By Ron Kaplan, contributor

Alex Bregman was 3-for-5 with an RBI as the Houston Astros (79-52) were sextupled by the Texas Rangers, 12-2. He also made this nice play at shortstop, where he started the game before moving to his usual position at third base. Bregman is hitting .338 since the All-Star break, and he’s hitting home runs and gathering RBIs at about twice his pre-break pace. The Astros will be playing their home games at Tropicana Field in Tampa Bay — home of the Rays — for the foreseeable future due to the awful situation caused by the rain and flooding in the Houston area.

Kevin Pillar was 1-for-3 as the Toronto Blue Jays (61-71) were shut out 3-0 by the visiting Boston Red Sox. No fancy fielding today.

Ryan Braun was 1-for-4 as the Milwaukee Brewers (68-64) were quintupled by the visiting St. Louis Cardinals (66-65), 10-2. Ryan Sherriff continued his pleasant experience in the Majors by striking out one in a scoreless ninth inning of relief.

Danny Valencia won the “Golden Sombrero,” indicative of striking out in all four of his at-bats, as the Seattle Mariners (66-67) were shut out by the host Baltimore Orioles, 4-0. Richard Bleier did not appear for the O’s (67-75).

Ian Kinsler was 0-for-4 with two strikeouts as the Detroit Tigers (57-74) lost to the host Colorado Rockies, 7-3.

The game between the NY Yankees and Cleveland Indians was postponed by rain, so no Craig Breslow sighting.

Ron Kaplan (@RonKaplanNJ) hosts Kaplan’s Korner, a blog about Jews and sports. He is the author of three books, including The Jewish Olympics: The History of the Maccabiah Games and Hank Greenberg in 1938: Hatred and Home Runs in the Shadow of War.

# # #

Get your Jewish Baseball News updates via e-mail