Cruz has three-walk game, steals a base in win

Del Castillo returns to the big leagues as emergency catching depth behind James McCann after Gabriel Moreno suffered a minor hamstring injury during Friday’s win over the Padres.

Sánchez’s brief stint with Arizona is officially over after just six games where he went 2-for-15 at the dish. The 28-year-old corner outfielder was claimed off waivers from the Blue Jays back on September 14.

Ewing took Nationals righty Jake Irvin deep for a no-doubter to right-center field in the seventh inning that traveled 396 feet, per Statcast. It was his 11th round-tripper of the season and first time leaving the yard since September 14. The 22-year-old enters New York’s final regular-season contest hitting .254/.324/.379 with 55 runs scored, 11 homers, 43 RBI and 25 steals in 119 games. Here’s an oversimplification: Ewing is going to be an impactful all-around fantasy contributor for years to come.

Mauricio made quite a statement with his bat during the same contest where Brett Baty received his first career start at shortstop. The 25-year-old former top prospect recorded the first multi-homer performance of his career by taking Nationals relievers Jake Irvin and Richard Lovelady deep in the seventh and ninth innings, respectively.

Tong looked extremely impressive in his final start of the year, generating an eye-popping 19 swinging strikes, while allowing just five baserunners and needing 87 pitches (52 strikes) to complete five frames. The former top prospect was cruising along early until a hit batter, a single and a wild pitch set up a sacrifice fly for Abimelec Ortiz in the third inning. He struck out Dylan Crews and CJ Abrams to escape the jam without any further damage. Simply put, it was the complete Tong experience wrapped into a single frame. The 23-year-old strikeout artist finishes the year with an encouraging 3.82 ERA, 1.24 WHIP and 34/14 K/BB ratio across 30 2/3 innings in the majors. Tong offers enough strikeout upside that he’s an interesting late-round lottery ticket in fantasy drafts next spring, assuming that he is given a real shot at winning a rotation spot out of camp.

Early scattered one hit and needed just 34 pitches (21 strikes) to complete three frames in his Nationals debut. The -year-old’s velocity was right in line with his pre-injury levels as he averaged 93.8 mph on his four-seam fastball. It was an extremely encouraging display after missing nearly three months with elbow inflammation. The positive news for fantasy managers is that he’ll have a healthy offseason and figures to be locked into a spot in Washington’s rotation entering next season.

Soto was drilled on the right hand by a 91.7 mph sinker in the ninth inning. He’ll presumably head for X-rays to determine whether he suffered any fractures. It’s been a nightmare season for the Mets and they can’t seem to catch a break. There’s only one game left in the season, which means it wouldn’t be surprising if this is it for Soto on the year. He was 2-for-4 at the dish prior to exiting. He’s hit .278/.397/.522 with 63 runs scored, 27 homers, 68 RBI and nine steals in 110 games this season. There should be an update on his status prior to Sunday’s regular-season finale.

Meidroth receives some additional time off to rest and recover with Chicago having already punched their ticket to the postseason. The 25-year-old infielder remains out for the second straight contest due to left hamstring discomfort. It’ll be rookie Sam Antonacci moving to second base with Randal Grichuk entering the lineup in left field.

O’Hoppe is back for another chance with the Rangers after they lost Josh Jung for the rest of the year with a fractured hand. The 26-year-old backstop went 6-for-17 during a 10-game stint with the club earlier this month. He came over from the division-rival Angels in a small trade back in late July.