MLB Player News

Bregman homered for the fourth consecutive game, and was a triple shy of hitting for the cycle by the fifth inning after taking Rays starter Shane Baz deep for his 19th round-tripper of the season, leading Houston to their seventh straight victory. The 30-year-old impending free agent is putting together one of the best sustained stretches of his career over the last few weeks, batting .298 (37-for-124) with nine homers, 18 RBI and one steal over his last 30 games.

The Cardinals never had a late-inning lead in the 10-inning loss to the Reds, but it was surprising not to see O’Brien in the tie game at some point. As it turned out,there was a good reason. Consider him day-to-day.

Interestingly, Schmidt did not mention his LSU commitment in his Instagram post announcing the decision, suggesting that he might be thinking about going to junior college and then reentering the draft next year. Schmidt, a left-handed pitcher, was viewed by many as a first-round talent before slipping to the 59th overall selection on draft day.

Cheng goes to make room for Curtis Mead on the active roster. He hit .256/.318/.282 in 44 plate appearances while helping to fill in for Trevor Story and Marcelo Mayer. Andruw Monasterio will serve as Boston’s everyday shortstop for now. Romy Gonzalez is probably the backup, though he hasn’t played the position in two years. Ceddanne Rafaela would probably be the better option, in truth.

Sal Stewart singled in the go-ahead run in the 10th before Lowe broke it open, giving the Reds a 5-2 lead. The Cardinals then scored just the automatic runner in the bottom of the inning. Incredibly enough, it’s Lowe’s very first three-hit game of the year. He’s been pretty good in batting .258/.333/.475 in 249 plate appearances, and he’d seem to be a particularly likely candidate to be moved before next week’s trade deadline.

He walked four but allowed just three hits. Abbott has three quality starts in his last four tries, but he’s now gone six straight starts without winning. One imagines there will be more of that in August and September if the Reds sell prior to the deadline. He’ll face the Pirates next.

Working with a three-run lead, Garcia gave up back-to-back singles with one out but then retired Masyn Winn and José Fermín to end the game. Garcia, a 31-year-old rookie, has a 2.93 ERA in 15 1/3 innings since being called up last month. He could be part of a committee situation in the ninth if the Reds trade closer Emilio Pagán before the deadline.

The runs came on homers from Elly De La Cruz and Ke’Bryan Hayes. It’s actually as many runs as Leahy had allowed in his last five starts combined. Leahy’s previous high for strikeouts was eight, which was also against the Reds back in May. He’ll pitch in Toronto next weekend.

Sal Stewart hit for Hayes in the 10th and came through with an RBI single. Hayes’ homer was his third of the season and first since he came off the injured list. He’s 4-for-21 with just the one extra-base hit since being activated July 10.

Burleson’s double to right center in the second was hit 388 feet and would have been a homer in 16 ballparks, according to Statcast. Burleson has collected three hits in five of his last eight games, though, oddly, he has zero hits in the other three. He’s eighth in the majors with 116 hits, tied for fourth with 26 doubles and tied for sixth with 71 RBI.

Nootbaar didn’t start after leaving Saturday’s game due to dehydration and lightheadedness, but that was probably at least partly due to a left-hander being on the mound for the Reds. Nootbaar entered as a pinch-hitter in the seventh and stayed in to play three innings in left field.