MLB Player News

Irvin struck out four and walked three. He gave up seven hits, but somehow none of them wound up leaving the yard. On the heels of back-to-back lackluster outings, he’ll aim to rebound on Wednesday when he faces the division-rival Braves.

Albernaz was struck on the right side of the face by a foul ball from Orioles infielder Jeremiah Jackson during the early stages of Monday’s contest. He was evaluated by onsite medical staff, according to a team statement, and eventually was able to return to the dugout. There should be a definitive update on his status prior to Tuesday’s showdown.

Lowe drove in five runs for the second consecutive game, delivering a two-run single in the second inning against Nationals starter Cade Cavalli before taking reliever Brad Lord deep in the sixth to cap a 10-run outburst. The 31-year-old second baseman’s Pittsburgh debut has gone swimmingly as he’s hitting .278 (15-for-54) with six homers and 14 RBI across 14 games.

Abrams opened the scoring with a first-inning solo shot against Pirates ace Paul Skenes, sending a fly ball into the right-field seats for his fifth round-tripper of the year already. The 25-year-old speedster is off to a phenomenal start at the dish, hitting .327 (18-for-55) with five homers, 17 RBI and four steals through 15 games.

After drawing a bases-loaded walk in the second inning, Cruz pushed his hitting streak, the longest in the majors this season, to 12 consecutive games with a fourth-inning single. The 27-year-old deserves a ton of credit for making adjustments to address his struggles against left-handed pitching and has looked completely locked-in at the plate to open the season, hitting .355 (22-for-62) with five homers, 16 RBI and seven steals through 16 contests.

Finally, some run support. Skenes received a whopping 16 runs from Pittsburgh’s offense after serving up a solo homer to CJ Abrams in the opening frame and was able to cruise to his third win of the season. He appears to have made an adjustment to generate significantly more horizontal break on his sweeper than in previous outings this season and he also leaned more heavily on his changeup than before. He generated 15 swinging strikes and needed just 88 pitches (60 strikes) to complete six frames, lowering his full-season ERA from 5.25 to 4.00 in the process. He’ll close out a two-start week with a favorable home outing against the Rays on Saturday afternoon.

Cavalli melted down in spectacular fashion during the second inning of this one when he issued a bases-loaded walk to Oneil Cruz before surrendering back-to-back run-scoring hits to Brandon Lowe and Bryan Reynolds. He was mercifully lifted by Nationals manager Blake Butera and was bailed out from any further damage by reliever Paxton Schultz. The 27-year-old righty holds a lackluster 4.60 ERA, 1.73 WHIP and 13/12 K/BB ratio across 15 2/3 innings over four starts. He’s talented enough to make a fantasy impact in deeper formats, but the results haven’t been there so far. He’ll attempt to rebound when he faces the Giants on Saturday to close out a two-start week.

Schwarber took Cubs starter Javier Assad deep in the first and third innings to record the 37th multi-homer game of his career. The 33-year-old slugger is up to six home runs on the season after launching a combined 841 feet of blasts in this one, continuing to reinforce his place as one of the most consistent power producers of his generation. He’s hitting .236 (13-for-55) with six homers and 12 RBI through 16 games this season.

Swanson was responsible for Chicago’s lone runs against Phillies ace Cristopher Sánchez for six innings when he took the southpaw deep in the fourth inning for his third long ball of the season. The 32-year-old shortstop is hitting .173 (9-for-52) with three homers, nine RBI and one steal through 16 games.

Realmuto extended Philadelphia’s early lead with an RBI single in the second inning before adding additional run-scoring singles in the fifth and sixth innings. The 35-year-old veteran backstop has been playing through some lingering right foot soreness but it doesn’t seem to be impacting his performance at the plate.

Sánchez received plenty of help from Philadelphia’s offense, which scored 12 runs on 13 hits over his six innings of work, enabling him to coast to a relatively stress-free win. He limited the Cubs to just six hits with a fourth-inning homer by Dansby Swanson accounting for all the damage against him. He finished with eight strikeouts and also issued three walks. He’ll bring a sparkling 2.01 ERA, 1.39 WHIP and 31/7 K/BB ratio across 22 1/3 innings over four starts into a home outing against the Braves in primetime on Sunday night.