Marlins outright Christopher Morel to Triple-A

Gordon enjoyed this opportunity away from Coors Field to get both his first win of the season and complete seven innings for the first time in his career. Also, despite the lopsided final score, Gordon didn’t even pitch with a lead until the fifth inning. So it’s not like he was just tossing it in there against a team who knew the game was already over. Sadly, he’s heading back home next week for a two-start week against the Orioles and Cardinals.

Norby looks reborn with the Rockies. He broke this game wide open with his seventh inning grand slam that turned a three-run lead into seven and has been scorching hit since being traded to the Rockies. In 14 games with his new club, Norby has a .310/.408/.571 slash-line as the exact type of lightning in a bottle player we’re looking for in our deep leagues.

Continuing to impress in a part-time role, Chaparro was the extent of the Nationals’ offense in a game where they were thrashed 13-1. He accounted for three of their seven total hits, two of their four extra-base hits, and drove home their lone run with a solo home run. They’ve been sneaking him into the lineup more so against right-handed pitchers lately because they’ve only faced one lefty in their last 13 games and Chaparro’s role had been to be a lefty-masher. It’s tough to ignore a .906 OPS though.

Coming in for a bulk outing after Matt Waldron fired two scoreless innings, the wheels fell off for Dion in his third inning of work. After tossing two scoreless frames out of the pen with eight swings-and-misses along the way, both Troy Johnston and Cole Carrigg hit two-run homers in the fifth. Johnston’s came off a front-door sinker that the left Dion was bold for trying and missed his spot badly. Carrigg’s was off a fastball at the letters that didn’t even crack 90 mph. At that point, manager Blake Butera had seen enough and pulled Dion. He has good stuff, but will need to sustain a bit more velocity to be effective in a multi-inning role. Luis Perales came in for some bulk work after as well and showed elite stuff – 101 mph fastball, 11 whiffs – but let up four runs in two innings with three walks. It seems like the Nationals are going to deploy their pitchers in unorthodox ways during the final month of the season.

Gusto closed out what was an excellent month of August with another strong start here. His fastball led the charge, but he forced a whiff with five different pitches and multiple with three. The depth of his repertoire has shown up in a huge way over his last five starts where he has a 1.85 ERA, 19 strikeouts, and five walks over 24 1/3 innings. He’s lined up for a two-start week coming up against the Royals in Kansas City and then Cubs at home.

Sanoja was an engine for the Marlins out of the nine-spot in this game with three hits and stolen bases apiece. He’d only stolen six all season heading into this game despite his excellent speed, so this was a surprise. Still, as an everyday player who has a .280 batting average and is eligible all over the field, him becoming a willing base stealer down the stretch could make him a valuable asset in deeper leagues.

This was a weak showing for the Red Sox’s lineup as they were shutout by the Marlins in a loss that snapped their five-game win streak. They had just five hits and none went for extra bases. Durbin got his though with two knocks as he stayed scorching hot with a .324/.395/.417 slash-line over his last 30 games.

The swings-and-misses were certainly there for Gray in this start. He forced 15 whiffs in total with at least one coming against all six of his pitches, multiple with four, and six total off his sweeper. On the other hand, his cutter was hit incredibly hard – three of the four put in play off it were hard-hit – and he had to scrap that pitch after a few innings. That forced him to chase those whiffs more, led to a bit of inefficiency, and was partially why he only lasted five innings. He’s scheduled for a two-start week coming up against the Mariners and Orioles.

Boone added that Tommy John surgery is on the table for Cruz, who hit the injured list prior to Wednesday’s game against the Astros. The 36-year-old hasn’t been his usual self this season, but his absence is still a hit to New York’s high-leverage depth. Cruz is done for the season, even if he manages to avoid elbow surgery.

Darvish, who turned 40 earlier this month, is working his way back from last year’s elbow surgery. It sounds like he’s going to give it a shot in spring training since he still has two years left on his contract with San Diego. His odds of returning to fantasy relevance are extremely long, but stranger things have happened before.