MLB Player News

Nootbaar left Wednesday’s game after fouling a pitch off of his groin, so the Cardinals will mercifully give him a day off on Thursday. The 25-year-old outfielder expressed optimism to reporters that he’ll be ready to return to the lineup in a few days.

This was a good old fashioned pitchers duel with the teams knotted at zero entering the sixth innings and then going into extras tied 1-1. It took a bloop single from Winn with two outs and a runner on third in the 11th innings to finally put it to bed. That was only Winn’s first run batted in of the season hitting out of his new home in the clean-up spot. It feels like the power may never come for him but he’ll certainly have plenty more run scoring opportunities in front of him this season should he stick there in the order.

Liberatore took a no-hitter into the fifth inning before Mark Vientos laced a two-out double down the line. He put out that fire, but allowed Juan Soto to break the 0-0 tie the following inning with a solo home run. Still, Liberatore mixed his deep repertoire well to keep the Mets’ talented lineup off-balance all afternoon. He’s scheduled to face the Nationals next time out.

As the Mets offense has had a quiet start to the season, Soto just keeps producing. This was his first home run of the campaign and it was a strange shot with a 42° launch angle and barely wedged itself inside the right field foul pole. Francisco Lindor was picked off first base just before the blast, so this should have been a two-homer. Alas, Soto is inevitable.

Freeman was serving as a pinch-hitter in his first game after being activated from the IL this morning. Unfortunately for Freeman, Mickey Moniak, who, like Freeman, figures to primarily play right field and DH, is also due to come off the injured list before the end of the week. Freeman will play against lefties, but he might not see a lot of time against righties unless he can convince the Rockies to use him a second. It would seem to be worth a try for the club, since Freeman is probably the best OBP guy on the club.

Freeland left down 1-0, but the Rockies came back to win in 10. He has a 2.89 ERA through two starts, both of them on the road. He’ll make his season debut at homer against the Astros on Tuesday.

He retired George Springer, Nathan Lukes and Vladimir Guerrero Jr. with a one-run lead in the 10th. Herget was hoping for a chance to return to the rotation this spring after an excellent year out of the pen in 2025, but it didn’t materialize after the Rockies spent most of their money on veteran starters. While he doesn’t figure to close often, he’ll probably be put on pace to throw about as many innings as any reliever in the league.

Gausman finally gets his first Opening Day start and now he’s 0-0 with a 0.75 ERA after two outings because he keeps getting matched up with aces like Luis Severino and Kyle Freeland. Well, OK, actually it’s that the bullpen has blown leads for him both games, but they were only one-run leads, because he was matched up with aces like Luis Severino and Kyle Freeland. He’s due to get another ace next week against the Dodgers, this one by the name of Yoshinobu Yamamoto.

Castro is one of the five Rockies to start all six games so far and has even hit third every game, but he hasn’t done much in opening up 3-for-23 with an 8/2 K/BB. He might deserve to be a regular on a bad Rockies team, but he doesn’t need to bat third every game with his career .312 OBP.

The one run on Peralta’s ledger came after he left the game when Huascar Brazobán allowed an inherited runner to score with two outs in the sixth inning. Regardless, Peralta was sharp here. The only trouble he ran into came in the fifth inning when he wriggled out of a jam after putting runners on second and third with no outs. He threw far more changeups in this start against the Cardinals left-handed heavy lineup compared to Opening Day when he featured his slider more. He played that pitch off his fastball beautifully and they combined to force 13 of his 15 swings-and-misses. His next start is scheduled to come at home against the Diamondbacks on Tuesday.

Guardians manager Stephen Vogt told reporters that DeLauter was set to receive the day off regardless before he suffered a left foot contusion during Tuesday’s showdown at Dodger Stadium. The positive news for Cleveland and fantasy managers alike is that initial X-rays came back negative for any fractures. The 24-year-old rookie sensation will be re-evaluated prior to Friday’s series opener against the Cubs to determine whether he’ll need some additional time off. Fantasy managers should consider him day-to-day for now. It’ll be Angel Martínez taking over in right field on Wednesday night in his absence.