MLB Player News

With lefty Jordan Wicks on the bump for the Cubs, Ryan McMahon will retreat to the bench. The 28-year-old has struggled mightily against southpaws this season, hitting an atrocious .195/.369/.314 with a 32 percent strikeout rate. Alan Trejo will play third base while batting seventh in his absence.

Espinal singled in the second inning off of Anthony Kay to put the Dodgers up 2-0. It would be the only two runs the Dodgers would score on the day, as Kay and the White Sox’s bullpen held the Dodgers to just four total hits on the day while allowing only one walk. Espinal served as the Dodgers’ designated hitter on Friday with Shohei Ohtani (knee) out of the lineup. If Ohtani returns to the lineup on Saturday, Espinal will likely be returned to the bench.

Benintendi hit his seventh homer of the season off of Roki Sasaki in the first inning to give the White Sox an early 1-0 lead. It was the only homer the White Sox would manage on the evening despite an eight-run outburst that included a five-run fifth inning against Dodgers starter Roki Sasaki. Benintendi is slashing .250/.382/.571 on the month with three homers and six RBI.

This was a jaw-dropping performance. There was never a moment where Misiorowski wasn’t in complete control and was one Kyle Schwarber single away from throwing a perfect game. That inning ended with a double play so in the end, Misiorowski faced only the minimum 27 batters. He struck out eight of the first nine batters and in the first inning specifically, his fastball averaged 104 mph. Yes, 104 mph! Just completely ridiculous. It only took him 52 total pitches to reach that point too. From there, the Brewers had opened up a big lead and he was more shooting for outs rather than strikeouts, but this was still as dominant a start as we’ve seen from any pitcher in quite some time. Possibly most impressively, he mostly just leaned on that fastball. He threw it 73% of the time, it averaged 102 mph, and it forced 23 of his 25 total swings-and-misses. The final five he threw were all at least 103 mph and it looked like he had a few more scoreless innings in him if the game called for it. It’s becoming difficult not to call him the best pitcher in baseball at this point with that kind of velocity, drastically improved command, a 1.34 ERA, and a 131 to 22 strikeout to walk ratio across 96 innings this season. Misiorowski is scheduled to send the Guardians to the buzzsaw next.

Bauers crushed a three-run shot off Andrew Painter as Jacob Misiorowski decimated the Phillies on the other side. That longball was Bauers’ 13th of the season – a new career-best – along with 43 RBI and a .277/.376/.515 slash-line across 58 games in a somewhat shocking mid-career breakout.

Oftentimes, a player going 1-for-3 with a single is not notable enough to make it into these recaps. Yet, this was a special occasion because Schwarber’s fourth inning single was the only thing that wound up standing between Jacob Misiorowski and a perfect game here. Funny enough, he was immediately erased by a double play. He now has a .240 batting average and .930 OPS in another standout season.

Painter’s struggles continued here. Even as the Phillies tried to take some pressure off him by having him follow an opener, he still wasn’t even close to being effective. After mixing up his repertoire a good bit over his last few outings, he refocused on his fastball and slider and threw them a combined 77% of the time. Last time out, they combined for just 39% of his total pitches and hung around 50% for the two prior. An adjustment is something, but it didn’t lead to better results and mostly seemed due to the fact that he struggled to command anything else. Sadly, the former top prospect and his 6.43 ERA should not be trusted in any league at this time.

Kay made it through the first inning without any issue, but ran into a bit of trouble in the second inning. After walking Kyle Tucker to start the inning, Kay would then allow a double and hit Max Muncy to load the bases with no outs. Santiago Espinal would single to drive home two runs, putting the Dodgers up 2-1, but Kay would tightrope his way out of danger after that to limit the damage, and was solid the rest of the way. The lefty was in control of the strike zone all night, allowing just one walk while throwing a strike on 61.8 percent of his pitches. This was a much-needed bounce back after Kay allowed six earned runs in his previous start. Kay will hope to build on this in his next start on Thursday against the Yankees.

Sasaki retired the first two batters he faced in the game, but gave up a solo homer to Andrew Benintendi in the third at-bat of the game before retiring Colson Montgomery to end the inning. Sasaki briefly settled after allowing that first-inning homer, but the White Sox jumped all over him in the fifth inning. He faced only seven batters in the frame but allowed six of those hitters to reach base before being pulled for Blake Treinen, but Treinen would allow two inherited runners to score before eventually getting out of the inning. Sasaki entered the day allowing just four earned runs in his previous 19.1 innings pitched and hadn’t allowed more than four hits in any start over that span. He draws another tough start on Wednesday when the Dodgers play host to the Rays.

Langford was responsible for the only run the Rangers scored on the night. The outfielder doubled home Joc Pederson in the first inning in what was looking like a promising start for the Rangers, whose offense only managed three hits the rest of the evening. Langford is still working his way back from a forearm injury that sidelined him for six weeks. He’s slashing just .185/.241/.370 since returning and shouldn’t be counted for fantasy purposes at this time.

Grisham suffered the injury while rounding first base on his two-run single in the sixth inning and was immediately lifted for a pinch runner. His availability for at least the rest of the weekend should be in question. If he’s not able to go on Saturday, that could lead the Yankees to bring back Jasson Dominguez a bit earlier than anticipated from his minor league rehab assignment.