MLB Player News

Ibáñez was off to a solid start, hitting .267/.235/.267 across his first seven games while playing mainly second base or third base. In his absence, Matt Vierling has played well, and it’s unclear just what kind of role Ibáñez will be coming back to. More than likely, he’ll be a versatile bench piece for the Tigers. Buddy Kennedy was optioned to Triple-A in a corresponding move.

Waldron’s previous high for strikeouts was nine against the Cardinals last September. The win moved him to 2-5 with a 5.00 ERA this season. That he has 45 strikeouts in 45 innings this season is a big improvement over his 31 in 41 1/3 innings last season. Still, he’s probably been a little lucky to give up just six homers in his nine starts, given his flyball tendencies.

The Padres don’t usually play matchups with their closer, but they did tonight with No. 2 hitter Ozzie Albies due up to start the eighth. It all worked out perfectly; Suarez gave up a couple of hits, but he protected the two-run lead, and then Jeremiah Estrada locked things up against the bottom of the order in the ninth.

Estrada only got the ninth tonight because there was a tougher matchup for Robert Suarez in the eighth, but he did a great job with it. He’s allowed just one run in 10 2/3 innings since the Padres called him up on Apr. 26. It’s safe to say that if the Cubs had it to do all over again, they wouldn’t have waived him to open a spot on the 40-man last November.

Fried didn’t allow any hits in two of his previous three starts. He’d given up a total of seven in his last four. Tonight, though, he just couldn’t stop the bleeding. All nine hits he allowed were singles, and only four of them came on hard-hit balls. Fried definitely didn’t help himself by walking three batters along the way, but this still seems pretty fluky. He’s now 3-2 with a 3.81 ERA.

The least struggling hitters can do is steal a few bases for those rostering them in fantasy leagues. Bogaerts doubled his steal total for the season tonight, collecting two in a game for the first time since last May 5. He now has 12 two-steal games in his career, which is kind of impressive because he has just 81 career steals. He has only eight two-homer games, though he’s totaled 179 homers in his 12 seasons.

Stephenson has his fifth homer of the year with his solo shot off James Paxton; one of two the Reds were able to get against Paxton in the loss. So far in May the catcher has registered an .820 OPS, and this makes four straight games for the backstop with extra-base hits. Solid.

Heyward’s return from the injured list Friday was a successful one, as he took Alexis Diaz deep for his first homer of the 2024 season. He should see starts against right-handed pitching, but even in this loaded Dodger lineup, he’s a tough sell as a fantasy option in season leagues.

Ohtani scored twice in the contest. It’s the 13th homer for the 29-year-old, and it came in the third inning with Mookie Betts on base. His first season with the Dodgers have been nothing short of spectacular, as he’s now slashing .358/.426/.676 with 32 RBI to go with those roundtrippers. It’s borderline impossible to offer hyperbole when discussing how good Ohtani is at baseball.

Montas allowed just four hits, but two of those were homers by the superstar duo that is Mookie Betts and Shohei Ohtani. The former Dodger allowed three walks and also had just one strikeout, so it’s fair to say that he wasn’t exactly fooling the Los Angeles lineup even when they weren’t seeing hits drop. Montas has been shaky in his first year with the Reds, and his 4.37 ERA and 25/15 K/BB over 35 innings are pretty accurate descriptors of his 2024 campaign.

The southpaw allowed seven hits, and while he didn’t issue a walk, he also only finished with a pair of strikeouts. The 35-year-old allowed a pair of homers in the game — both solo shots by Tyler Stephenson and Stuart Fairchild — and saw his ERA tick up to 2.84 despite picking up a Quality Start. Paxton has mostly looked the part in 2024, and while there are injury concerns and always will be, there’s plenty of reason to roster him in fantasy while he’s able to get on the bump.