Watson batting eighth in MLB debut

Jump was getting a battle at the end of his outing, throwing eight pitches to Denzer Guzman with two outs in the seventh. However, the last of those saw Vaughn Grissom wander too far off first on a ball in the dirt and get picked off by Shea Langeliers. Jump threw 107 pitches, an unusually high total for a rookie hurler in the year 2026, but he was in control from start to finish, striking out a new high of seven batters in his fifth major league start. He’s allowed a total of four runs in his four starts this month, with three of those coming in Las Vegas last week. He should be just fine to use in San Francisco next week.

All five runs came in the first. After a clean single to start the inning, novice outfielder Christian Moore botched Nick Kurtz’s fly to left for a double and back-to-back homers followed. Johnson finally escaped the frame after 35 pitches and then never gave up any extra-base hits or walks afterwards. His career ERA actually dropped from 10.17 to 9.96 with the performance. He’ll probably be sent down for a fresh arm Friday, but we’ll see.

Tyler Soderstrom immediately followed with a solo shot to make it 4-0. Langeliers has seen his production slow in recent weeks — he entered tonight with a .179/.250/.396 line over the previous 30 days — but his Statcast page remains very red, and he’s still hitting in one of the league’s best situations for offense in Sacramento. The homer tonight was his 19th and gave him 39 RBI. He’s 10th in MLB in homers and tied for 14th with 48 RBI.

At least the night doesn’t look quite as bad as it would have if Vaughn Grissom hadn’t gotten a hit to bring him to the plate with two outs in the ninth and given him a chance to collect a late single. Moore, though, had a really tough time in left field, a position he’d played just nine times as a pro and sparingly in college. He misjudged Nick Kurtz’s fly to deep left in the first and gave him a double that helped fuel a five-run inning, and he was charged with an error on a tougher play in the fifth, when he slightly overran Jonah Heim’s fly and had it go off his glove for an error. The Angels might keep Moore in left field for now, but he’d surely be more comfortable at second or third.

This frees up the Pirates to carry on with Endy Rodríguez and Henry Davis behind the plate. Bart has missed the last five weeks with a foot infection, but he’s about ready to return now after going 4-for-16 with a homer in five rehab games, and that the Braves DFA’d Sandy Léon to make room for him suggests he will come off the IL and join the team right away. Bart seemed to have a breakthrough 2024, hitting .265/.337/.462 with 13 homers in 282 plate appearances, but he hasn’t kept it up in coming in at .251/.345/.346 with six homers in 394 plate appearances the last two seasons. The Braves will have him back up Drake Baldwin for now, but like they did with Jonah Heim, they could move on from Bart once Sean Murphy is healthy.

Stratton was designated for assignment on Wednesday. This returns him to the organization that drafted him in 2017 and for which he made 47 major league appearances between 2023 and ’25. The 29-year-old has a 3.75 ERA and a 60/17 K/BB in 69 2/3 innings as a major leaguer. He’d pitched just one inning for the Braves in the majors this season, and the Pirates will stick him in Triple-A for now.

Léon was 4-for-44 with an 18/0 K/BB in 21 games for the Braves, so it’s hard to blame the team for seeking a backup catcher upgrade with Sean Murphy out. He should clear waivers and then he can decide whether he’s up for another stint at Gwinnett. He was playing in Mexico before the Braves signed him last month.

Aside from that, the Royals’ skipper didn’t have any updates to provide on the status of his franchise cornerstone. It’s possible that they’re just taking every possible precaution here, but fantasy managers should at least prepare for the fact that they could be without Witt for at least the weekend, if not longer.

Loftin doubled in the third inning and was left stranded there. He then smacked a two-run double in the fourth that extended the Royals’ lead to 11-3. He’s seeing increased action at third base while Maikel Garcia is shelved. For the season, he’s hitting .245/.348/.400 with one homer and 20 RBI across 133 plate appearances.

Caglianone did his damage off of Gordon Graceffo in the fourth inning, with his 402-foot (110.0-mph EV) two-run blast increasing the Royals’ lead to 9-3. That would be his only hit in five at-bats on the night. For the season, the 23-year-old slugger is now hitting .266/.338/.439 with nine homers and 22 RBI.