MLB Player News

Carpenter plated the Tigers’ second run of the day with an RBI ground out off of left-hander Kenny Rosenberg in the third inning. The 26-year-old is enjoying a terrific season in the middle of the Tigers’ lineup — slashing .288/.346/.495 with 20 homers, 63 RBI and five stolen bases across 407 plate appearances.

Suárez broke a scoreless tie in the fourth inning with a two-run double off of Twins’ right-hander Joe Ryan. That would be the extent of the scoring for the Reds in the ballgame, but that’s all Brandon Williamson and company would require. Suárez is off to a nice start in his return to the Reds this season, slashing .257/.333/.414 with three homers and 11 RBI.

Arenado’s homer off Eric Lauer left his bat at 107.5 mph, a nearly four-mph improvement on his season high. Since the beginning of 2024, he’d hit just two balls harder than that, topping out at 108.3 mph. Arenado now has three homers this week, but his EV numbers are still down from last year and he’s striking out twice as often as he did last season (23 percent vs. 11 percent). There still isn’t much reason to pick him up in mixed leagues.

Soroka walked none. He had only seven whiffs on 54 swings and a 20 percent CSW, but a .200 BABIP carried him tonight. That’s the opposite of how his previous starts had gone, as he entered tonight with a 34 percent strikeout rate but a .353 BABIP. Soroka is now 4-0 with a 2.78 ERA. It still doesn’t seem likely that he’ll provide much long-term value in mixed leagues, but there’s little harm in riding him for now, especially since he’ll probably make his next start against the White Sox.

Sewald has faced the minimum in three straight appearances, all of which resulted in saves. The home run ball might lead to his downfall at some point, but he’s MLB saves leader right now.

Lauer had better velocity tonight, with his fastball climbing 1.3 mph from his season mark of 90.2 mph. Still, he gave up a homer in his third inning of work and two runs on a walk and three singles in his fourth inning. He’s 1-3 with a 7.13 ERA, and he’s probably looking at getting bumped back to middle relief at the end of this month or in early May. First, he figures to start or again work behind an opener Wednesday against the Angels.

The 22-year-old phenom reached base on an error in the fourth inning, swiped second base and raced home to score on Eugenio Suarez’s two-run double. He has been an absolute monster for fantasy purposes so far, slashing .300/.405/.657 with seven homers, 14 runs scored, 17 RBI and four swipes in his first 84 plate appearances.

Cruz has done it again. His sixth inning home run vaulted the Pirates ahead and they never looked back. It was ridiculous to watch how he hit it out too. Cruz stuck with a back-door sweeper from Griffin Jax that would’ve landed perfectly on the low-and-outside corner. Instead, he extended his long arms to yank it over the tall right field wall at PNC Park. His bottom hand even flew off the handle and altogether it looked like the type of swing you’d see in a slow-pitch softball league. Instead, it had an 84 mph swing speed and he turned the game upside down with it. This was his sixth home run so far this season along with 19 RBI, nine stolen bases, and a .313/.382/.588 slash line. To this point, he’s been arguably the most productive offensive player in the whole league.

This is much closer to the version of Chandler we expected this season. Finally, he reigned in his electric fastball and was able to spot it at the letters. Overall, it had a 64% strike rate which was its highest mark in any of his four starts so far this season. He also threw his sweeper 23% of the time here. That doesn’t seem like much, but his last start was the first time he’d ever used it in a major league game. It seemed like a new pitch with its erratic command despite him breaking off a few nice ones too. All in all, this was an encouraging start for the electric young right-hander who’s scheduled to face the Rangers next time out.

Pagan hadn’t pitched since Tuesday due to a tight hamstring, but didn’t show any signs of rust on Friday. Tasked with protecting a one-run lead he retired the Twins in order — including a punchout of Tristan Gray. On the season, the 34-year-old hurler now holds a 4.35 ERA, 1.16 WHIP and a 10/6 K/BB ratio over 10 1/3 innings while converting six of his first seven save chances.

The Rays’ six-game win streak came to a close here as they failed to generate any type of offense. Caminero did his part with a run-scoring single in the sixth inning to knot this game up at one. That makes it three straight games for him with an RBI and seven straight where he’s reached base. He was a bit cold for the first two weeks of the season, but is heating up at the moment.