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Only five games on Thursday, but there were a few stories worth following, beginning with the first major trade of July between the Seattle Mariners and Arizona Diamondbacks (more details on that below). The first-place squads met for the first of four contests in Detroit, while a pair of wild-card hopefuls began an important series in St. Louis. We also witnessed a first for Cleveland’s leadoff man, and an 18-year veteran announced his retirement.
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Today’s Headlines
Diamondbacks Trade Naylor to Mariners
Major League Baseball is a week away from the July 31 Trade Deadline, and we have our first significant pre-Deadline action!
The Seattle Mariners traded two Top 30 prospects for Diamondbacks first baseman Josh Naylor. In December, the Cleveland Guardians sent Naylor to Arizona in exchange for minor leaguer Slade Cecconi and a Competitive Balance Round B Draft pick. Now the D’backs will receive pitchers Brandyn Garcia and Ashton Izzi. MLB Pipeline ranks Garcia as Seattle’s No. 13 prospect, while Izzi is ranked No. 16.
Adding an All-Star slugger to our lineup 🤩
We have acquired INF Josh Naylor from the Diamondbacks in exchange for LHP Brandyn Garcia and RHP Ashton Izzi. #TridentsUp
🔗 https://t.co/E82au9SwjU pic.twitter.com/oacpDAmvEj
— Seattle Mariners (@Mariners) July 25, 2025
It’s no secret that Seattle has been hunting for an additional power bat or two. Even though they have the sixth most home runs in MLB as of July 25, only their catcher, Cal Raleigh, has more than 20 long balls. Raleigh leads all of MLB with 39 taters, while Randy Arozarena is second on the team with 19.
Naylor’s power numbers so far this year are not close to what he produced in 2024 with Cleveland when he finished the season with 31 homers. The 28-year-old lefty has gone yard 11 times this year, but has seen a significant increase in batting average, currently at .292 compared to .243 in 2024. In whatever way this transaction is broken down, the addition of Naylor for the M’s adds one more quality bat to a lineup rumored to be still looking for more offensive additions before next week’s deadline. There are whispers around the league that Seattle is very interested in Naylor’s former Arizona teammate, slugger Eugenio Suárez.
Seattle Takes First of Four Versus Angels
Let’s stick with the Mariners theme while we’re on the topic. On Thursday, Seattle and the Los Angeles Angels began a four-game series in Anaheim. The Halos jumped out to an early 1-0 lead on an RBI single by Nolan Schanuel off SP Logan Evans. It would be the only run Evans surrendered over his five innings of work. Angels veteran LHP Yusei Kikuchi looked good through four scoreless frames, but ran into problems in the fifth inning with his team still ahead 1-0. With two outs in the frame, centerfielder Julio Rodriguez tied the game on an opposite-field blast to right. Kikuchi then surrendered a single to Raleigh before Arozarena delivered a go-ahead two-run homer to left.
That would be all for Kikuchi, who looked well on his way to five scoreless innings before the three-run fifth ended his day. The Angels scored one more in the seventh to cut the deficit to 3-2, but an insurance solo home run by Jorge Polanco in the eighth gave the Mariners a 4-2 advantage.
The Angels attempted a rally in the ninth inning after Seattle’s closer Andrés Muñoz walked Mike Trout with two outs to load the bases. Unfortunately for Los Angeles, the rally fell short after a Shanuel lineout to left ended the contest.
Even on the Road, Nothing Stopping the JaysÂ
Let’s call it like it is. If the Detroit Tigers were playing in any division other than the AL Central, where the second-place Guardians are hovering around the .500 mark, they would be sweating it right now. Detroit’s downward spiral continued after a 6-1 loss at Pittsburgh on Wednesday dropped them to 60-43 overall and 1-9 over their last 10 games. Entering Thursday, the Tigers were 1-5 on the road since the All-Star Break, but returned home to face the AL East’s best team with hopes that their 32-18 record at Comerica Park would cure the poor play. It did not.
Toronto’s momentum after an impressive series win at home against the Yankees on Wednesday carried over to the first of four games in Detroit. The game appeared to be going in the direction of a pitcher’s duel after Tigers SP Reese Olson held a 1-0 lead into the sixth inning over Toronto’s southpaw Eric Lauer. But, a five-run onslaught by the Blue Jays, starting with a Vladimir Guerrero Jr. RBI double, followed by an Ernie Clement go-ahead three-run blast, and ending with a Joey Loperfido solo homer to left, suddenly had the road team ahead by four runs.
