Finally, some run support. Skenes received a whopping 16 runs from Pittsburgh’s offense after serving up a solo homer to CJ Abrams in the opening frame and was able to cruise to his third win of the season. He appears to have made an adjustment to generate significantly more horizontal break on his sweeper than in previous outings this season and he also leaned more heavily on his changeup than before. He generated 15 swinging strikes and needed just 88 pitches (60 strikes) to complete six frames, lowering his full-season ERA from 5.25 to 4.00 in the process. He’ll close out a two-start week with a favorable home outing against the Rays on Saturday afternoon.

Schwarber took Cubs starter Javier Assad deep in the first and third innings to record the 37th multi-homer game of his career. The 33-year-old slugger is up to six home runs on the season after launching a combined 841 feet of blasts in this one, continuing to reinforce his place as one of the most consistent power producers of his generation. He’s hitting .236 (13-for-55) with six homers and 12 RBI through 16 games this season.

Crochet struggled with his command in the first and his fastball velocity was down about 1.5 mph tonight, but that still hardly seemed to explain all of this. His final pitch was scorched 438 feet by career .135 hitter Ryan Kriedler. It was the hardest-hit ball of Kriedler’s career by two mph. Just before that, Josh Bell crushed a double on the first pitch he saw, an outside sinker. Victor Caratini homered on the next pitch, which seemed like a perfectly fine cutter. It certainly gave the sense that the Twins knew what was coming. Maybe something isn’t quite right with Crochet, too, but we’ll see.

Langford remains on the bench for the third consecutive game since being diagnosed with a minor right quad strain that he suffered last Friday against the Dodgers. The encouraging news for fantasy managers is that he’s managed to avoid a trip to the injured list, which seems to indicate there’s a possibility he’s ready to return at some point later this week. Ezequiel Duran will patrol left field out in West Sacramento on Monday night.

Naylor came into the day hitting .102 with no extra-base hits and two RBI in 15 games before hitting a line drive, three-run homer off Mike Burrows in the first. That one would have been a double in most ballparks. The second homer, though, was a 433-foot no-doubter that left his bat at 111.5 mph. That’s five mph harder than anything he’d previously hit this year. Naylor popped up in his final two at-bats, but today still seems like the start of a turnaround for him.

Pham represents a temporary emergency stopgap solution for the Mets while Juan Soto is on the injured list for the next couple weeks. The 38-year-old signed a minor league contract earlier this month and went 2-for-12 across five games in five games at Low-A St. Lucie as his ramp-up. He hit .245/.330/.370 with 10 homers and five steals in 120 games for the Pirates last year. It’s a fascinating development for New York, but Pham can be safely ignored in all fantasy formats.

Encarnacion-Strand represents a worthwhile zero-risk gamble for the injury-ravaged Orioles since he can play both corner infield spots and possesses top-of-the-charts raw power potential. The 26-year-old former top prospect fell out of favor with Cincinnati, mostly due to injuries and the emergence of other top prospects like Sal Stewart. It’s not out of the question that a change of scenery could breathe new life into his once-promising career. He’ll head to Triple-A Norfolk for now but figures to arrive in Baltimore at some point shortly.

Sale allowed eight hits, but only Rhys Hoskins’ homer in the sixth mattered, and the Braves had a 9-0 lead before that happened. Sale was again right around 96 mph with his fastball tonight. He slipped to 92.5 mph while ill in his second start of the year, but he’s been right near 96 in his other three starts. He’ll likely make his next start in Philadelphia on Saturday.

After giving up a homer to Cal Raleigh in the first inning in his last outing, deGrom gave up another solo dinger early, this time to Shohei Ohtani. From that point on, the 37-year-old was fantastic, allowing only three more hits and generating 15 swings and misses in the contest before exiting. His fastball averaged 97.2 mph, so the minor knee discomfort he was dealing with clearly didn’t have a major affect during Sunday’s bout. He’ll have a good chance to miss more bats when he faces the Mariners on Friday in Seattle.

Pivetta will assuredly undergo imaging to determine his status going forward, but obviously, this is potentially a significant injury for the right-hander. The 33-year-old has been one of the more durable hurlers in baseball in the decade, but a trip to the injured list now seems more likely than not. Stay tuned for further updates on Pivetta’s status in the coming days.