MLB Player News

It would have been seven scoreless innings if only Wheeler had busted it to first on Jake Burger’s infield single in the seventh. In truth, he shouldn’t have needed to. However, Bryce Harper, still inexperienced at first base, ranged too far off first on what was an easy play for Bryson Stott at second and was in no position to get back to the bag. That one play aside, Wheeler was outstanding. He walked none, and all five hits he allowed were singles. The Phillies will try to end the Marlins’ season when Aaron Nola and Braxton Garrett face off on Wednesday.

It seems the quick turnaround of the day game following a night game is playing a role here. It’s unclear who will DH in Ohtani’s place, but Max Muncy could be a possibility with Tommy Edman slated to play third.

Larnach’s fourth career four-hit game pushed him up to .264/.368/.396 for the season, but while that’s really pretty good, he hasn’t at all enhanced his stock with a 30 percent hard-hit rate that is barely two-thirds of his career average, His bat speed is down, and he’s managed just four homers in 212 plate appearances. He’s been fine for the Twins in the process, but it hasn’t been in the kind of way that is going to make him more attractive to his current team or to other potential suitors in 2027.

Matthews had a 10-0 lead through 3 1/2 innings, and he managed to keep this one uninteresting despite giving up eight hits and nine hard-hit balls. It’s his fifth quality start in seven tries since getting the call last month. Unfortunately, he was lit up for seven runs in both of his other outings, leaving him with a 4.78 ERA. He’s not a great option in shallow leagues at this point, but those hunting wins could try him in his two home starts next week. The first will come against the Dodgers, but at least it’ll be Eric Lauer opposing him, and he’ll get the Rockies in his second start.

Rocker has been taking advantage of the pitcher friendly conditions at Globe Life Field this season, but they didn’t help much tonight. He gave up a pair of homers, the first leading off the game from Trevor Larnach and the second, from Kody Clemens, following a single and a walk to open the third. His home ERA jumped from 3.02 to 4.00, putting him at 4.17 overall. He needs to miss more bats in order to get over the hump and become something more than No. 5 starter. It doesn’t help that his average fastball has dropped from 95.8 mph last year to 94.4 mph this season.

Clemens’ homer to right off Kumar Rocker in the third was a 367-footer that would have departed 19 of 30 ballparks. A lifetime .206/.263/.403 hitter coming into the season, he’s at .251/.318/.493 right now, and it seems mostly deserved, what with his strikeout rate being down to 22 percent.

McCarthy has managed to hit .290/.332/.448 for the Rockies, with Coors Field playing a big role; he has an .877 OPS at home and a .696 OPS on the road. The Rockies shouldn’t wait until the trade deadline to move him if anyone is willing to offer up a decent prospect, but it remains to be seen how aggressive they’ll be there. They already probably missed out on the high point of Antonio Senzatela’s trade value.

Feltner was pulled one out shy of qualifying for a win in a 5-2 game, a move that’ll probably save the Rockies somewhere in the neighborhood of $100,000 when it comes to determining his salary in arbitration over the winter. Feltner is 2-2 with a 5.05 ERA through nine starts, making him something close to a league-average pitcher as a Coors Field starter. He’ll likely face the Red Sox in Denver next week.

Hill’s first save came in his 30th appearance of 2026 and 67th appearance since debuting with the Rockies in 2024. The 26-year-old has a 4.97 ERA and a 27/17 K/BB in 25 1/3 innings this year. He’s the seventh Rockies reliever to pick up a save this year. Victor Vodnik still leads the team with four.

As much of a disaster as Dansby Swanson has been offensively, Hoerner has been just as bad for about eight weeks now. In 46 games since Apr. 22, he’s hit .202/.283/.246 with 11 runs scored and 11 RBI in 205 plate appearances. He’s actually struck out only nine times during the entire stretch, but just putting the ball in play doesn’t necessarily mean good things are going to happen (sorry, baseball commentators). Statcast thinks Hoerner has been pretty unlucky, but his EV numbers are all worse than usual and defenses are taking away some of his singles because they’re just not too worried about him hitting the ball over the heads of outfielders. He’s going to have to swing with a little more authority if he wants to keep defenses honest.

Baserunners, let alone runs, were at a premium in Tuesday’s pitcher’s duel between the Dodgers and Rays. Ohtani came through for Los Angeles in the sixth inning with a solo homer off Drew Rasmussen. That would prove to be the winning run in the 1-0 affair. The 31-year-old star is up to 15 homers, 51 runs, and 42 RBI while slashing .297/.419/.547 across 317 plate appearances.