LEADING OFF: Clevinger makes home debut versus Padres

A look at what’s happening around the majors today:

CLEVINGER’S NEW DIGS

Mike Clevinger (1-2, 3.14) will make his home debut for the San Diego Padres on Tuesday night against the Colorado Rockies at Petco Park. He was obtained in a blockbuster deal with Cleveland just before last week’s trade deadline. He made his Padres debut Thursday, taking a 2-0 loss at Anaheim while allowing two runs and seven hits in six innings.

ZACK IS BACK

Unbeaten Astros right-hander Zack Greinke (3-0, 2.91) tries to win his third straight start in the first game of a doubleheader Tuesday in which the Astros are the home team in Oakland. It is a makeup of a postponement from Aug. 30 following A’s right-hander Daniel Mengden’s positive coronavirus test result a day earlier. Oakland missed four games in all, including three in Seattle that forces the club to play three doubleheaders in a seven-day span starting Tuesday.

ROOKIE WATCH

So impressive so far, Cleveland Indians rookie Triston McKenzie makes his fourth start and second against the Kansas City Royals, who didn’t score on the right-hander in six innings last week.

The 23-year-old McKenzie is the latest big arm to come out of Cleveland’s system. McKenzie has a larger role now following the team’s decision to trade Mike Clevinger to San Diego last week.

EASY STREET

The Tampa Bay Rays, who entered Monday with a 5 1/2-game lead in the AL East, have what appears to be the easiest schedule in the majors over the final three weeks of the season. Monday’s game against the Washington Nationals was the first of eight straight against last-place teams and 16 in a row against teams currently below .500. Tampa Bay doesn’t play a team with a winning record until its final series of the regular season, Sept. 25-27 against Philadelphia. The Rays’ remaining opponents had a .425 winning percentage entering Monday. “It’s been a pretty unique season for a lot of teams in baseball and records sometimes aren’t completely reflective of how talented a team could be,” Rays manager Kevin Cash said. “I think our guys are very respectful of every team that we play.”

Ben Nuckols

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