Wednesday's MLB: Rangers sign Orchard Lake St. Mary's' Brock Porter for $3.7M

Arlington, Texas — The Texas Rangers have signed fourth-round pick Brock Porter, giving a $3.7 million bonus to the high school pitcher who was their second selection in last week's draft.

Porter's signing Wednesday came a day after third overall pick Kumar Rocker got a $5.2 million bonus in his deal.

The bonus for Rocker was well below the slot value of $7,591,600 for the the third overall pick. That difference helped in the signing of the 6-foot-4 Porter, whose bonus was nearly 9 1/2 times higher than the $560,200 slot value for the 109th pick.

Porter was the Gatorade National High School player of the year. He went 9-0 with three no-hitters, a 0.41 ERA and 115 strikeouts over 58 innings as a senior this spring at St. Mary’s Prep in Orchard Lake, Michigan. The right-hander ranked 11th overall on MLB.com's pre-draft rankings.

“Brock Porter was arguably the top high school pitcher in the nation this spring,” Rangers general manager Chris Young said. “He has great makeup and outstanding stuff, and it’s exciting to project his future growth and development."

With the deals for their first two picks, the Rangers had signed eight of the 18 players they selected in last week's amateur draft. Texas didn't have picks in the second and third rounds after losing them as compensation for the offseason signings of free agents Corey Seager ($325 million, 10 years) and Marcus Semien ($175 million, seven years).

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No. 1 pick Holliday gets $8.19 million bonus from Orioles

Baltimore — Jackson Holliday slipped on a Baltimore Orioles jersey, jammed the team's cap over his long, sandy blond hair and grinned broadly as the cameramen clicked away.

And boy, did he have reason to smile. The 18-year-old high schooler and No. 1 overall pick in the 2022 amateur draft signed a contract Wednesday with an $8.19 million signing bonus.

Holliday, a slick fielding shortstop with a potent swing from the left side, is a son of former All-Star Matt Holliday. He had visited Camden Yards only once previously — many years ago, he shagged fly balls during batting practice while accompanied his father, then an outfielder for the St. Louis Cardinals.

If Jackson has his way, it won't be long before he makes a return trip as a member of the Orioles.

“I want to be up here as fast as possible,” Holliday said. “I would love to come out hot and continue to play well. Hopefully, two years or less would be my goal. I know it's a big goal, but I think I can do it.”

If his gene pool counts for something, then Holliday just might have a shot. Matt Holliday was drafted in the seventh round out of high school in 1998 and needed six years to make the rise to the big leagues, but his experience and guidance can only help Jackson in his ascent from the minor leagues.

“When you enter into the professional baseball pool of players, the separator is all the little things," Matt Holliday said. "We just talked about the work that it takes, the sacrifice that it takes to get to where you want to go.”

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Agent Scott Boras, who negotiated the deal for Jackson, said, “It's a rare library that the Holliday library gives Jackson, and I can tell you he's read all the books.”

Holliday batted .685 with 29 doubles, six triples, 17 home runs and 79 RBIs as a senior for Stillwater High in Oklahoma. He also stole 30 bases and scored 74 runs.

All that convinced Baltimore general manager Mike Elias to make Holliday — whom he labeled a “five-tool shortstop” — the third top overall pick in Orioles history behind Ben McDonald (1989) and Adley Rutschman (2019). The pick had a slot value of $8,846,900.

“This is a exciting and historic moment for this franchise and for Jackson personally,” Elias said. “I couldn't be more confident and more optimistic about the partnership of Jackson Holliday and the Baltimore Orioles.”

Holliday took batting practice with the Orioles before their game against Tampa Bay, then prepared for a trip to the team's training complex in Sarasota, Florida.

“It's been a little bit since I've been able to compete on the baseball field, so I'm very excited to get going and get down there to Florida,” Holliday said.

Perhaps one day soon Holliday will become the starting shortstop of the Orioles. That position was once manned by another highly touted high school kid drafted by the Orioles who made it all the way to the majors: Cal Ripken, Jr.

“It's an honor to be in this organization and to play a position that he played for so long,” Holliday said. “I hope that I can get here and play shortstop for a very long time.”

Yankees get Benintendi from Royals for 3 minor leaguers

New York — The New York Yankees made the first of what could be a flurry of moves ahead of next week’s trade deadline, acquiring All-Star outfielder Andrew Benintendi from the Kansas City Royals for three minor league pitchers on Wednesday night.

