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He drove in three runs as the Flying Tigers outslugged Brevard County by an 8-5 margin. Verlander set a career-high with four doubles while lifting his season average to .245. He had never doubled more than twice in a game before Tuesday’s outburst. The four-hit effort helped Verlander break out of a 4-for-33 rut. The 24-year-old is the younger brother of former AL MVP and Cy Young winner Justin Verlander.

As you can imagine, Leiter’s command was not the best in this one, throwing just 55 percent of his pitches for strikes. However, he also induced 12 whiffs with a 12 percent swinging strike rate and was efficient in two-strike counts with a 57 percent PutAway Rate. It wasn’t a crisp outing, but Leiter made the pitches that he needed to in order to get out of trouble and showcased the ability of a strong fantasy starter. The command just really needs to be cleaned up. He’s a risky option next week against the Astros.

Holmes was once again solid while throwing a season-high 103 pitches, but a two-out rally from Arizona in the third inning (which consisted of three singles and a walk) was enough to do him in. He struck out six and walked a pair in the loss. Holmes is now 4-3 on the year despite a stingy 1.86 ERA. He hasn’t allowed more than two earned runs in any of his eight starts. He’ll look for more run support in the series opener against the Yankees on Friday.

It was a clean inning, but Mark Vientos just missed hitting a game-tying homer, as it died on the warning track in center field for the second out. Sewald struck out Carson Benge swinging to end it while notching his first save since April 17. The 35-year-old has four straight scoreless outings under his belt, and now holds a 3.29 ERA on the year. It was a big night for Merrill Kelly and an important win for the Diamondbacks, who had lost seven out of their last eight coming in.

This line is a weird one. Cabrera allowed five runs on seven hits, two of which were home runs. That’s all very much earned. However, he also struck out six and walked just one. He also had 13 whiffs, a 15 percent swinging strike rate, a 30 percent CSW, and threw 66 percent of his pitches for strikes. So, Cabrera threw tons of strikes, missed plenty of bats, put away hitters when he got into two-strike counts, but also seemed to give up hard contact whenever he did give up contact. One other thing to note here is that Cabrera’s sinker was 97 mph in the first inning and then down to 94.3 mph by the fifth inning. That’s a bit of a larger drop-off than we’re used to seeing. We’d still start him next week against the White Sox.

Vargas poked one through the left side to put the D-Backs ahead in the third inning. He’s hit safely in three straight since the 27-game streak came to an end on Wednesday. With a .350 batting average, the 34-year-old has been one of the best stories in baseball so far this season. He’s already knocked in 24 runs, which puts him seven shy of his career-high, which came with the Nationals in 2023. The hot streak might not last, but we’re guessing he’s going to blow that number out of the water.

Baty’s second-inning double brought in the only run of the game for New York. Much like a few members of the Mets’ lineup, the 26-year-old has been a massive disappointment at the plate this season with a weak .207/.274/.306 batting line through 36 games. He has just one homer on the season, and that was 22 games ago. He doesn’t belong in most fantasy lineups right now.

Witt got the game started with a liner down to the right field line in the first that was misplayed off the side wall by Kerry Carpenter, who wound up getting hurt on the play. It was his fifth home run of the season and 19th RBI. It continues a strong May for Witt, who is 12-for-37 (.324) since May 1st with three home runs, four RBI, and two steals.

Massey seems to have emerged as the starting second baseman for the Royals against right-handed pitching now that Jonathan India (shoulder) is out after surgery for a torn labrum. Massey isn’t having a tremendous season, slashing .233/.256/.452, but he has three home runs and 12 RBI in 27 games and is going to get regular playing time. That could make him an option in deeper formats.

Madden also struck out five and walked two while posting a 29 percent CSW and a 60 percent strike rate overall. Madden was really efficient in two-strike counts, thanks to a slider and cutter combination that each had a 17 percent swinging strike rate to right-handers. Interestingly, his slider was over two mph slower than his last outing, with almost three inches more drop. The pitch was really effective today, so perhaps some tweaks are happening here. All of the damage against Madden came in one inning when he allowed a single, a walk, and a three-run home run. We would still be really cautious with him next week against the Blue Jays.

As is typical, Wacha didn’t have a lot of whiffs in this one, with just a five percent swinging strike rate, but he made the most of the two-strike counts he got into and induced plenty of weak contact on the day. His changeup got tons of called strikes, and the veteran will now take a 2.63 ERA into an appealing matchup against the Cardinals next week