PHOENIX — Arizona Diamondbacks manager Torey Lovullo confirmed first baseman Christian Walker would travel with the club to San Francisco for their three-game series against the Giants starting on Tuesday.

Walker has been on the injured list since June 30 with an oblique strain, and his return appears to be fast approaching.

Before the game, Lovullo said Walker would not necessarily need a second rehab game after the veteran played five innings at Salt River Fields on Saturday. He took ground balls before each of the last two games at Chase Field and has been facing live pitching and hitting off the Trajekt machine — which mimics MLB pitchers.

Walker told Arizona Sports on Monday he was hopeful to play in San Francisco.

The veteran has a .254/.338/.476 batting line, 23 home runs and 71 RBIs this season as Arizona’s everyday cleanup hitter when healthy.

Lourdes Gurriel Jr. remains day-to-day

Lovullo said outfielder Lourdes Gurriel Jr., who left Sunday’s game with left calf tightness, will travel to San Francisco and undergo imaging on Tuesday morning.

Gurriel is still considered day-to-day until Lovullo receives more information on his test results. Gurriel did not enter Monday’s 11-6 loss to the Los Angeles Dodgers, as Pavin Smith started in left field.

Drey Jameson update

The idea of having pitcher Drey Jameson — who has missed this season after Tommy John surgery — get reps in the Arizona Fall League has been discussed internally, Lovullo said pregame.

“I think he’s thrown 11 bullpens to date on a Tuesday-Friday schedule, and we’ll resume that again tomorrow,” Lovullo said. “We’ve been discussing (Jameson pitching this fall). I think it’s a possibility, for sure.”

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For the first time since 1983 with John Elway, the Denver Broncos will open up the regular season with a rookie starting quarterback. Bo Nix, the 2024 first-round pick, has been the story of the offseason and summer and will rightly be the focus as the Broncos travel to take on the Seattle Seahawks on Sunday.

But there’s still the unsettled issue of who Nix’s backup will be. The Broncos surprised many by keeping three quarterbacks on the 53-man roster — Nix, Jarrett Stidham, and Zach Wilson.

Stidham still seems like the obvious prediction to be Denver’s QB2 behind Nix, but even with the season-opener in Seattle being just six days away, head coach Sean Payton has yet to confirm it.

“I’ll settle it and keep you guys posted,” Payton said on Monday when asked about who Denver’s backup quarterback will be.

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It’s Game Week, albeit Day 1, and Payton wouldn’t just come out and say who his backup QB is. It’s conspicuous, but that doesn’t mean that it’ll be Wilson.

In all honesty, Wilson makes more sense to be Nix’s backup, and for multiple reasons — not the least of which is his overwhelmingly positive and supportive attitude about his rookie counterpart. Wilson gushed about Nix in his first public remarks after the rookie was named starter.

“I was excited for him. I don’t think it was a surprise too much, obviously,” Wilson said back on August 25 following the Broncos’ preseason finale. “I think he’s had a great camp. I told him I’m excited for him for this opportunity. I really believe that they’re putting him in a good situation. I think Sean [Payton] has done a phenomenal job… And then Bo just continued to keep getting better. So I’m excited to see what he can do, and I think he’s ready for it.”

Compared to Stidham’s rather dour and self-oriented comments about being vanquished by Nix, Wilson has clearly taken a more supportive posture relative to his rookie teammate.

“First of all, obviously, I was very disappointed,” Stidham said on August 25. “I know I’m a starting quarterback in this league. I have no doubts about that, and it just didn’t shake out my way. I know what kind of player I am, what kind of person I am.”

Let’s not forget that, as a former No. 2 overall pick in the NFL draft, Wilson is technically Denver’s most experienced pro quarterback, with 33 career starts. Stidham, meanwhile, has all of four NFL starts since entering the league in 2019.

So perhaps Payton’s QB2 decision is not as “obvious” as I wrote above. Stidham seemed to take losing to Nix in the open competition this past summer a lot harder than Wilson did, and that could create a little bit of an awkward vibe.

Tapping Wilson to be the backup could help insulate Nix from those Stidham vibrations. But Nix, despite being an NFL rookie, isn’t exactly the traditional green-behind-the-ears first-year quarterback.

After all, Nix is 24 years old, he’s married, and he just so happens to be the most experienced college quarterback to ever be drafted into the NFL. His 61 college starts — spanning the SEC and now-defunct PAC-12 — are an NCAA record.

