Alexander continues hot run with HR, three hits

This one went so well for the Dodgers that Miguel Rojas closed out the game. Tucker’s homer off Randy Vásquez was his seventh of the year. He’s looked far more like a $6 million-per-year player than a $60 million-per-year player this season, but there’s still hope.

Yamamoto didn’t have one of his bigger strikeout games, finishing with four, but he allowed only five hard-hit balls (including a Xander Bogaerts groundout that barely made the cutoff at 95.0 mph). He moved to 8-5 with a 2.67 ERA with his 12th quality start in 15 tries. He’s allowed more than three earned runs just once all season. He’s slated for a home start against the Padres next time out.

The Padres used Kyle Hart as an opener tonight to avoid Vásquez facing Shohei Ohtani and Freddie Freeman right away, only to have him face Ohtani and Freeman right away to begin the third inning. Vásquez dropped to 6-6 with a 4.56 ERA, and those encouraging signs from April are long gone now. Vásquez is due to face the Dodgers again on Thursday, but the Padres could again have him pitch behind an opener or try some sort of different arrangement.

It could have been a better night, as all four balls that Betts put into play were hit hard. However, only his 402-foot homer in the sixth eluded the defense. He’s up to 11 homers to go along with a .230/.292/.440 line in 209 plate appearances.

Sheets was the Padres’ player of the game in the 15-3 loss, connecting on his 13th homer against Yoshinobu Yamamoto and also singling in the team’s second run of the game. He came into the night hitting .181/.283/.295 with three homers in his previous 32 games. But everyone who picked him up during his mid-May hot streak has likely moved on by now, which is probably for the best.

García’s home run was his 14th of the season. He hit a solo shot off Brandon Young in the fifth inning. García has nine home runs and 20 RBI in 13 games so far in June. He’s hitting .273 with an .816 OPS and 50 RBI.

Helsley came on with the game tied 3-3 in the 10th inning. With the automatic runner on second base, he allowed a go-ahead single to Daylen Lile and the National would go on to win 4-3. Helsley got the loss without actually giving up an earned run. His ERA is 4.11 and he has eight saves for the Orioles this year.

Young gave up seven hits, walked two and struck out eight. He has a 3.11 ERA, but his 4.61 xFIP is a massive red flag. Young has just a 17 percent strikeout percentage in 72 1/3 innings. While he was able to record eight strikeouts on Saturday, he hasn’t been a strikeout pitcher in the broader sample this year. If Young isn’t getting strikeouts, he certainly isn’t worth risking your ratios on. He’s lined up to face the Reds on the road next week.

Griffin gave up three hits, walked two and struck out nine. The 30-year-old left-hander continues to pitch well as he lowered his ERA to 2.93 with a 3.56 xFIP. Griffin has a 23 percent strikeout percentage and six percent walk percentage. While his .240 BABIP allowed and 83 percent left on base percentage are sure to regress to the mean, Griffin has also displayed enough skills to remain firmly in starting lineups. He’s lined up to face the Pirates at home next weekend.

Goodman now has 25 home runs on the season. He hit solo shots off Mike Paredes in the first and third innings before a three-run shot off Cody Funderburk in the seventh inning. After hitting 31 home runs in 144 games in his first full MLB season last year, Goodman is on pace to threaten 40 home runs this year.