MLB Player News

The 34-year-old slugger has been working out with the Yankees and is drawing very close to a return. The Yankees are insistent that he won’t require a minor league rehab assignment, so the hope is that after facing live pitching over the weekend that he’ll be ready to rock on Monday.

Jazz Chisholm Jr., Ben Rice and Austin Wells joined Grisham in taking Seth Lugo deep tonight. Grisham has cooled off some, and he was on the bench three of the previous four games before filling in for Cody Bellinger tonight. He’s still at an incredibly impressive .343/.410/.747 in 39 plate appearances for the season, and there is the chance that the Yankees could eventually give him Jasson Domínguez’s lineup spot, even if that’s certainly not how they hope it will work out.

Bobby Witt Jr.'s third-inning homer was the only hit surrendered by Carrasco. The 38-year-old righty struck out four and walked two in the 79-pitch outing. While Carrasco’s ERA stands at 5.94, the Marcus Stroman injury ensured that he would survive Clarke Schmidt’s return. He’ll face the Rays this weekend.

Pitching with a three-run lead, Williams did twice bring the tying run to the plate after allowing a single and a walk. He managed to escape from there, though, and work a scoreless inning for the third time in six appearances. He still hasn’t had a perfect frame while allowing seven hits and six walks in five innings.

Four runs on four solo homers. He’s the first person to do that (allowing four homers and only four runs) since Kevin Gausman against the Mariners on July 22, 2023. The Royals haven’t had it happen recently, but on May 9, 2016, Chris Young, who was finishing up his career in Kansas City, gave up five runs on five homers, also against the Yankees. Lugo had allowed just one homer in three starts coming into the night. He fell to 1-2 with a 3.86 ERA ahead of this weekend’s outing against the Tigers.

Bellinger was inserted as a defensive replacement for Jasson Domínguez. He originally had the day off as the Yankees attempt to manage the back tightness he’s been experiencing since the beginning of the season.

Massey is swinging at everything right now, and it’s mostly just resulting in weak contact in the air. That was the case in the ninth inning as the tying run against Devin Williams tonight. He actually took the first pitch after Salvador Perez walked and was rewarded with a ball on an offering that appeared to be a strike. He then fouled off the next pitch and popped up the third. The Royals might need to sit Massey down for a couple of days or maybe even call up Nick Loftin (releasing Cavan Biggio in the process) to give him a look at second base.

Vázquez took a foul tip off his right hand and was immediately lifted from the contest. He’ll undergo X-rays to determine whether he suffered any fractures. There should be an update on his status in the near future.

Fitzgerald had two doubles, no homers and one RBI in 12 games coming into this one. Still, he had shown an improved approach of late. Fitzgerald struck out in 23 of his 50 plate appearances this spring, but he has that figure down to 10 in 47 plate appearances to start the regular season. We’re skeptical he’s going to reemerge as a quality mixed-league infielder this year, but he does offer enough speed and pop to be interesting. Part of the problem right now is that he’s hit ninth every time he’s played this season.

Roupp gave up three runs in the first, only to watch his offense come back with six in the second. He settled in nicely afterwards and wound up with eight strikeouts, most coming on the curve he threw over half of the time. The only other run he gave up was a Nick Castellanos homer with two outs in the fifth. The win makes up for the tough 1-0 defeat he took in his previous start against Cincinnati. He has a 4.80 ERA after three starts, but he’s a definite sleeper to offer some mixed-league value the rest of the way.

All of the runs came in the second, and Walker made things a whole lot worse then by throwing a potential double-play ball into center field with one out and only one run in. Walker did well afterwards, allowing just one hit over his final three innings of work, but the damage was done. He’ll get the Marlins next.