That experience and maturity are part of what made him such an attractive prospect to Payton and the Broncos. If things are a little sensitive around Stidham, Payton probably doesn’t have to worry too much about Nix’s feelings or reactions to it.

The Broncos haven’t released an official depth chart yet, but they will before the Week 1 tilt at Seattle. It might just be that Payton isn’t going to offer up any depth-chart revelations to the press until he’s mandated to by the NFL. Or there could be some there there, if you know what I mean.

Payton’s primary focus, like all of Broncos Country, is getting Nix ready to rock and roll in front of a rowdy, hostile crowd at Lumen Field. Nix has some unfinished business in that stadium, having come up short last season in the PAC-12 title game as Oregon fell to Washington at Lumen Field.

“It’s going to be loud,” Payton said of the Seattle opener. “I would imagine there will be some similarities to when Oregon goes to Washington and they’re playing in front of however many thousand people. That’s another loud stadium an hour down the road. So we’ll deal with the crowd noise this week. This won’t be the first game we play where it’s loud.”

Loud stadiums aren’t exactly a pro novelty, but Seattle has traditionally been one of the NFL’s loudest stadiums, so Payton and Nix will be ready for it. And which quarterback will be holding the clipboard as the No. 2 is an answer we’ll simply have to wait a little while longer to get.

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The Seattle Mariners’ current road trip can be described in a way synonymous with their season — missed opportunities.

The Mariners dropped their third-straight game with a 5-4 loss against the Oakland Athletics on Monday. The loss kept Seattle six games behind the Houston Astros for first place in the American League West and dropped them to 69-69 on the season.

It was the Mariners’ third loss in a row and the second time in those losses they were defeated via walk-off home run in the ninth.

“Tough way to start it. Walk-offs are always hard — they’re difficult,” Mariners manager Dan Wilson said in a postgame interview Monday. “I thought (starting pitcher Logan Gilbert) pitched a great ballgame. … Bullpen came in and did a great job. … I thought the guys really fought tonight. The effort was there. Really battled all the way until the end. It’s a tough one to take but we come out tomorrow and we get after it again.”

Seattle pulled out in front after Cal Raleigh hit a two-RBI home run in the top of the first to go up 2-0.

The Mariners went up 3-0 in the top of the third after Julio Rodriguez hit an RBI sacrifice fly that scored Victor Robles.

The Athletics stormed back in the bottom of the third with a four-run inning. First Brent Rooker hit an RBI double to cut the lead down to 3-1. Then Shea Langeliers then came to the plate with two runners on and hit a three-run long ball to left field to put Oakland in front 4-3.

“I felt like my direction was a little off on that (home run),” Gilbert said in a postgame interview Monday. “I didn’t really get my hand out front and left it over the middle on a 1-0 count. The curveball before it might have been the bigger pitch to get back. Because if I get 0-1, it’s a different story there.”

Justin Turner tied the game up at 4-4 in the top of the sixth with an RBI single.

The two sides remained knotted up through the top of the ninth.

in the bottom of the ninth, Langeliers came to the plate to lead off the inning and hit his second homer of the game to give Oakland the win.

Seattle left seven runners stranded and 2-for-8 with runners in scoring position. It’s left a combined 25 runners stranded and has gone 3-for-20 with runners in scoring position during its losing streak.

The Mariners had a potential break today with Houston and the Boston Red Sox both losing. There was a chance to gain a game in the AL West and the Wild Card standings.

Seattle needs to win the series for the playoffs to remain a somewhat realistic possibility. And now it has to win three straight to accomplish that.

Such is life for the Mariners this season.

MARINERS TO TAKE ON MUCH-IMPROVED ATHLETICS: The Seattle Mariners are looking to keep their playoff dreams afloat but will have to win a series against an Oakland Athletics team that’s playing much better than most thought they would be. CLICK HERE

MARINERS PITCHERS LOOKING TO BOUNCE BACK AGAINST ATHLETICS: The Seattle Mariners starting rotation will look to get back to form after coming off a a series where they didn’t register a quality start for just the third time all season. CLICK HERE

MARINERS DROP SERIES AGAINST ANGELS: The Seattle Mariners lost to the Los Angeles Angels 3-2 on Sunday and continued to fall in the American League West standings. CLICK HERE

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