MLB Player News

Welcome news for the Twins, as Lewis has been sidelined since September 19 when he suffered a left hamstring strain. The 24-year-old was just named the Rookie of the Month for his monster September in which he hit .313 AVG with six home runs and 23 RBI. He has a chance to make a huge impact for a Twins team which hasn’t won a postseason game since 2004. The full Twins lineup against Kevin Gausman: Edouard Julien 2B, Jorge Polanco 3B, Lewis DH, Max Kepler RF, Alex Kirilloff 1B, Carlos Correa SS, Ryan Jeffers C, Matt Wallner LF, Michael A. Taylor CF. Pablo López will make the start for Minnesota.

Milwaukee scored single runs in the first, second and third innings and then never mustered another. The A’s came back with an Alika Williams homer in the sixth and homers from Carlos Cortes and Butler in the seventh to prevail. Butler’s homer was his fourth of the season. He was starting for just the fifth time in 22 games, as the A’s are mostly using Henry Bolte and Carlos Cortes over him in the outfield against righties. However, they had room for all three tonight with Brent Rooker hurting. Butler is batting .165/.251/.256 in 183 plate appearances. There’s still reason to think he’ll go back to being useful as a platoon guy against righties, but first he needs to show the A’s that he’s better than the alternatives. It’s not clear that he is.

Gary Sánchez and Jackson Chourio homered off Perkins, who hasn’t pitched very well in either start since being added to the A’s rotation last week. It seems likely that he’ll remain a starter after Kade Morris was sent down Wednesday, but he’s only of interest for fantasy purposes as a reliever. He’ll likely face the Pirates next week.

Alvarado retired Christian Yelich, Jackson Chourio and Brice Turang to become the eighth A’s reliever to earn a save this season. He’s pitched 4 1/3 scoreless innings with nine strikeouts since being recalled from Las Vegas five days ago. Alvarado made the A’s out of spring training, only to be sent down with an 8.78 ERA after 10 appearances. Consider him part of the saves mix now, but if we were going to roster an A’s reliever, Hogan Harris is still the one we’d choose.

Sproat has struggled almost everywhere else, but he was able to handle the A’s in Vegas, giving up just four hits and a walk tonight. It’s only the second time this season that he’s completed six innings, and he lowered his ERA from 6.17 to 5.70. He’ll likely make his next start Tuesday or Wednesday against the Guardians.

Vaughn, who started at first, played one inning at third base after the Brewers made a few moves in the eighth. It was his third ever appearance at the position, with the other two both coming in 2021. We wouldn’t expect to see much more of Vaughn at third, but the Brewers have got to start playing him regularly. His OPS is up to .980, yet he’s started only six of the team’s last 13 games against right-handers.

Rumfield’s blast gave the Rockies a 2-1 lead which they promptly blew in the top of the ninth. However, they came back in the bottom of the ninth to win the game on Sterlin Thompson’s pinch-hit single. Rumfield’s homer was his eighth of the year, and he also had a single tonight. His .269/.349/.426 line is plenty solid, but his 14th-percentile bat speed and fifth-percentile average exit velocity don’t really bode well for him becoming a long-term option for the Rockies. He has value in 12- and 14-team leagues at the moment, but the team shouldn’t hesitate to have him step aside when it’s time to give Charlie Condon a look.

Lorenzen topped his previous high in strikeouts by two. He entered the night with a 9.84 ERA in his previous seven starts, but the Cubs’ slump is just so deep that it didn’t matter much. Lorenzen will have a chance to feast again next week at Wrigley Field.

Ian Happ hit the homer that led to Senzatela’s third blown save. The former starter is now 6-0, however. That’s more victories than he had in 28 starts in 2021 (4-10), 19 starts in 2022 (3-7) or in 28 starts from 2023-25 (4-17).

Unlike last time out, the Cubs didn’t wait for Imanaga to have a misstep before lifting him tonight. He exited with a 1-0 lead after 90 pitches, but he was left with a no-decision after Jacob Webb gave up two runs in the eighth. Imanaga allowed just one hard-hit ball, a 98-mph groundout, and got five popouts tonight. He’ll face the Rockies again, this time at Wrigley, next Monday.

A walk and two singles got Palencia charged with a loss after he entered a 2-2 game tonight. It was the fourth straight game in which Palencia was brought into a tie. He last had a save situation on May 14, and the only time he’s pitched with a lead since then was on May 30, when he finished off a 6-1 game.