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Pirates general manager Ben Cherington said that Jones would make “at least one” more start, but he is eligible to come off the injured list on May 25th. He threw only 52 pitches in his last outing, so the team would likely try to push him closer to 65 on Saturday, and then he could return with a pitch count around 75 pitches. However, it doesn’t seem like the Pirates feel they have to rush him back. His return could depend on how he pitches on Saturday and how other Pirates starters, like Carmen Mlodzinski, look over the weekend. Regardless, we’re only one or two weeks away from Jones returning, so now is the time to stash him in fantasy leagues.

Beeter has been sidelined since April 26th due to forearm soreness, but all his imaging came back clean. He began a rehab assignment last week and is now ready to return to his late-inning role. Before the injury, Beeter had posted a 3.48 ERA, 1.26 WHIP, and a 9/8 K/BB ratio over his first 10 1/3 innings while notching a pair of saves. Since he has been hurt, Richard Lovelady has recorded three saves and been a solid late-innings option for the Nationals as well. It would be likely that the two would form some sort of tandem in the short term.

Diamondbacks manager Torey Lovullo said that Puk was sitting in the mid-90s with his fastball and “felt good coming out of the session.” We’d imagine he would face live hitters maybe once more before going out on a rehab assignment, but the left-hander could be back with the Diamondbacks in early June. We can’t see the team simply removing Paul Sewald from the closer’s role, but it could be more of a committe with Puk back in the mix.

Yates was pitching with a lead for the first time in five appearances since coming off the IL, though that had less to do with his status than the fact that the Angels have done little but trail lately. Up 5-3, they went to Ryan Zerferjahn in the seventh tonight, only to watch him hit back-to-back batters with one out. Sam Bachman came in and, after allowing one inherited runner to score, kept the A’s scoreless through the eighth. That led to Yates taking over in a one-run game, but McNeil sent a ball 364 feet down the right-field line to even things up. The Angels ended up losing in 10. Yates has allowed three runs in five innings since coming off the IL, and his velocity is down a bit more than two mph from last year. He’s probably not going to run away with the closer’s role in Anaheim.

Another young starting pitcher is continuing a dominant start to the 2026 season. Yesavage was slowed by a right shoulder impingement in spring training and didn’t make his season debut until April 28. Wednesday was his best start to date, and it marked the second consecutive outing in which he completed six frames. He’ll carry a 1.07 ERA into a juicy home matchup versus the Marlins next time out.

It’s his shortest start of the year, as he completed six innings each of his first seven times out. Tonight, though, he needed 88 pitches to get his 15 outs. It’s the fourth time this season that he’s gone without allowing a run, and his ERA now stands at 0.73 in 49 innings. Ohtani also had a nice night offensively while both pitching and DHing for the first time since Apr. 22. Along with the leadoff homer in the first, he walked and scored a second run. He’s 13-for-27 with two homers, four doubles, 10 RBI and seven walks in his last seven games. Ohtani’s next mound outing will probably come next Wednesday against the Rockies.

It’s happening for Griffin. He ignited rallies in the fourth, sixth, and eighth innings by starting each with a single and scored a run in all three. Plus that, he had the hardest hit ball in this game at 111.2 mph on his second inning single. Again, it feels like it’s all coming together for the 20-year-old Griffin. He now has a hit in 18 of his last 20 games and raised his .213 batting average and .573 at the start of this stretch to a .278 BA and .738 OPS after this game. We’re still waiting on the power with just three home runs through 43 games played, but he looks like the budding star we expected to see.

Grisham will undergo imaging on Thursday to determine the severity of the issue. The 29-year-old outfielder doubled in his lone at-bat of the contest before being replaced by rookie Spencer Jones. There should be an update on his status leading into Thursday’s series finale.

Harrison’s magical season continued with possibly his best start to date. It was one strikeout off his season-high from last month, but was the first time he completed seven innings. He simply blitzed the Cubs with high fastball after high fastballs. That pitch forced 13 of his 19 total swings-and-misses, routinely sat around around 96 mph, and peaked at 98 mph. That is a slight velocity jump compared to his season averages and it beautifully set up his slurve. Funny enough, he only threw two total changeups, a pitch he’d used 17% of the time against right-handed batters heading into this start. It didn’t matter though as again, that fastball and slurve were more than enough. To this point in the season, his 1.77 ERA is the lowest in the National League and he has a 59:14 strikeout to walk ratio across 45 2/3 innings. We could have a league-winner on our hands, folks. Harrison is scheduled to face the Cardinals next time out.

Merrill was replaced in center field in the fourth inning after striking out in his lone at-bat of the game. He appeared to be in some discomfort after attempting to rob Shohei Ohtani’s leadoff home run earlier in the contest. There should be an update on his status shortly.