Murakami took a middle-middle fastball from Elvis Alvarado and hit it 431 feet to center. It was a bad pitch, but it was a 98-mph bad pitch, and given the questions about Murakami’s ability to hit MLB velocity, it was an encouraging development. Murakami is batting .200/.361/.477 with six homers through 83 plate appearances.

Soriano struck out eight. He walked four and threw first-pitch strikes to only 11 of 23 batters, but that didn’t hurt on a night in which he gave up two hits. He’s through five starts having allowed just one run this season, so he’ll take a 0.28 ERA into next week’s outing against the Blue Jays.

Glasnow scattered just two hits and two walks on the evening. The lone tally against him came as Mickey Moniak led off the fourth inning with a double and came around to score on a ground ball. Glasnow got 12 swings and misses on 92 pitches on the night to finish with a 28 percent CSW. He’ll look to keep the good times rolling as he carries a 3.24 ERA, 0.84 WHIP and a 29/6 K/BB ratio (25 innings) into Thursday’s matchup against the Giants in San Francisco. As long as Glasnow stays healthy, fantasy managers should continue to expect borderline elite results.

Cruz has done it again. His sixth inning home run vaulted the Pirates ahead and they never looked back. It was ridiculous to watch how he hit it out too. Cruz stuck with a back-door sweeper from Griffin Jax that would’ve landed perfectly on the low-and-outside corner. Instead, he extended his long arms to yank it over the tall right field wall at PNC Park. His bottom hand even flew off the handle and altogether it looked like the type of swing you’d see in a slow-pitch softball league. Instead, it had an 84 mph swing speed and he turned the game upside down with it. This was his sixth home run so far this season along with 19 RBI, nine stolen bases, and a .313/.382/.588 slash line. To this point, he’s been arguably the most productive offensive player in the whole league.

He drilled a no-doubt 392-foot homer to left field off Kodai Senga to extend Chicago’s lead early in the game. Hitting .342/.420/.553 with six steals and three homers, Hoerner is one of the most valuable players in fantasy baseball to this point. The power surge probably won’t last -- his career high is 10 -- but this has been an incredible start for Chicago’s stalwart second baseman.

It’s unclear when Palencia suffered the injury as he hadn’t pitched since last Sunday. In the topsy turvy world of the Cubs bullpen, which somehow carries five left-handed relievers at the moment, our best guess is that Ben Brown would be in line for saves if the Cubs choose to use a traditional closer going forward. It’s possible this becomes a full-blown committee in Palencia’s absence. It’s great news that it’s not an arm injury — at least for the long-term — but the 15-day placement tells us this is serious for Palencia and something that could stretch well into May.

Buried in that positive news is the somewhat-ominous “the Mets will want to do a supplemental MRI to ensure he’s OK before activating him.” Soto’s progression to return from his calf injury has appeared normal from the outside. Assuming things check out, he’ll be back at some point next week.

A cause wasn’t formally announced. Angels owner Arte Moreno issued a statement saying that the organization is “mourning the loss of one of our franchise’s most beloved icons.” The team plans to wear a jersey patch saying “GA, 1972-2026" for the rest of the season. Anderson got one Hall of Fame vote after finishing his 17-year career with 2,529 hits, 287 homers, and a .293/.324/.461 triple-slash line. He helped lead the Angels to a World Series in 2002, a year in which he finished fourth in MVP voting. and made three All-Star teams.

Benge is still hitting just .151/.237/.226 on the season, but he has hit in five of his last six games, and with how the Mets are currently swinging the bats right now, that makes him a viable leadoff candidate. Francisco Lindor is batting third as the Mets try to shake out of a doldrum in which they’ve scored two runs or less in five of their last six games.

He allowed a leadoff walk to Taylor Ward to start the game and another to Leody Taveras to start the sixth inning but that was the only traffic on the bases against him until Taveras singled on the first pitch of the ninth inning to break up the no-hit bid. Blaze Alexander then followed with a single before Messick handed the ball over to Cade Smith — and both inherited runners ultimately scored. The 25-year-old rookie left-hander struck out nine batters on the night while issuing a pair of walks. He got 18 swings and misses on 112 pitches on the night — nine of those on his changeup — while posting a solid CSW of 30 percent. Now 3-0 on the season, he’ll carry a microscopic 1.05 ERA, 0.74 WHIP and a 25/7 K/BB ratio (25 2/3 innings) into Tuesday’s matchup against the Astros.