The Jays weren’t done. Toronto tacked on six more runs over the next two innings and walked away with an 11-4 victory. Clement finished the game with two knocks and four RBI, while Guerrero Jr. collected three hits and drove in two runs. Lauer yielded five hits over eight brilliant innings of one-run ball to earn his sixth win of the year. The loss went to Olson, who finished the game with five runs allowed over 5.2 innings.
The @BlueJays have won 17 of their last 21 and have the best record in the AL! pic.twitter.com/awm2r8krUJ
— MLB (@MLB) July 25, 2025
Cardinals Gain on Padres
Thursday marked the start of a very relevant four-game series in St. Louis between the Cardinals and the San Diego Padres. Coming in, the Friars held a 3.5-game lead over the Redbirds for the final NL wild card position. St. Louis entered the contest coming off a tough 1-5 road trip to start the second half, including an embarrassing series loss in Colorado against MLB’s worst squad.
San Diego led 2-1 after one inning, but that lead would quickly vanish after a six-run second inning by the Cardinals put the home team ahead 7-2. The second frame was highlighted by a pair of three-run homers by Brendan Donovan and Willson Contreras off 38-year-old SP Yu Darvish.
To the Padres’ credit, they stay focused and trimmed the deficit to 7-5 courtesy of third-inning homers by Fernando Tatis Jr. and Manny Machado.
Despite the rally, the Cardinals maintained their lead by adding a run in the fourth and sixth frames. From there, the bullpen took over and held the visiting club scoreless over the final three innings. Starting pitcher Sonny Gray did claim his 10th win despite allowing seven runs (six earned) and 11 hits over five innings. His counterpart, Darvish, took the loss and had a final line of 3.1 IP, 8 ER, 3 K, 2 BB. Darvish is 0-3 with a 9.18 ERA since making his season debut in early July after elbow inflammation kept him sidelined for the first three months of the campaign.
The Padres fell to 55-48 with the loss, but remain one game up on the Giants for the last NL wild card. St. Louis is 2.5 games back of San Diego entering Friday.
Best Moments From Yesterday
Kwan’s First Career Two-Homer Game
The Guardians lost 4-3 to the visiting Orioles and were unable to complete the four-game sweep. Orioles shortstop Gunnar Henderson delivered the game-winning knock with a seventh-inning RBI single off reliever Erik Sabrowski, but the story of this contest was Steven Kwan. Cleveland’s leadoff man hit two homers for the first time in his career. Known mainly for his high batting average and good eye at the plate, the four-year veteran has never been considered a power threat, posting only one season with double-digit home runs (14 homers in ’24). Kwan has eight this year after Thursday’s performance.
Both long balls came off Orioles SP Charlie Morton, who pitched a great game overall if you take away Kwan’s two solo dingers. Morton gave up three runs over 6.1 innings and picked up win No. 6 on the year.
Injuries and Other Moves
âš¾The Baltimore Orioles placed closer Félix Bautista on the 15-day IL with right shoulder discomfort. Bautista last pitched on July 20 against Tampa Bay. He said to the coaching staff that something didn’t feel right in his shoulder. The right-hander missed all of 2024 after having Tommy John surgery on his elbow. For the season, Bautista has a 2.60 ERA with 19 saves and 50 strikeouts over 34.2 innings.Â
âš¾ Staying on the Orioles theme, Baltimore sent first baseman Ryan Mountcastle on a rehab assignment with Triple-A Norfolk. Mountcastle has been recovering from a Grade 2 right hamstring strain he suffered on May 30 versus the White Sox. The 28-year-old went 1-for-3 with a homer on Thursday in his first appearance against Lehigh Valley.
âš¾ Pitcher Jesse Chavez announced his retirement after 18 big league seasons. Chavez was designated for assignment by Atlanta for the third time this season. He was traded 10 times in his career and ended with a win-loss record of 51-66, and an ERA of 4.27 over 657 appearances, mainly as a reliever. Chavez is believed to be the most-traded player in MLB history.Â
Articles You Should Read
Surprised By The Brewers? How A Bunch Of ‘Average Joes’ Are Among MLB’s Best — Rowan Kavner, foxsports.com
Rosenthal: Yankees’ sloppy play has been hard to watch. What is Aaron Boone doing to stop it? — Ken Rostenthal, The Athletic
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