Right-handers Chandler Champlain and Beck Way went to the Royals with left-hander T.J. Sikkema.

Benintendi, a 28-year-old left-handed hitter, was among 10 Royals who missed a four-game series at Toronto from July 14-17 because he was not vaccinated. Benintendi lost $186,813 of the $8.5 million salary he won in an arbitration case against the Royals.

New York believes he is amenable to getting vaccinated. No Yankees missed earlier trips to Toronto this season, and the Yankees have a three-game series there from Sept. 26-28.

Benintendi is hitting .320 with three homers, 39 RBIs and a .788 OPS and won a Gold Glove in left field last season. He hasn't made an error this season.

Benintendi gives the Yankees another outfield option. Giancarlo Stanton is expected to miss at least two-to-three weeks after going on the injured list this week with left Achilles tendinitis, and Joey Gallo is hitting .161.

On Wednesday, Benintendi went 1 for 4 in Kansas City's 4-0 loss to the Angels. On Thursday night, the Royals open a series at Yankee Stadium.

MLB Action

St. Louis 6, (at) Toronto 1: Albert Pujols hit a three-run homer and finished with three hits, and the St. Louis Cardinals stopped Toronto’s seven-game win streak with a 6-1 victory over the Blue Jays on Wednesday night.

Adam Wainwright pitched seven sparkling innings to help St. Louis earn a split of the two-game set while playing without unvaccinated sluggers Paul Goldschmidt and Nolan Arenado. Nolan Gorman homered, and Dylan Carlson and Lars Nootbaar each hit an RBI double.

Foreign nationals who aren’t vaccinated against COVID-19 are not allowed to enter Canada, save for limited exceptions that require a 14-day quarantine. Unvaccinated baseball players are placed on the restricted list, where they are not paid and do not accrue major league service time.

Pitching in Toronto for the first time since June 24, 2010, Wainwright (7-8) allowed one run and five hits for his first victory since June 27 against Miami.

Bo Bichette’s two-out RBI single in the fourth scored Toronto’s lone run. Kevin Gausman (7-8) allowed five runs in 4 2/3 innings.

(At) New York Mets 3, New York Yankees 2: Starling Marte singled home the winning run in the ninth inning, and the Mets beat the Yankees for a two-game sweep of their Subway Series.

Max Scherzer was marvelous on his 38th birthday, striking out Aaron Judge three times to help the Mets take a 2-0 lead into the eighth. Gleyber Torres tied it with a two-run homer off inexperienced reliever David Peterson, normally a starter.

Pete Alonso homered early off Domingo Germán, and Francisco Lindor had an RBI single for the Mets before a sellout crowd at Citi Field. Seth Lugo (2-2) struck out three in 1 2/3 scoreless innings for the win.

Wandy Peralta (2-3), who entered in the ninth on his 31st birthday, surrendered Marte's game-ending hit.

Tampa Bay 6, (at) Baltimore 4, (10 innings): Randy Arozarena hit a two-run double off All-Star reliever Jorge López in the 10th inning, and Tampa Bay Rays stopped a four-game losing streak.

Baltimore’s Jorge Mateo sent the game into extra innings with a one-out solo shot in the ninth off Colin Poche (3-1). One night earlier, Poche entered in the eighth inning with a one-run lead and yielded a two-run homer.

This time, however, Tampa Bay rebounded from his mistake.

An infield hit and a walk loaded the bases for Arozarena, who ripped a pitch from López (4-6) to the base of the right-field wall.

Pete Fairbanks got three straight outs in the bottom half for his first save.

Cleveland 7, (at) Boston 6: Josh Naylor hit a solo homer in the ninth inning, and Cleveland took advantage of three errors by Boston first baseman Franchy Cordero.

Bobby Dalbec hit two homers and drove in five runs for the Red Sox, who have lost seven of eight and 15 of 19.

Naylor connected for his 14th homer with one out off Tanner Houck (5-4).

Enyel De Los Santos (2-0) pitched 1 1/3 scoreless innings for the win. Emmanuel Clase worked a scoreless ninth for this 21st save.

(At) Oakland 4, Houston 2: Cole Irvin allowed four hits over seven innings and the Oakland Athletics beat Houston Astros 4-2 on Wednesday for their first winning sweep in 32 series this season.

Oakland, an AL-worst 38-63, won three in a row from AL West-leading Houston (64-35) and has won six of its last eight against the Astros. Houston was swept in a series for the first time since last Sept. 24-26, also at Oakland.

