MLB Player News

The Royals entered the eighth inning trailing 1-0, but rallied against Indians’ right-hander James Karinchak. After a pair of walks to begin the inning, Maikel Franco tied the game with an RBI single. Starling then pinch-hit for Alex Gordon, lacing a single to center off of Adam Cimber to give the Royals the lead. For the season, he’s hitting .208/.259/.250 with no homers and four RBI in his first 24 at-bats.

Milbrandt was the 85th overall pick in the 2022 MLB Draft and is a top 100 prospect in baseball, according to Baseball America. The 22-year-old posted a 1.34 ERA, 1.00 WHIP, and 70/17 K/BB ratio in 47 innings at Double-A to start the season. With Robbie Snelling (elbow) now out for the season, and Thomas White struggling, Milbrandt could be an option for the Marlins towards the end of the summer if he adjusts to Triple-A quickly.

Graterol had been on the injured list as he recovers from shoulder surgery. However, his velocity dipped during his last appearance in mid-May, and now we know why. As of now, the type of surgery and his exact timeline are unclear, but he will require a months-long recovery process and is at risk of missing the entire 2026 season.

The veteran struck out four and walked two, while throwing 24 of his 41 pitches for strikes. Scherzer also sat 93.3 mph on his four-seam fastball, which is right in line with where he’s been when healthy the last few seasons. His slider got four whiffs on six swings, and was his best swing and miss pitch on the day. Overall, it was a pretty solid outing for Scherzer, who has been out since late April.

Burleson was hitting fifth against a lefty in Jordan Wicks tonight. The Cardinals first tried that on Friday after batting Burleson exclusively third and fourth previously. Burleson’s RBI in the first came on a little infield flair that dropped over the pitcher’s head but still turned into a groundout. His RBI single in the third was also pretty light; he dropped a ball down the line in shallow left that Ian Happ might have made a diving attempt on but decided against it at the last second. So, he got his runs batted in on balls hit 38 mph and 77 mph, respectively. He’s driven in 38 runs on the season, which is tied for 15th in MLB.

Liberatore allowed three hits, walked one and struck out five. That’s just half as many strikeouts as the career-high 10 he had last time out, but it is a fifth straight start with at least five strikeouts. He reached that mark just once in his first seven starts. Last year, he struck out five in 13 of his 29 starts (and went 6-4 when he did, compared to 2-10 the rest of the time). Liberatore has a 4.35 ERA and a 58/24 K/BB in 62 innings on the season. He’ll face the Reds next weekend.

Dobbins, who was called up in the afternoon, came into a 5-0 game in the sixth and threw 61 pitches to finish it, allowing only an Alex Bregman homer along the way. That’s the good news. The bad is that because he threw 61 pitches, he’s probably looking at being swapped out for a fresh arm on Monday.

The Cubs have Monday off, so there were aggressive in going to the bullpen tonight. Wicks gave up three straight singles to start the game in a two-run first. He followed with a perfect second, but as soon as he allowed an infield single to JJ Wetherholt to begin the third, he was lifted. Wicks has a 15.63 ERA in his two starts, and it’s unclear if he’ll stick around after this. Edward Cabrera will be eligible to come off the IL on Friday and could be ready to step into the rotation in Wicks’ place.

Bregman thought he had a homer around the left field foul pole Saturday, but he lost it on a replay review. Tonight’s was another solo shot, as all five of his homers this season have been. He’s batting .287/.360/.459 with the bases empty, .231/.321/.265 with runners on and .203/.288/.219 with RISP.

Waldrep is returning from surgery to remove loose bodies from his elbow. If all goes well on his rehab assignment, he could join the Braves rotation in about a month. However, it’s not guaranteed that there will be room for him.

Kevin Barral of Fish on First is reporting that the Marlins are calling up Zach Brzykcy to join the pen. It seems likely that Ekness landing on the IL will be the countermove.