Fantasy Sports

The 23-year-old right-hander scattered three hits on the evening while issuing an uncharacteristic five walks. All of the damage done against him came in the fifth inning on a two-out, two-run double off the bat of Gleyber Torres. Aside from that inning though, Skenes was in complete command. He generated a whopping 21 swings and misses on 105 pitches on the night — 10 of them on his fastball — while posting a strong CSW of 30 percent. Still an inexplicable 4-6 on the season, he’ll bring an impressive 1.85 ERA, 0.88 WHIP and a 106/27 K/BB ratio (102 innings) into Wednesday’s matchup against the Brewers in Milwaukee.

It wasn’t the smoothest of innings, as Otto Lopez reached with one out on an error by Alec Bohm and Eric Wagaman poked a two-out single into right field, but the 24-year-old right-hander fought back and got Dane Myers to pop out to end the ballgame. He picked up the first save of his big league career in Monday’s series opener against the Marlins, then came through again in a big way on Thursday. It’s hard to trust anyone in manager Rob Thomson’s bullpen, but for the time being at least, Kerkering looks like the best option for saves and should be started in all mixed leagues.

The 28-year-old southpaw struck out four batters on the evening and did not allow a base on balls. The only damage done against him came in the fifth inning as Dane Myers smacked a leadoff double, took third on a ground out and scored on a two-out infield single off the bat of Nick Fortes. Sanchez dominated the remainder of the night. He got 11 whiffs on 91 pitches in the ballgame — 10 of them on his changeup — while posting a strong CSW of 34 percent. He’ll look to replicate this impressive performance when he carries a 2.87 ERA, 1.19 WHIP and a 92/28 K/BB ratio (87 2/3 innings) into Wednesday’s battle against the Astros in Houston.

Arenado singled in the automatic runner in the 10th, but he was retired while trying to take second base on the throw. The Cardinals still wound up getting an insurance run anyway, as Lars Nootbaar homered. Arenado’s homer, his ninth of the year, was a 385-footer to left-center that would have left 12 ballparks. No. 350 puts him into a tie with Chili Davis for 102nd on the all-time list. Next up are Dick Allen at 351 and Ryan Braun, Ellis Burks and Freddie Freeman at 352.

The Cardinals weren’t willing to use Phil Maton or Ryan Helsley twice today, but they did so with Granillo, allowing him to pick up his first major league victory and save on the very same day. The 25-year-old Granillo was just called up for the first time a week ago. He threw four pitches for the win, getting one out to conclude the seventh inning. He finished the save by setting down Austin Slater with his first career strikeout. He’s yet to allow a run in five innings since being called up.

The homer off Kevin Gausman was wind-aided and would typically have been a flyout, but this just seems like it’s Suárez’s year. His 22nd homer still leaves him eight shy of last year’s mark, but it matches his total from 162 games with the Mariners in 2023. He’s second in the majors with 162 RBI, one behind Pete Alonso. His current pace would have him finishing with 136. Suárez does already have three 100-RBI seasons under his belt, but his career high is 104 from 2018. 2018 was also the year of his only All-Star appearance, something that figures to change in the coming weeks.

Crow-Armstrong took Brewers ace Freddy Peralta deep in the opening frame for his 20th round-tripper of the year to become the first member of the 20-homer, 20-steal club this season. The 23-year-old breakout sensation has slowed down slightly bit in recent weeks, but he’s still hitting .275 (33-for-120) with nine big flies and 10 steals over his last 30 games. He’s the real deal.

Contreras kicked off the scoring with a first-inning sacrifice fly against White Sox starter Sean Burke before taking lefty reliever Cam Booser deep for a game-tying blast — his 10th round-tripper of the season — in the eighth. The 33-year-old former catcher turned first baseman has graded out as an elite, top-five range backstop for fantasy purposes this season, hitting .249/.338/.421 with 36 runs scored, 10 homers, 48 RBI and three steals through 70 contests.

Caglianone took Rangers lefty reliever Jacob Latz deep in the second inning with an impressive drive to right-center field that left his bat at 110.2 mph, per Statcast. The 22-year-old prodigy clobbered a gargantuan 439-foot moonshot to nearly the same spot in the ballpark against Rangers stopper Robert Garcia in the ninth inning to notch his first career multi-homer performance. It was a memorable afternoon for the top prospect, who was off to an ice-cold start at the dish, hitting .196 (10-for-51) over his first 13 games since being called up earlier this month from Triple-A Omaha.