MLB Player News

Murphy was supposed to be healthy this spring after missing most of last year with a knee injury, but a new problem has arisen. Even though Murphy is due $4 million in the second season of a two-year deal, the Giants were planning on throwing open the backup catcher spot, making it a competition between Murphy, Sam Huff and Max Stassi.

Stowers provided a key insurance run for Miami with a run-scoring double to left field off Blue Jays rookie sensation Trey Yesavage with two outs in the sixth inning. The ball probably should’ve been caught by left fielder Yohendrick Piñango, but it wound up dropping for a pivotal hit. He brought home an additional run with a double down the left-field line in the eighth inning off reliever Tyler Rogers to cap off a multi-hit effort.

Springer has been in a groove recently, but had a rough night against Marlins starter Janson Junk and a couple relievers. He put four balls in play, including a pair with exit velocities over 90 mph, but came away with nothing to show for it. The 36-year-old top-of-the-order table-setter has homered three times in his last eight games.

Junk surrendered eight hits for the second straight start, but they came with greatly reduced exit velocities this time around after getting torched for eight runs by the Braves his last time out. He managed to limit the Blue Jays to just an RBI single by rookie Yohendrick Piñango as all eight hits he gave up were singles. He struck out three and didn’t hand out a free pass. He’ll face the division-rival Mets to finish off a two-start week on Sunday.

It’s a disappointing result considering Miami’s lineup has been downright pedestrian through two months this season and Yesavage was coming off a brilliant five-start stretch with a sublime 1.07 ERA and 29/8 K/BB ratio across 25 1/3 innings of work. The dynamic 22-year-old top pitching prospect held the Marlins to a pair of runs before the metaphorical wheels came off in the sixth inning when he gave up run-scoring doubles to Kyle Stowers and Javier Sanoja with two outs in the frame. It’s hard to fault him on Stowers’ double as rookie left fielder Yohendrick Piñango probably should’ve made the play to end the inning. He finished with six strikeouts and only issued two walks. He’ll wrap up a two-start week with a road tilt against the Orioles on Sunday.

Alvarez, who was back in Houston’s lineup after missing his first game of the season due to a minor back issue over the weekend, mashed a 415-foot no-doubter to right-center field off Rangers starter Kumar Rocker. Clearly, he’s feeling just fine from a physical standpoint. The 28-year-old run-producing force is hitting .301/.415/.606 with 32 runs scored, 16 homers, 33 RBI and one stolen base through 54 games this season.

There weren’t a ton of bright spots for the Rangers in this one as Tatsuya Imai and a pair of Astros relievers combined on a no-hitter. Nimmo walked twice in the contest and struck out looking to end it against rookie reliever Alimber Santa on a nasty sweeper that just caught the bottom of the zone. Texas has been struggling to get anything going offensively for a couple games as they’ve dropped four straight and have scored just three runs combined over their last three games.

Walker tattooed a gargantuan 401-foot blast to left-center field against Rangers reliever Peyton Gray for his 15th big fly of the season. The35-year-old veteran slugger has been sizzling-hot at the dish recently, homering four times in his last three games and eight times since the start of May. It’s probably flown a bit under the radar this season, but Walker is on pace to easily eclipse the 30-homer mark for the first time since 2023.

Imai authored one of the strangest performances of the season, somehow holding the Rangers hitless for six innings despite issuing four walks and recording just two strikeouts. He threw only 57 of 97 pitches for strikes, but stayed around the zone enough to avoid damage, retiring 15 of the final 16 batters he faced. Okert followed with a scoreless seventh before Santa made his big-league debut, retiring the final six hitters in impressive fashion to complete the first combined no-hitter in the majors since 2024. Imai remains a challenging pitcher to forecast given that he’s barely throwing his splitter in games at this point. He’ll face the Brewers at home to wrap up a two-start week on Sunday.

Coming off one of the strongest outings of his career while pitching behind an opener, Rocker returned to a traditional start here and ran into trouble early. He hit leadoff batter Jeremy Peña, who eventually came around to score on Yordan Alvarez’s sacrifice fly. He settled in briefly before Alvarez connected for a leadoff homer in the fourth, and he was tagged for two additional runs in the fifth before exiting. He finished with five strikeouts and two walks. He’ll close out a two-start week with a favorable home matchup against the Royals on Saturday.

Rumfield was drilled on the right hand by a 97-mph heater from Dodgers starter Emmet Sheehan in the opening frame and immediately left the contest. The 26-year-old rookie, who has an .810 OPS with seven homers through 54 games this season, will head for X-rays to determine whether he suffered any fractures. There should be an update on his status following the contest.