MLB Player News

Even if he can’t play in Game 5, the Tigers will probably want to keep him on the roster, since removing him would rule him out for the ALCS if the team wins tomorrow. Carpenter was hurt rounding third base while scoring a run in Game 4.

It was Schlittler’s shortest start of the season. In fact, two of the right-hander’s three shortest outings of the season have been in his last four starts. He may be tiring a little bit since he’s on track to easily outpace his career high in innings, but it’s far more likely that he just had an off day. His velocity looked good, but he threw just 61 percent of his pitches for strikes, far below his season average. We’d expect him to bounce back this weekend against the Braves.

Duran struck out two and didn’t allow a baserunner in securing his 25th save of the season. He remains one of the most consistent closers in baseball.

Harper crushed his 24th home run of the season 433 feet deep in the eighth inning to give the Phillies a three-run cushion. This may be Harper’s last game playing first base for a while since he’ll move back out to right field to accommodate Luis Arraez’s arrival in Philadelphia. We don’t expect that to change anything with Harper’s offensive success.

Ortiz was recalled from Triple-A on Monday to be the starting first baseman with Luis Garcia now in New York, and he wasted no time in acclimating himself, hitting a first-inning home run off Aaron Nola. Ortiz will sit against left-handed pitchers, and may even be lifted in the middle of the game, as he was today, but he had 18 home runs in Triple-A this season and has clear power. Ortiz is a solid add in fantasy formats right now.

This is the first time all season that Alvarez has completed six innings, and it came in one of his toughest matchups. The left-hander walked three and struck out five while throwing 59 percent of his pitches for strikes and posting a 12 percent swinging strike rate. The command remains an issue for Alvarez, but he should get a long look in the rotation with Foster Griffin now in Cleveland.

Montgomery got the call to guard a one-run advantage after Camilo Doval tossed a scoreless eighth inning. He managed to work around a one-out single from Joey Ortiz by striking out Brice Turang and Jackson Chourio to extinguish the threat. He’s likely going to take a back seat to newly acquired high-leverage veteran Luke Weaver, but could wind up vulturing the occasional save chance against lefty-heavy lineups.

Nola walked two and struck out five while throwing 62 percent of his pitches for strikes and posting an 11 percent CSW on the day. As per usual, Nola had most of his success with his curveball in this one, posting a 74 percent strike rate and a 32 percent swinging strike rate on the pitch. No other pitch really missed many bats. That said, this is Nola’s second straight usable start in fantasy leagues, and he gets the Blue Jays, Twins, and Marlins in his next starts. The Phillies didn’t add a starter at the deadline, so they need him to get going.