AROUND THE HORN

„ ■ Rangers: Mitch Garver is a catcher who can hit, which is why the Rangers acquired him. He doesn’t want to just hit, which is why he will have season-ending surgery to repair a torn flexor tendon in his throwing arm. Garver has been limited to being a designated hitter and unable to catch or throw since early May because of the right forearm issue that was bothering him long before then. The 31-year-old is scheduled for surgery Monday so that he has time to fully recover to be back behind the plate in spring training. “There was a slight chance that I could push it back to the end of the year and maybe sacrifice a few months of catching in 2023, but still have the bat in the lineup,” Garver said. “I feel like if I want to be the player I want to be, I like being behind the plate and I can bring more to the team that way.” The Rangers acquired Garver from the Twins at the start of spring training when displaced shortstop Isiah Kiner-Falefa was traded to the Twins. The Twins had drafted Garver out of the University of New Mexico in 2013, and he made his big league debut in 2017. After getting hit by a pitch with the bases loaded to drive in the first run for the Rangers in a 6-5 series-opening win Friday night, Garver batted third against the Twins on Saturday. Manager Chris Woodward said Garver would also play the series finale Sunday. Garver went into Saturday’s game hitting

.210 with 10 homers and 23 RBIs in 52 games. After his last game catching May

8, he went on the injured list because of his forearm, missed three more games at the end of that month with a left knee sprain, then had a

10-day stay on the COVD-19related IL last month.

„ ■ Athletics: The Athletics were held to four hits for a fourth consecutive game and made it hold up for for rookie Zach Logue in a

3-2 win over the Astros on Saturday. Logue pitched five innings of three-hit ball after being recalled from Triple-A Las Vegas and dealt the Astros their second loss in 12 games. The 26-yearold left-hander allowed two runs and set down his final

10 batters he after Martín Maldonado’s second-inning sacrifice fly. Sean Murphy had two hits and made a heads-up running play to score the A’s first run off Framber Valdez, helping the A’s to their first win in five tries this season against the AL West-leading Astros. „

■ Diamondbacks: Madison Bumgarner pitched six solid innings, Josh Rojas had three RBIs, and the D-backs beat the Rockies 9-2 on Saturday. Bumgarner gave up Kris Bryant’s third homer in two games in the first inning, but was sharp after. He allowed two runs on six hits and struck out five to pass Catfish Hunter (84th) and Dan Haren (83rd) on the all-time strikeout list with 2,014.

„ ■ Phillies: Kyle Gibson kept the ball in the park this time against the Cardinals, Alec Bohm broke a scoreless tie with a sac fly in the ninth inning and the Phillies beat the Cards 1-0 Saturday. Gibson, tagged for four straight homers by the Cards in the first inning at Citizens Bank Park in his previous start, combined with a pair of relievers on a two-hitter. „

■ Braves: Austin Riley homered off Patrick Corbin, Kyle Wright pitched sevenplus innings to win his 10th game, and the Braves held on to beat the Nationals 4-3 on Saturday. The defending World Series champion Braves, moving a seasonhigh 16 games over .500, improved to 28-8 since June 1, best in the NL over that span.