Stephen Vogt and Stephen Piscotty homered on back-to-back fastballs in the second from Cristian Javier (6-6). Tony Kemp had three hits, including an RBI double.

Irvin (6-7) struck out four and walked one. A.J. Puk pitched a 1-2-3 ninth for his second save, finishing a five-hitter.

(At) Seattle 3, Texas 2: Julio Rodríguez hit a go-ahead, three-run homer in the seventh off Jon Gray (7-5), a day after the 21-year-old rookie sensation had a leadoff home run in the first, and Seattle finished a three-game sweep.

Marco Gonzales (6-10) allowed two runs and four hits in seven innings, and Matt Festa pitched a scoreless ninth inning for his second save.

Seattle is 11-2 against the Rangers this year.

(At) Los Angeles Dodgers 7, Washington 1: Hanser Alberto had a two-run double during a six-run first as Los Angeles avoided a three-game sweep.

Gavin Lux had three hits and drove in two runs, while Mookie Betts reached base four times for the NL-leading Dodgers (65-32), who have won 19 of 21 before losing twice to major league-worst Nationals (34-66). Alex Vesia (3-0) pitched a scoreless sixth.

Patrick Corbin (4-14) got two outs in the shortest of his 250 starts, allowing six runs, seven hits and a walk.

(At) Milwaukee 10, Minnesota 4: Rowdy Tellez hit a pair of three-run homers, Corbin Burnes won his fifth straight decison and Milwaukee swept a two-game series between Central Division leaders.

Tellez homered off Chris Archer (2-5) for a 3-0 lead in the first and against Jharel Cotton for an 8-3 advantage in a five-run fourth. Tellez has 20 homers, one shy of his career high in 2019 with Toronto.

Burnes (8-4) struck out 11 in six innings, reaching double digits for the eighth time this year. Archer tied his career high with six walks.

(At) Philadelphia 7, Atlanta 2: Alec Bohm hit a go-ahead single in a five-run fifth and added an RBI double in the sixth, helping Philadelphia take two of three from Atlanta.

Kyle Gibson (6-4) allowed two runs and four hits in six innings.

Errors by Charlie Morton (5-5) and second baseman Robinson Canó contributed to the Phillies’ fifth-inning rally capped by J.T. Realmuto's two-run single.

Morton, 0-2 in his last three starts, allowed five runs — four earned — and six hits in five innings.

Los Angeles Angels 4, (at) Kansas City 0: Janson Junk (1-0) pitched five-plus innings of four-hit ball for the Angels on Wednesday, earning his first major league win.

Shohei Ohtani reached base three times and drove in a run, and the Angels got their first series win since June 27-29 against the Chicago White Sox.

Brad Keller (5-11) allowed three runs on six hits and three walks in six innings.

(At) Arizona 5, San Francisco 3: Josh Rojas homered and Arizona scored two runs on Jose Herrera’s squeeze bunt in the seventh inning to extend San Francisco's’ losing streak to seven.

Noé Ramirez (3-3) allowed a run on one hit in 1 1/3 innings and Mark Melancon worked around two runners for his 14th save.

Logan Webb (9-4) Webb allowed four runs and four hits in 6 1/3 innings.

(At) Colorado 6, Chicago White Sox 5: Elias Díaz hit a two-run single after Kendall Graveman (3-2) walked the bases loaded in the ninth inning.

Colorado starter Anthony Senzatela, making his second start since returning from a shoulder injury, left after 6 2/3 innings when Leury García hit a comebacker off the pitcher’s left foot that rolled away for a single. Lucas Gilbreath allowed Tim Anderson’s RBI single and A.J. Pollock’s two-run single as the White Sox went ahead 5-3.

José Iglesias had an RBI single in the bottom half off José Ruiz. Robert Stephenson (2-1) pitched a perfect ninth as Colorado won for the second time in seven games.

(At) Cincinnati 5, Miami 3: Luis Castillo pitched seven effective innings in likely his final start with Cincinnati.

Castillo is one of the top players on the market ahead of Tuesday’s trade deadline. The Reds are last in the NL Central, and the talented right-hander could help push a contender over the top.

Castillo (4-4) allowed three runs — including JJ Bleday’s first big league homer — and six hits. He also struck out eight and walked one in his first start since July 14.

Nick Fortes also homered for Miami, which has dropped seven of 10. Braxton Garrett (2-4) struck out eight in five innings, but was charged with five runs and seven hits.

After Castillo departed, Alexis Díaz got three outs before Hunter Strickland earned his sixth save.