Rockies place Tomoyuki Sugano on IL with back spasms

Smith-Shawver allowed two hits and didn’t walk a batter while striking out five. There is no Statcast data at the park, but reports are that he sat 96 mph on his four-seam fastball and touched 100 mph. He threw 34 of his 47 pitches for strikes in what was an incredibly efficient outing. The Braves will move him up to a higher level and presumably try to get him around 60 pitches next time out. Now would be the time to stash him in fantasy leagues since he could return to Atlanta in two weeks. Remember that he had a 3.86 ERA, 1.42 WHIP, and 22 percent strikeout rate in 44 innings for Atlanta last year, so we’d recommend stashing just in deeper formats for right now.

We know Snell threw a bullpen on June 26th, and it appears that he threw another one this weekend, but there aren’t many more details about how many, or what type of, pitches he threw. We would still assume that he will begin facing live hitters if this next bullpen is successful and then begin a rehab assignment. All of that seems to indicate that we could be looking at an early August return for Snell, if all goes well.

The Red Sox are referring to the visit as more about “peace of mind,” but it’s obviously concerning that Anthony has made no substantial progress since spraining his wrist and tearing a ligament in his ring finger over two months ago. The 22-year-old will see Dr. Gary Lourie, who is a hand specialist and Braves’ head team physician.

The homer was his 13th, so power production hasn’t really been his issue. However, Duran came into this one hitless in his previous four games. It was his first multihit game since June 16 and his first time reaching base safely three times in a game since May 30. His OBP is sitting at .259, compared to .346, .342 and .332 the previous three years.

Chapman gave up a solo shot to Zach Neto while pitching with a three-run lead. He struck out two of the other three batters he faced. Chapman, who was picked for his ninth All-Star team on Saturday, has a 2.36 ERA and a 35/12 K/BB through 26 2/3 innings.

Johnson gave up a two-run homer in the second and a three-run blast in the third, but the runs from the latter were all unearned after a Zach Neto error extended the inning. It brings Johnson’s total of homers allowed to eight in 28 1/3 innings this season and 12 in 43 innings total as a major leaguer. He’s definitely throwing better now than he has at any other point since debuting with the Angels, but he remains far away from contributing in fantasy leagues. He’ll likely face the Twins on Saturday.

Contreras’s 20th homer came in his 86th game of the season. Last year, he hit 20 in 135 games for the Cardinals. He’s now just four shy of his career high from 2019, when he hit 24 in 105 games for the Cubs. Unfortunately, this might be Contreras’s last action for a bit. MLB is expected to hand down a decision on his appeal of a seven-game suspension on Monday. Even if it’s dropped to six games, that’d still put him out until after the break.

Neto hit the first homer allowed by Aroldis Chapman this season, sending a 96.5-mph fastball 396 feet to left. It was his 19th homer, which is second behind Colson Montgomery at 23 among those who primarily play shortstop. He’s hit nine in his last 27 games.

None of Adell’s hits left the bat at over 84 mph, but he managed a couple of liners that dropped in front of infielders and a groundball single. Adell had been in a 1-for-21 slump that dropped his average to .239.

One imagines Suarez will be placed on the IL prior to Tuesday’s game. Even if this is minor, a 15-day IL stint would cost him just one start next weekend and allow him to return the fifth day after the All-Star break.