they are looking to make a second-half push for a postseason spot. The bullpen, while much better than some years, still ranks only mid-table by most metrics.

Carlos Santana

Yeah, I know… However, the bar for the D-backs at 1B has been so incredibly low, that he might still actually be of help. Going into today’s game – where LuJames Groover went 0-for-4, so didn’t help – Arizona’s OPS at 1B was just .569. That is the lowest at the position for a season, by any major-league team since 1920. If Santana could simply hit, not even at his career average, but simply the figure he posted over 124 games last year for the Guardians and Cubs, the resulting ..633 OPS would be a clear improvement over what we’ve received in his absence. With Groover’s OPS now starting with a “3” after today, I suspect he’ll be the move made.

So, which of the players listed above, do you think will have the biggest impact on the team when they return? Here’s a poll, and as ever, feel free to explain yourself in the comments below!

After Wednesday’s 12-4 defeat to the Miami Marlins where Andrew Painter surrendered six runs in just two innings of work, the Phillies will be shaking up the back of their rotation by optioning Andrew Painter to AAA.

The Phillies have tried everything with Painter. They’ve tweaked his usage in certain starts to limit fastball damage, they’ve used an opener, and they gave him 14 appearances to figure this out. With a 7.06 ERA in 65.0 innings pitched, nothing stuck long enough.

Through roughly the first two and a half months of the season, the Phillies have cycled through their number five and six starting pitching options from the big league roster. They went into the season with Taijuan Walker making starts with Zack Wheeler injured but he was released after just 22.2 innings of work because he had an ERA over 9.

Now with Painter out, there is no clear answer for what the Phillies will do on the rotation’s fifth turn. Matt Gelb wrote that former Atlanta Brave and Chicago White Sox Bryse Wilson had triggered his upward mobility clause in his minor league contract, which could force the Phillies to add him to the roster. In 54.1 innings with the Iron Pigs, Wilson carries a 6.29 ERA with 2.76 strikeout-to-walk ratio.

Alan Rangel is already on the 40-man roster and pitched for the Phillies earlier this year when they had Kyle Backhus open for the aforementioned Walker in the middle of their ten game losing streak. Rangel has looked solid, albeit not super inspiring with the Pigs, carrying a 3.74 ERA in 65.0 innings.

Maybe the Phillies try bullpen games to patch things until the trade deadline. The bullpen lost a key leverage arm in Brad Keller to the injured list but have built up plenty of depth through minor league signings and waiver claims. They have the options to make it work even if it’s not an ideal scenario to go through every fifth day.

Whatever path the Phillies go down, it will be without Andrew Painter, as he heads down to Lehigh Valley to figure out who he is moving forward.

Here’s the Guardians’ lineup:

Here’s the Brewers’ lineup:

Let’s go, Guardians!

Before they take a ride down the Canyon of Heroes on Thursday morning, Jalen Brunson and Josh Hart made a pit stop at Yankee Stadium on Wednesday night.

The newly crowned NBA champions threw out the ceremonial first pitches before the Yankees hosted the White Sox, and the two Knicks received a loud ovation from the crowd as the city continued to soak up the franchise’s first title in 53 years.

“I know [Thursday’s] just going to be otherworldly as far as a parade goes,” manager Aaron Boone said. “But it’ll be great to see those guys tonight. I’m sure they’re having a pretty good week.”

Brunson, the Finals MVP, threw to J.C. Escarra while Hart threw to Max Schuemann. 

Boone, a 76ers fan at heart, described the Knicks’ 16-3 showing in the playoffs as “a captivating run” that will have a lasting impact.

“I think it’ll be one of the historic teams that we talk about when it comes to the NBA,” Boone said. “Every championship is obviously memorable and going back to [Michael] Jordan and that run and the Lakers and the Celtics, what the Warriors [did], on and on, however you want to look at it. I think this team, in the annals of the NBA, will be talked about for a long, long time.”

After throwing all of his pitches “with good intensity” Tuesday in his first full bullpen session since going on the injured list with a left elbow bone bruise last month, Max Fried reported feeling good on Wednesday, the latest positive sign in his comeback.

The left-hander will still need to show improved healing in his elbow before he is cleared to fully ramp up towards a return, but assuming he continues to bounce back well in the coming days, Fried will throw another bullpen session this weekend. 

“Just talking to him today, he said, ‘I felt great during it and then feel good coming into today,’” Boone said. “So it’s been encouraging, really every step of the way, since even the couple days after the Baltimore start when he went on the IL. He’s responded well to everything, which I’m hoping is a really good sign for him and for us long-term.”

Facing White Sox lefty Anthony Kay (who had drastic left/right splits) on Wednesday, Boone started José Caballero in left field, Cody Bellinger in center field and Jasson Domínguez in right field.

Bellinger moving to center for a day opened up left field for Domínguez, but instead Boone opted to keep him in his new home in right to get him a steady dose of reps there to see if it can work moving forward.

Boone did not have an update on George Lombard Jr., the club’s top prospect who left Tuesday’s Triple-A game early after getting his left wrist/hand jammed while covering second base on a steal. … Austin Wells (cervical headaches) came through his first rehab game Tuesday without issue and was scheduled to start at catcher again on Wednesday for Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre before its game got rained out.