MLB Player News

The 28-year-old is expected to head to Triple-A and replace Jackson Quero who is currently sidelined due to injury. Mejía spent the spring with the Rays as a non-roster invitee, but couldn’t make the Opening Day roster. He was once a top prospect in baseball, but he hasn’t put it all together, especially offensively where he slashed .227/.258/.400 across 160 plate appearances last season with Tampa Bay.

It’s time to take notice of Cortes. His first inning home run was part of the three-homer onslaught the top of the Athletics’ order greeted Rangers’ starter Nathan Eovaldi with, but his second was more impressive. With two outs in the fifth inning of a 3-1 game after Eovaldi had settled in, Cortes hit a 409 foot moonshot that broke this game open. That blast came on the seventh pitch of that at-bat on a cutter that was about an inch off the inside edge. Cortes still found a way to get around on it and he launched it deep into the right field stands. Through 56 at-bats this season, he has a .339/.403/.625 slash line with more walks than strikeouts and solid underlying power metrics. He’s also hitting third against right-handed pitchers in this talented Athletics lineup. There are all the signs of a true breakout here.

Severino cruised through this one. His offense spotted him a three-run lead before he even took the mound and he was in control throughout. Outside of two doubles by Corey Seager and Josh Jung in the fourth inning, there was only one other instance of a Ranger reaching scoring position off Severino. And that came in the seventh inning when Hogan Harris relieved him and put out the fire. This was Severino’s second time completing six innings in his last three starts and he’ll try to keep that positive momentum rolling in his next start against the Royals.

Jung managed to stay hot in a game where the rest of the Rangers’ lineup failed to get much going. The double was his ninth of the season and his 12th extra-base hit in his last 12 games. After starting the season going 0-for-17 through four games in March, he has a .387/.451/.661 slashing in April and looks to possibly be turning a corner.

Eovaldi simply could not keep the ball in the yard here. Nick Kurtz blasted a 417 foot home run on the first pitch of the game and both Carlos Cortes and Tyler Soderstrom quickly joined in on the fun with long balls on their own. At that point, he’d thrown 12 pitches and allowed three homers. He settled in nicely for the few innings that followed before Cortes got the best of him again with a three-run just before Eovaldi was pulled. It’s been a challenging start to the season for him as he’ll take a 5.79 ERA into his next start against the Yankees.

The Reds entered the ninth inning facing a one-run deficit and were down to their final out against Tigers’ closer Kenley Jansen with no one on base. Spencer Steer kept hope alive with a two-out single before Lowe stepped up and played the role of hero. He crushed an 0-1 sinker for a 396-foot (104.6 mph EV) two-run shot that sent the Reds’ home faithful into a frenzy. He also swatted a solo shot off of Kyle Finnegan in the sixth inning. The 30-year-old finished the night 2-for-5 with three runs scored and three RBI and is now slashing a solid .257/.333/.514 with a pair of homers and eight RBI on the season.

McLain victimized Tigers’ left-hander Framber Valdez for a 421-foot (106.8 mph EV) two-run shot in the fifth inning to get the Reds on the board. Then after a lengthy rain delay, he walloped a 419-foot (106.3 mph EV) two-run shot off of Will Vest that tied the game at 5-5 in the seventh inning. The dynamic 26-year-old also drew a walk in the ballgame, finishing the night 2-for-4. He’s now hitting .213/.339/.330 with two homers, eight RBI and four stolen bases through his first 112 plate appearances on the season.

The 26-year-old southpaw struck out four batters on the night while issuing a pair of walks. He struggled to keep the ball in the yard in this one, serving up solo homers to Riley Greene in the second inning and Javier Baez as part of a three-run uprising in the third. Abbott generated eight swings and misses on 89 pitches on the night, posting a CSW of 28 percent. He’ll attempt to put this one behind him and improve upon his disappointing 6.59 ERA and 1.78 WHIP when he takes on the Rockies at home on Thursday afternoon.

Torkelson got off the schneid when he hit his first home run of the season in Wednesday’s victory over the Brewers. He followed that up by crushing his first career walk-off home run to sink the Brewers on Thursday afternoon. Then on Friday night, he clobbered a solo shot off of Tony Santillan in the eighth inning, igniting a three-run rally. He finished the night 2-for-3 with a walk and a pair of runs scored and is now hitting .210/.347/.370 with three homers and 10 RBI on the season. A notoriously streaky hitter, Torkelson should be started in all fantasy leagues at the moment until he starts to show signs of cooling off.

The Tigers held a 5-3 advantage in the seventh inning when a lengthy rain delay struck. When play resumed, the Reds struck for four runs in the home half of the seventh to take a 7-5 advantage. The Tigers stormed right back in the eighth as Spencer Torkelson crushed a solo homer to pull the Tigers within a run. Carpenter then launched a first-pitch fastball from Tony Santillan for a go-ahead 368-foot (97.8 mph EV) two-run shot. He finished the evening 1-for-2. On the season, the 28-year-old slugger is slashing just .221/.321/.500 with six homers and 15 RBI.

Jansen was tasked with facing the heart of the Reds’ lineup with a one-run lead to protect in the ninth inning of this one. He dispatched of Elly De La Cruz on a fly ball to left and Sal Stewart on strikes before allowing a two-out single to Spencer Steer that put the tying run on base. He then got ahead of Nathaniel Lowe 0-1 before Lowe crushed a sinker for a walk-off home run. Jansen has converted six of his first eight save chances on the season while posting a respectable 3.68 ERA, 1.36 WHIP and a 9/3 K/BB ratio over 7 1/3 innings.