MLB Player News

The right-hander struck out four batters on the afternoon while issuing a pair of walks. All of the damage done against him came in the third inning, on a two-run double by Spencer Torkelson and an RBI single off the bat of Andre Lipcius. Scholtens got eight swings and misses on 95 pitches on the afternoon, registering a CSW of 26 percent. He’ll carry am underwhelming 4.44 ERA, 1.42 WHIP and 52/25 K/BB ratio (79 innings) into Friday’s matchup against the Twins.

Norby has been struggling at the plate lately, so giving him a night off to clear his head isn’t the worst idea. It’s also beneficial that he won’t have to face Zack Wheeler. Christopher Morel will start in his place at first base and will bat eighth for the Marlins on Friday evening.

Astros’ manager Joe Espada spoke to the 27-year-old hurler on Thursday and noted that he felt good coming out of his last rehab starts despite the poor results on the field. It sounds like we’re still probably at least a week away from Imai potentially rejoining the Astros’ rotation.

Not exactly a banner start for Gallen, though it’s his first real blowup since April. Perhaps the shoulder contusion he suffered in his last appearance was bothering him. He managed just five whiffs on 42 swings and gave up eight hard-hit balls. His defense didn’t help him as Ildemaro Vargas let a Carson Kelly pop up drop in the first that led to a third run. Jorge Barrosa allowed an Alex Bregman liner to skip past him to score a few more in the fourth inning. It’s hard to feel confident about starting Gallen in fantasy leagues right now between the lack of strikeouts and the defense behind him. He’ll take on the Pirates next week.

Back on form after a rough outing against the Dodgers, Rea effectively dazzled the Diamondbacks, missing a quality start only because of an elevated pitch count. Rea managed a sizzling 16 whiffs on 54 swings, but the Diamondbacks did get 12 hard-hit balls against him. The Cubs bullpen immediately put Rea’s win in jeopardy by allowing a three-run homer to Geraldo Perdomo, but hung on. Rea’s in line to start again against the Reds in Wrigley next week and should be a viable-if-unexciting streamer for that one.

He also walked in his final at-bat, and somehow managed only one RBI and zero runs scored despite reaching base every single at-bat. Vargas is hitting .404 with a 1.131 OPS, as everyone suspected would happen before the season. Fantasy managers are advised to keep riding the hot streak and understand that this is likely just a prolonged heater, not a new norm, for Vargas. It’s still a lot of fun.

Busch opened scoring with a two-run single with the bases loaded to make it 2-0, then added a hard-hit double later on. Busch has been struggling this year, so this game at least gets him over the Mendoza line at .203/.301/.297. Fantasy managers in deeper leagues should stick with him for now, but his expected batting average of .204 is rough — he’s simply not barreling the ball enough yet.

At that point, his 30-day rehab window will come to a close and they’ll either have to activate him or option him to Triple-A Scranton Wilkes-Barre. It sounds like he’s just about ready to go, so the Yankees have a couple of days to figure out how to reconfigure their roster to get him activated for Monday’s series finale against the Orioles.

He walked Ildemaro Vargas at the start of the ninth, but struck out Corbin Carroll and quickly got through Gabriel Moreno and Ketel Marte to lock down the save. It was a bit surprising to not see Phil Maton summoned for the ninth on two days rest, but it’s hard to argue with the result. The Cubs closer situation should be resolved soon when Daniel Palencia returns from the injured list.

Well that was a short stay for Wagaman, who heads back to Triple-A Syracuse after joining the Mets for Thursday’s contest against the Nationals. He did not make an appearance in that game. Andy Ibáñez, who was claimed off of waivers from the Athletics on Thursday, will take his spot on the Mets’ active roster.

That explains why Vest hasn’t appeared in a game since Sunday. It doesn’t sound like there are any plans to move him to the injured list at this time, so expect him to return at some point during their weekend series against the Rangers.