Mitch Bratt solid for three innings in MLB debut

Langeliers had been stuck on 19 homers for two weeks, so it’s good to see him back on the board. He entered Wednesday having hit .340/.396/.641 in his first 41 games and .194/.267/.353 in his second 41 games.

Ginn walked five batters, but the lone run off him was produced by a Freddie Freeman homer. The Dodgers managed just two other hits off him and neither counted for anything. Ginn is now 7-4 with a 3.04 ERA. His 82/41 K/BB in 95 2/3 innings isn’t very inspiring, and that half of his starts come in a terrific ballpark for offense makes him a pretty weak bet in mixed leagues going forward. Still, he’s certainly been very good thus far.

He surrendered six runs in his first four innings, which probably would have gotten him pulled had the offense ever showed signs of getting back into the game. Since it didn’t, the Dodgers just let Barnes carry on and took the 7-1 loss. Barnes, who was called up before the game, will surely head back to Triple-A now.

Heim has started seven straight games — three at catcher and four at DH — and is up to .253/.308/.526 in 104 plate appearances since being acquired by the A’s. With Brent Rooker done for the year, Heim could potentially continue to play regularly if he remains productive. It seems more likely that he’ll fall back into a reserve role in time, but he’s certainly an option at as a second backstop in two-catcher leagues for the short term.

It’s the 11th four-walk game for a player this year, but Tucker joins Endy Rodríguez as the only players to walk in all four of their plate appearances. He’s 6-for-17 with a homer and six walks in his last five games.

López was in complete control during this outing. After letting up two hits and one run through the first four batters of the game, he retired 13 of the final 14 batters he faced. His fastball was up a tick, sitting just above 95 mph and still stretching to 97 mph in his fifth and final inning of work. His slider had great bite too, forcing six swings-and-misses. He also worked up to 69 pitches, his most in a single outing since April 14th and overall, he looked much sharper than in his return to the rotation last Friday. Next up is a two-start week against the Mets and Cardinals.

Betts was scratched from the game against the A’s because of right wrist soreness, but he’s already feeling better. According to Roberts, there was no clear incident which led to the soreness.

The Braves only mustered three hits and two runs off Cardinals’ starter Michael McGreevy, and Albies was responsible for both runs and two of the three hits. He’s had a tremendous bounce back season thus far with 13 home runs and a .769 OPS as we approach the All-Star Break.

Walker hit a hot-shot single that brought a run home in the first inning and then stole a base. That was his 59th RBI – third-most in the National League – and 11th stolen base of the season. He later chipped in an impressive throw from right field to nail a runner at home plate. It’s also worth noting that he struck out twice in this game, which gives him 32 punch outs since the beginning of June. That’s a scary trend given his lackluster last month of play compared to how he started the season.

If not for Ozzie Albies, McGreevy would’ve turned in an even better start here. In the first inning, Albies doubled on the fifth pitch of the game to drive home Drake Baldwin who’d just singled. Then, he homered in the third. Besides those three batted balls, just one other Braves batter reached base against McGreevy. He worked his cutter beautifully at the letters for whiffs and showed good command of the rest of his secondary pitches as well. On the season, he has a 3.12 ERA, 60 strikeouts, and 22 walks through 95 1/3 innings. He’s scheduled for a two-start week against the Brewers and Braves to close out the first half.