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Watson allowed just three hits and one walk. That makes back-to-back quality starts for the 21-year-old, as he’s given just just the one run over his last 13 innings. Acquired from the Nationals for Brandon Kintzler; Watson has two above-average pitches in a mid 90s fastball and curveball, and the change has made just enough progress to project him as a starter. There’s a chance he could move to the bullpen, however, and that might be his best role at the highest level.

This wound up being a strange situation because Tigers manager A.J. Hinch opted to use closer Kenley Jansen against the heart of Cleveland’s lineup to protect a one-run lead in the eighth inning before giving the ball to Vest to face the bottom of the order. That gambit backfired as Vest surrendered back-to-back singles to Daniel Schneemann and Travis Bazzana before Patrick Bailey delivered a game-tying ground out a couple batters later. He managed to strike out Brayan Rocchio to preserve a tie ballgame, but the damage was already done. Cleveland went on to score a couple runs in extra-innings and close out a comeback win.

Bibee carried a shutout into the seventh inning before Detroit pulled ahead of a sacrifice fly from Matt Vierling following a leadoff walk by Kevin McGonigle and a single from Riley Greene. He finished with four strikeouts and allowed just five baserunners, needing 104 pitches (67 strikes) to navigate eight frames in his longest outing of the year. He’s been relatively consistent this season, allowing three earned runs or fewer in nine of his 11 starts so far. He’ll face the Nationals on Monday in his next outing to kick off a two-start week.

Anderson went exactly two times through Cleveland’s lineup, throwing 38 of 63 pitches for strikes, and allowing just four baserunners. He generated an impressive 10 swinging strikes and finished with a strong 33 percent CSW. He consistently challenged the Guardians with high fastballs in two-strike counts, resulting in five of his seven punchouts. Not bad for a journeyman pitcher making his first start in the big leagues since August 7, 2021. It seems highly unlikely he’ll get another turn in Detroit’s rotation, especially with Troy Melton (elbow) seemingly ready to return from the injured list, but he took advantage of his opportunity in this one.

Abrams gave rookie Zach Thornton a taste of big league life in his debut with a loud three-run homer in the first inning. A strange but true stat courtesy of the Nationals’ TV booth, this was the fourth time Abrams hit a home run off a pitcher making their major league debut. Even more surreal, it was the third time he did so in the first inning! He chipped in another base hit to start the Nationals’ sixth inning rally and continued what appears to be a major breakout campaign for the 25-year-old shortstop. In total, he’s up 10 home runs with 42 RBI, seven stolen bases, a .300 batting average, and a .928 OPS. Those are star numbers as we’re nearly through one third of the season.

This was a quintessential Zack Littell game. He was around the strike zone and the Mets hitters were aggressive, yet unable to do much damage. Of the 20 total batters he faced, 10 swung at the first pitch they saw and only three took a first pitch strike. Nevertheless, Littell pitched well enough to put himself in position for a win and now has a 23:15 strikeouts to walk ratio with a 5.83 ERA through 46 1/3 innings so far this season. He’s scheduled for a two-start week coming up against the Guardians and Padres.

On the eve of the anniversary of his first career home run, Soto chipped in two here against his original club. He hadn’t hit for a ton of power in the first few weeks after returning from his early season trip to the injured list, but now has five long balls over his past seven games. That gives him nine total on the season to go along with a .299 batting average and .951 OPS.

It was impressive to see how Thornton settled in during his big league debut. CJ Abrams greeted him rudely with a three-run home run in the first inning on a cutter that didn’t do much cutting. The Nationals scratched across another run in the second after Thornton walked Nasim Nuñez who then stole second base, advanced to third on an error, and scored on a hit by Keibert Ruiz. After that, he retired eight consecutive batters until Ruiz came up again and doubled. Thornton leans on his cutter – which has been tagged as a slider in some places – that he mostly spotted well running in on right-handed batters along with his fastball. On the other hand, he didn’t really have a put-away pitch so the Nationals were able to really zero-in on that cutter. If he sticks in the Mets rotation for another turn, he’d likely face the Reds at home next week.

Nimmo added that his exit from Wednesday’s series finale at Coors Field was precautionary in nature and that he felt like he could still play even though his hamstring wasn’t 100 percent. It sounds like he’ll be ready to roll after getting extra rest during Thursday’s off-day. Fantasy managers should consider him day-to-day.

Hoglund figures to be ready for the start of spring training after undergoing surgery to address a labrum tear in his left hip. It’s his second hip surgery in the last calendar year. The 26-year-old hit the injured list with a knee sprain back in early April and hasn’t pitched for the Athletics since last May.

Cabrera drew a visit from Chicago’s training staff, and immediately left the contest, after throwing just one pitch at the outset of the fourth inning. The 28-year-old was charged with four runs (one earned) with two strikeouts and two walks over three innings of work. There should be an update on his status after the contest. He’s tentatively scheduled to start against the Pirates on Tuesday, but that’s obviously in jeopardy now.