MLB Player News

Tucker’s homers couldn’t have been much different. The first was a 340-foot shot to the opposite field that would have a homer in Houston and nowhere else, according to Statcast. The second was a no-doubter that was pulled 407 feet to right. Tucker now leads the majors in homers by one over Gunnar Henderson. His 1.074 OPS puts him behind only Shohei Ohtani.

Merrill launched a 411-foot blast against Jose Quintana for his seventh home run of the season. The rookie now has four home runs in his last three games. All of them have also been solo shots. Merrill was billed as primarily a batting average asset who wouldn’t provide much power, so it’s nice to see him starting to show some pop. Even pushing 15-20 home runs in a season would be a big boost to his fantasy value.

Both of Quintana’s hits allowed were for extra bases, but he was able to avoid damage apart from the solo home run to Jackson Merrill. The left-hander induced eight whiffs on 31 swings for a 26 percent whiff rate and 30 percent CSW. The Padres only had an average exit velocity on contact of 85 mph, as Quintana kept them off the barrel all day. He now has a 4.98 ERA and is not a recommended start next week against the Cubs.

Mazur struck out four but walked six on the day. The 23-year-old had just a 43 percent zone rate overall while posting a 23 percent CSW. He’s now walked 13 batters in 12 2/3 innings to start his MLB career which is not exactly ideal. He now has a 7.82 ERA and is no guarantee to make his next start with Yu Darvish close to being activated.

The 31-year-old hurler is dealing with elbow inflammation and soreness in his right triceps — and was given a cortisone shot and PRP injection after an MRI revealed that a bone spur was causing his issues. Shildt didn’t give any specifics regarding a specific timeline for Musgrove’s return, but if he starts throwing soon that’s at least an encouraging sign. He shouldn’t be expected back until after the All-Star break.

Greene didn’t hit for a ton of power last year while recovering from a shoulder injury, so there was a narrative that he was more of a slap hitter, but that was never the case. The 23-year-old is now up to 14 home runs on the season to go along with 36 RBI and a .836 OPS. He looks to be in the midst of a full-on breakout and has a bright fantasy future ahead of him.

Keith is now 6-for-9 in the first two games of the series. The home run was his third of the season and accounted for his 20th RBI. While those numbers aren’t anything to write home about, Keith has some legitimate power at the minor league level. After getting hot in May, Keith was banged up in a collision with his own teammate and went cold to start June, but perhaps his bat is heating back up again.

McCormick didn’t start this game, but all five Astros’ runs were driven in by players who were on the bench for the first pitch. The home run was McCormick’s first of the season but was a no-doubted, hit 428 feet at 106.5 mph. He’s battled through injuries this year and is hitting just .209 on the season, but Jake Meyers has also started to struggle, so there is a chance that McCormick could push for more playing time if he can start swinging the bat well.

Flaherty received an anti-inflammatory injection on Monday and had a few extra days of rest to combat a back injury, but he looked good overall on Saturday. His four-seam velocity was down 1.5 mph, so that’s something to keep an eye on, but he induced eight whiffs on 31 swings for a 26 percent whiff rate and 32 percent CSW. He needed just 73 pitches to get through five innings and sets up for a great spot next week against the White Sox.

The Astros moved Arrighetti’s start up a day when Justin Verlander was scratched with an injury and that may have been the wrong move. The 24-year-old had allowed just two earned runs over 14 2/3 innings in his last three starts and had a 15.3 percent K-BB rate and 11.4 percent swinging strike rate over his last four starts. Yet, nothing worked for him on Saturday. He couldn’t find the plate with anything other than his cutter and induced just three whiffs on 20 swings for a 15 percent whiff rate and 23 percent CSW. It’s possible the late change in schedule threw him off, but whatever it was, he remains off the streaming radar next week against the Orioles.

The fact that he was in the team’s initial lineup before getting scratched bodes well for his availability moving forward. Doyle should be considered day-to-day. Michael Toglia will start in his place in right field and will bat sixth for the Rockies on Saturday night against Jared Jones and the Pirates.