A look at what’s happening around the majors Saturday:
UP AND DOWN
Gary Sánchez, Gleyber Torres and the Yankees have won seven in row with a lineup that added Aaron Judge, Giancarlo Stanton and Edwin Encarnación in the last week. New York also has homered in 24 straight games, one shy of the franchise record set in 1941.
Still missing injured George Springer and Carlos Correa, the Astros have dropped six in a row for the first time since losing seven straight in June 2016.
In a matchup of division leaders at Yankee Stadium, lefty Wade Miley (6-4, 3.30 ERA) starts for Houston against Masahiro Tanaka (5-5, 3.23), coming off a two-hit shutout over Tampa Bay. Tanaka is 0-2 with a 7.36 ERA in six starts versus Houston.
ROOKED
Padres rookie Chris Paddack was creating all sorts of buzz into late May with a sub-2.00 ERA, a bunch of strikeouts and a lot of confidence. Since then, it’s been a different story.
The 23-year-old righty hasn’t made it past five innings in any of his last three starts, getting tagged by the Yankees, Phillies and Giants. He has allowed 12 earned runs over 14 1/3 innings in that span.
Paddack (4-4, 3.15) will try to get back on track when he pitches at Pittsburgh against Chris Archer (3-6, 5.85).
NOT PHILLING SO GOOD
The move to put Bryce Harper in the leadoff spot hasn’t sparked the Phillies, who have lost five in a row.
Harper went 1 for 5 on Friday night in a 2-1 loss at home to the Marlins. Philadelphia is 6-14 since May 29 and has lost eight games in the standings in that span after holding a 3½-game lead in the NL East.
NEWCOMER
The Indians will promote Aaron Civale from the minors to make his major league debut and face Detroit. The 24-year-old righty is a combined 5-0 over seven starts this season at Triple-A and Double-A. He’ll pitch at Progessive Field in place of Mike Clevinger, who went on the injured list with a sprained left ankle.
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