MLB Player News

Cole has been outrighted before, so he can elect free agency if he wants. He had been out since early June with neck and oblique injuries.

With first place on the line in the American League west, the Astros came ready to hit. Paredes was at the center of that with a big home run to stretch their lead out in the fifth inning and another run-scoring hit in the seventh when the rout was on. That homer was his 15th of the season and five of which have come in his last 26 games.

Minnesota also got solo shots from Royce Lewis and Ryan Jeffers. At 97.1 mph off the bat, Lee’s homer fell a little short of qualifying as a barrel, but that’s not unusual for him. In fact, he has just 12 barrels despite collecting 16 homers this year. His exit velocity numbers suggest he should be doing quite a bit worse than his current .244/.302/.423 line, but the Twins don’t need anyone telling him that.

Matthews succeeded at getting ahead in the count against a subpar offense and picked up four strikeouts with his fastball, three with his slider and two with his cutter. It’s his first ever 10-strikeout game after a pair of nine-K outings as a rookie last year. His previous high this year had been seven. Matthews might have another generous start coming up against the Royals, depending on how exactly the Twins choose to insert Dean Kremer into the mix. It’s possible Matthews will lose his spot and return to Triple-A for a spell.

Gómez had some of his best velocity of the year tonight, topping out at 97.7 mph, which probably helped him get around walking a couple of batters in the ninth. His month of July saw him pick up two wins and five saves while allowing two runs in 10 1/3 innings. He’s no lock to remain useful going forward, but he’s been plenty valuable in mixed leagues of late.

An unhappy Miller departed up 3-2 after retiring Ryan Jeffers to start the sixth, but the lead was blown an inning later. Miller averaged 95.7 mph with his fastball on six days’ rest tonight. It’s the fifth straight outing in which he’s been in 95.0-.95.8 mph range after never coming in below 96.0 mph in his first eight starts. He’s still a reasonable enough bet to be useful in mixed leagues going forward, but the new ceiling he seemed to be demonstrating a couple of months ago is largely gone now. He’ll face the Rays next.

This was another strong start for Brown. He faced very little trouble before the sixth inning when Joc Pederson got him for a home run before another double and single. Brown was pulled with runners on second and third and two outs with one of those came home to score after he’d departed. Still, he showed excellent command of his sinker and broke off a few great sliders when he needed them on a night where his knuckle-curve was a bit erratic. He’s moving in the right direction and is scheduled to face the Blue Jays at home next time out.

If the Mariners want to get back to the postseason, bringing in a short-term upgrade from the 21-year-old Emerson really ought to be a priority. Emerson will be a fine enough regular in time, but he’s hitting .191/.252/.346 through 207 plate appearances and not making up for it with quality defense.

This was Seager’s first game off the injured list following a month-long bout with lower back inflammation. He showed no signs of rust when he smacked a single in his first plate appearance and smoked a double that nearly left the yard later on. His .189 batting average and .681 OPS so far this season are sure to rise as long as he stays on the field.

Eovaldi got shelled here, no two ways about it. The Astros rallied for three runs in the second inning on four hits and four-hard hit balls. He allowed 12 hard-hit balls in total and most weren’t cheapies either with seven of them being hit at least 104 mph. Eovaldi didn’t have the best feel for his splitter and without it, was playing catch-up most of the night. Also, he let two of those splitters sit in the heart of the plate in his fifth and final inning for Isaac Paredes and Christian Walker to launch back to back homers. Eovaldi now has an ugly 4.31 ERA across 127 1/3 innings this season and is scheduled to face the Giants at home next time out.

Manager Chad Tracy indicated that he was encouraged by the initial tests, so Contreras hasn’t been ruled out for Saturday’s game just yet. If he can’t play, then it will lead to a start for either Nick Sogard or Romy Gonzalez.