MILWAUKEE (AP) — The Milwaukee Brewers acquired right-handed pitcher Lance McCullers Jr. and left-hander Colton Gordon from the Houston Astros on Wednesday in exchange for outfield prospect Jadyn Fielder.

Brewers general manager Matt Arnold announced the swap that included cash from Houston. Milwaukee cleared space on the 40-man roster by sending left-handed pitcher Rob Zastryzny to the 60-day injured list.

Milwaukee went into the All-Star break with a five-game lead in the NL Central. They trailed the defending NL champion Los Angeles Dodgers by 1 1/2 games in the league standings.

The Brewers own a 3.48 team ERA that ranks second in the majors — behind only the New York Yankees — but injuries to their starting rotation left them seeking depth.

Two-time All-Star Brandon Woodruff is on the 60-day injured list after an MRI exam revealed a new injury to the anterior capsule in his shoulder, which was surgically repaired after the 2023 season. Left-hander Kyle Harrison was placed on the 15-day injured list Saturday with tightness in his throwing forearm.

McCullers, 32, who helped Houston win the World Series in 2017 and 2022, has spent his entire career with the Astros. He is 53-40 with a 3.85 ERA over 154 games. He was an All-Star in 2017, had Tommy John surgery in November 2018 and missed the 2019 season. Surgery in June 2023 kept him out through the 2024 season.

This season, the son of former MLB reliever Lance McCullers is 2-3 with a 6.86 ERA in eight starts. Inflammation in his right shoulder landed him on the 15-day IL on May 19, and he has been on a rehab assignment at Triple-A Sugar Land.

Gordon, 27, made his major league debut in 2025. He went 6-4 with a 5.34 ERA and a save in 20 games. Gordon has started one of his four appearances with Houston this season.

Fielder, 21, the son of former Brewers first baseman Prince Fielder, made his professional debut in 2025. He was in Class A before the trade.

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NEW YORK (AP) — The anticipation. The chase. The powdery, sugar-coated board of gum! For generations of baseball card fans, there was nothing like scrounging up some change and sprinting to the store to buy a wax pack.

Some tore the slightly tacky paper wrapper open and flipped through the cards in an insatiable instant (hence the popular phrase “ripping wax” for opening card packs even today, about 35 years since use of actual wax wrappers ceased). Others did the slow reveal: one card at a time, peeking out of a corner of the pack, or maybe upside down and reversed. However you did it, it was the right way.

“There is something inherently magic about peeling away the paper of the wax pack. There’s something visceral about it, taking the pack to your face and smelling it,” says Brian Pirrip, owner of collectible business M1NT. “It’s something about the mix of all these scents — the wax, the gum, the cardboard — that transports you back to a different time.”

Collecting and trading cards has been part of the baseball ecosystem since the 1860s. But the wax pack emerged as the delivery method in 1951 by Topps.

Opening a pack was thrilling. Who were you going to pull? Whether it was Hall-of-Famer-to-be Brooks Robinson or Sixto Lezcano, a “common” card, the feeling was the same: “an innocent joy,” Pirrip says. You’d then scale them or flip ’em, turn that pack of 15 cards into 20 through some clever trades. The cards went with you everywhere.

Fueled by history, statistics and mythmaking, baseball card collecting rode the nostalgia craze of the 1980s into big business and overproduction of cards. While saturation of the market brought down prices, the abundance of fan favorites has driven a resurgence of interest in opening wax packs.

Sure, you can open modern foil wrappers and chase high-value autos, refractors or other gimmicky cards, But there's nothing like tearing open a wax pack and chomping on the thin pink rectangle.

Pirrip has taken his love of collecting to 47 states. He has seen countless faces light up when a favorite card surfaces.

On a recent night at Citi Field, home of the New York Mets, Pirrip pulled out a box of 1987 Topps cards and had guests rip some wax. Nolan Ryan, Don Mattingly, Roger Clemens and Kirby Puckett drew gasps. But it was all smiles, even for names not uttered in years.

“It instantly transports people to a happier time,” he says. “You can’t get that with anything else.”

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Part of a recurring series, “American Objects,” marking the 250th anniversary of the United States. For more American objects, click here. For more stories on the anniversary, click here.