Fantasy Sports

The 35-year-old infielder came on as a pinch-hitter for Jake Cronenworth in the seventh inning and delivered a two-out, two-run single off of Lucas Erceg that tied the game at 2-2. He then kept the score tied at two in the top half of the ninth inning as he delivered a perfect relay throw to the plate to cut down Drew Waters to end the inning. Iglesias then drove in Luis Arraez with the walk-off winner on a fielder’s choice to the shortstop where the Royals had no chance to get Arraez who was running on contact from third base. On the season, he’s now slashing .232/.297/.268 with zero homers, 19 RBI and a pair of stolen bases in 160 plate appearances for the Padres.

It’s the first career save for the flamethrower, and we have to wonder if White Sox manager Will Venable will finally hand the closer’s job over to the rookie. Taylor routinely hits 100 mph with his fastball and features a wicked cutter as well. The lone hit he allowed was a blooper that George Springer fisted down the right field line for a single. Even though the White Sox may not get many wins, Taylor is a solid spec add on waivers tonight in fantasy leagues.

Edwards is now up to 14 steals on the season with a .289/.363/.326 slash line and 16 RBI. Despite hitting leadoff for the Marlins, he’s not a huge asset in the runs category, but he has speed and will put together a solid batting average, which makes him valuable in many league types.

Alcantara struck out four and walked two while throwing 61 of his 95 pitches for strikes. Despite earning the quality start, it was not a tremendous outing for Sandy, who had just a 12 percent whiff rate and 18 percent CSW. He pounded the zone well with his sinker, but he backed off his curveball in favor of a slider that has just an 11 percent swinging strike rate on the season. His changeup also continues not to get whiffs, so this is not the same Alcantara of old. However, this is certainly a better version of the 29-year-old than we saw earlier in the season and one that you can hold onto in deeper formats.

Caminero hit a 379-foot shot that left the bat at 100.1 mph for his 19th home run and 50th RBI of the season. He also added a 108.2 mph single later in the game. The 21-year-old has gone 19-for-72 (.264) in June with six home runs and 13 RBI and been a real asset for fantasy managers, even if there is no speed to go along with everything else he does.

Baltimore’s sloppy defense made Chisholm’s day a lot more notable. He first scored in the second after colliding with catcher Maverick Handley, who was out of position trying to catch a poor throw. It left Handley with an injury that forced him to exit. Chisholm was fine, though he did lose a shoe on the play. That was the Yankees’ lone run until Chisholm doubled to the wall in right-center in the eighth. Paul Goldschmidt was able to score from first because of a poor relay, and Chisholm subsequently scored on a weak grounder because Gary Sánchez couldn’t make an easy catch. Chisholm has hit in five straight games and is batting .350/.420/.567 since coming off the IL.

Merrill returns for Sunday’s series finale against the Royals, starting in center field and batting second, after missing just over one week recovering from a concussion that he suffered back on June 15. The 22-year-old fantasy stalwart, who has been snake-bitten by injuries this season, is hitting .304 with five homers and one steal in 44 games.

Smith has been on a heater this month, batting .321 (18-for-56) with two homers, 10 RBI and one steal over his last 15 games to earn a shot in the middle of Houston’s lineup with Isaac Paredes and Yainer Diaz getting a breather during Sunday’s series finale in Los Angeles.

Not good. Carroll remains on the bench as he continues to recover from a left hand contusion that he suffered earlier this week on Wednesday when he was hit by a pitch. Diamondbacks manager Torey Lovullo told reporters the 24-year-old will undergo an MRI on Monday in Chicago to determine whether he’s dealing with any structural damage. The fact that he hasn’t been put on the injured list is an encouraging sign as it appears the organization is merely proceeding with an abundance of caution by giving their franchise cornerstone some extra time off to rest and recover. Hopefully he’ll be ready to return for Monday’s series opener against the White Sox, assuming the MRI comes back clean.

The writing has been on the wall for a couple weeks now as the Mets finally decided to ship Alvarez to the minors in an apparent effort to hit the reset button and give him a chance to iron things out after struggling to a .236/.319/.333 slash line with just three homers in 138 plate appearances over 35 games. The far greater concern for the 23-year-old former top prospect is that he’s gone from being a near-elite defender when he broke into the majors to merely league-average behind the dish over the last two seasons. Luis Torrens will take over as New York’s primary catcher with Hayden Senger coming up in a backup role.