MLB Player News

Lin needed just 41 pitches to make it through three innings, but much of his success came on called strikes, getting just four whiffs in his three innings. He averaged just 91 mph on his four-seam fastball, and the pitch lacks ideal shape; however, Lin has a true five-pitch mix with a cutter, curve, slider, and changeup mixed in. While the changeup is his best offering, he also showed a strong curve and could grow into a solid back-end of the rotation arm with plus command and a deep pitch mix.

The expectation is that Hader will be ready to make his season debut at some point early next week. The 32-year-old lefty closer has made a handful of rehab appearances over the last few weeks and should make it back to stabilize Houston’s soon.

Murakami homered for the third consecutive contest to reach the 20-homer plateau in just 55 games. He also chipped in his first career stolen base in this one, just for good measure. The 26-year-old rookie slugger’s elite power production doesn’t come as a total surprise, but the fact that he’s succeeding despite nearly 33 percent strikeout rate feels a bit unprecedented. The over-the-fence power is undeniable and he’s on pace to eclipse the 40-homer threshold in his first taste of the majors, which is pretty remarkable.

It seems like a possibility that Hernández will require a trip to the injured list, depending on the severity. The 33-year-old veteran slugger suffered the injury while attempting to beat out attempting to beat out a second-inning grounder. He was replaced in left field by Hyeseong Kim. There should be some additional clarity on his status prior to Friday’s series opener against the Phillies. There’s no shortage of options for the Dodgers in the upper minors with Ryan Ward and Alek Thomas representing in-house options already on the 40-man roster while prospect James Tibbs III might be a consideration as a potential solution. Tommy Edman (ankle) is at least another week or two away from returning from the injured list.

De Los Santos continues to rack up saves that require him to put in more than one inning of work. The righty came in the game with two outs in the eighth inning and struck out three of the five batters he faced. With Josh Hader scheduled to begin making rehab starts soon and set to resume his role as closer, it’s safe to assume De Los Santos isn’t worth adding ahead of next week.

Alvarez hit his 19th and 20th homers of the season in this one, with his first coming in the third inning off Jacob deGrom to tie the game at 2-2. Alvarez would later hit a go-ahead homer in the eighth inning off of reliever Tyler Alexander to put the Astros up 3-2. The 28-year-old lefty has been on a tear this month despite slashing just .250/.366/.560. His eight homers being tied for the second-most of any player in May.

Pederson blasted a 436-foot shot off of Mike Burrows in the third inning to put the Rangers up 2-1. It was the fifth homer of the season for Pederson, who has now homered in back-to-back games and three times in May. Pederson was responsible for three of the Rangers’ six hits in this one, doing everything he could to help out starter Jacob deGrom, who picked up the no-decision. Pederson is slashing .281/.386/.561 this month and has also driven in 11 runs.

Burrows allowed four hits in the first inning, but managed to hold the Rangers to just one run despite the early trouble. After pitching a scoreless second inning, Burrows would be taken deep by Joc Pederson for a solo homer in the third inning to give the Rangers a 2-1 lead, but he would settle in from there. Burrows didn’t allow another run on the night while getting through seven innings, and left with the game deadlocked at 2-2. Burrows has struggled throughout most of this season and ends this month with a 5.11 ERA and a 1.34 WHIP. His next start is scheduled for Tuesday against the Pirates.

The first run deGrom allowed on the evening came on a sacrifice fly in the second inning that scored Taylor Trammell from third after he doubled to lead off the inning. deGrom would later surrender a solo homer to Yordan Alvarez in the fourth inning, but otherwise did his part to limit runs and keep players off base. The veteran righty struggled in May, allowing four or more earned runs in three of his five starts while posting a 6.45 ERA on the month. His next start is scheduled for Monday on the road against the Cardinals.

Soler and Donovan Walton were the only players to register a hit for the Angels in Wednesday’s loss to the Tigers. Soler’s single in the second inning pushed his hitting streak to five straight games, but the right-handed slugger has just one extra-base hit in the past week and only two RBI over that span.

Things have not gone well for the Mets despite another tremendous season from Soto. His first inning home run gave them their first lead since last Friday, which they also got from a Soto first inning home run. Also, he was caught stealing for the second time this season in seven tries. For comparison, he was 38-for-42 as a base stealer last season. Even without carrying his newfound speed into this campaign, he has 12 home runs, a .301 batting average, and a .986 OPS through 39 games this season.