MLB Player News

The Pirates designated Osuna for assignment last week, and he’s found a new home relatively quickly. The 27-year-old hit just .205/.244/.397 last year with four homers and a 16/4 K/BB ratio in 82 plate appearances. The year before, however, Osuna hit 10 homers with a .756 OPS in 95 games. If Osuna hits well in Japan, it certainly seems likely that he could be back in an MLB role in a year or two.

Bazzana’s second big-league homer came off Keider Montero in the fourth inning. He’s up to .299/.427/.400 with as many walks as strikeouts (13) in 19 games since his callup. The Guardians don’t want to put too much pressure on him, but he’d seem to belong in the leadoff spot against righties. He’s yet to bat higher than fifth to date.

The two earned runs came on a walk and a Spencer Torkelson homer in the second. The other run occurred when Austin Hedges tried to pick a runner off first with two on in the fourth. He would have had the runner, but the throw got past Kyle Manzardo, allowing Riley Greene to score from second. Messick escaped the jam from there and eventually left a 3-3 game. If not for the attempted pickoff, there’s a good he would have earned the win, as the Guardians eventually prevailed 4-3. Instead, Messick remains 5-1 with a 2.45 ERA ahead of a start Sunday against the Phillies.

Matt Vierling and Kevin McGonigle singled off him, but the Tigers couldn’t complete the rally from there. Smith has a 17/1 K/BB while allowing one run in 8 2/3 innings this month. His last 10 appearances have all concluded with saves.

Montero allowed just two hits, but he issued four walks, a couple of which played roles in scoring runs. In the second, he allowed a run on a leadoff single, a walk, a sac bunt and a sac fly. In the fourth, he gave up a two-run homer to Travis Bazzana after walking Kyle Manzardo. Montero’s ERA now stands at 3.83 through nine starts. He’s due to take on the Orioles in Baltimore on Sunday.

Torkelson’s homer off Parker Messick accounted for two-thirds of the Tigers’ runs tonight. It was his first homer against a lefty in 36 at-bats this season. He’s batting .194 against both lefties and righties, though he does have a far better OBP (.370 to .289) with the platoon advantage.

Doyle appeared to be shaken up after diving to attempt to take a double away from Ezequiel Duran in the first inning. He was replaced by Tyler Freeman with Jake McCarthy moving over the center field. There should be an update on his status following the game.

It was Yandy Dìaz, who finished 2-for-3 with a solo homer and two RBI, that did the heavy lifting for Tampa Bay before leaving the contest after being hit by a pitch in the eighth inning. Palacios added a key insurance run with two outs in the eighth when he drilled an RBI double to right field off lights-out reliever Rico Garcia that somehow managed to drop out of Colton Cowser’s glove as he collided with the wall. The versatile 29-year-old should continue seeing time at second base with Ben Williamson (back) out of the lineup.

Ward took Tampa Bay starter Griffin Jax deep to left field to open the contest. It was his first round-tripper since April 19. It also wound up being Baltimore’s lone run of the contest as Jax and four relievers combined on an three-hit shutout the rest of the way.

Holliday struck out and flew out in a pair of at-bats before being lifted for pinch-hitter Jeremiah Jackson to face lefty reliever Ian Seymour in the eighth inning of his season debut. The 22-year-old second baseman is going to need some time to get back up to speed after spending nearly two months of the shelf at the start of the year recovering from a hamate fracture.

Baker got the call to protect a three-run lead against the heart of Baltimore’s order and needed just 10 pitchs to slam the door on his former team. He coaxed harmless fly outs from Gunnar Henderson and Adley Rutschman before striking out Pete Alonso to secure the save. He’s converted 13 of 16 save opportunities to go along with a stellar 2.66 ERA, 1.03 WHIP and 24/8 K/BB ratio across 20 1/3 innings.