MLB Player News

Even though they recently added Andrew Heaney, the Pirates are following through with plans to stretch Ferguson out as a starter. His velocity today was down about two mph from where he was as a reliever last season, and that’s probably two mph he can’t afford to lose and still be helpful. The pen is where he belongs.

He was also only involved in one near-brawl, so that’s progress. It wasn’t really his fault anyway; Cole Carrigg slid into him at home plate and did a face plant afterwards, but that was mostly because his hand got caught on the leg of home plate umpire Dan Iassogna, who was caught being too close to the plate. The dugouts started to empty when it looked like the two players were going to come together, but cooler heads quickly prevailed. Rushing’s doubles came off Kyle Freeland early in the game, and the second would have been a homer in 22 ballparks, according to Statcast. The game-winner was a 74-mph grounder against a drawn-in infield that just squibbed past Edouard Julien at second base. It was Rushing’s 30th RBI, and it made the Dodgers the first team to 60 wins this season.

Lauer left with a three-run lead that held up until the ninth, when Tanner Scott had a rare off night. It’s the third time in four outings that Scott has allowed three runs in exactly six innings. He pitched no-hit ball for six innings in the other game during the span. Lauer isn’t slated to make another start before the break, but he could factor into Sunday’s game behind Emmet Sheehan.

Scott managed to walk Ezequiel Tovar with one out before giving up a single and an RBI double. At that point, he intentionally walked Hunter Goodman to load the bases. He followed that with a dominant three-pitch strikeout against TJ Rumfield, but Cole Carrigg then doubled to the gap with two outs. It seemed poised to give the Rockies the lead, but Goodman was called out at the plate after a replay review. It’s just Scott’s second blown save of the year and first to come in the ninth inning. He’ll remain the Dodgers’ primary closer for now, but it does look like the team will be getting Edwin Díaz back before the end of the month.

He struck out two and surrendered nine hits and 12 hard-hit balls. There’s just nothing here that’s getting any better. It’s the eighth time in 17 starts that Freeland has allowed six runs this season, and he has a 7.46 ERA over 82 innings. He’s due to pitch in San Francisco this weekend.

Ohtani had a 112-mph lineout in the first inning tonight, but he made up for it with a homer off Kyle Freeland in his next at-bat. He has 19 homers on the year, and he’s tied for fifth in the majors with 61 runs scored and sixth with 59 walks.

The double with two outs and the bases loaded against Tanner Scott originally gave the Rockies the lead, but Hunter Goodman was called out at home plate after a review. It was Carrigg’s second double of the game. Because he was the batter when the ninth ended, he opened the 10th as the automatic runner and scored his third run of the game then. Carrigg has been just a part-timer against righties (and regular against lefties) lately, but trades should eventually clear the way for him to play full-time, assuming that his production holds up. He’s batting .309/.385/.593 through 97 plate appearances.

He also knocked in run with a sac fly. It’s the sixth time in those 500 games that Tovar has both homered and walked. He has eight homers and 17 walks while batting .209/.252/.345 in his 321 plate appearances this year.

This would have been a three-homer game in most ballparks and sort of was in San Francisco anyway; Ramos scored on the triple to right-center when the throw got past the third baseman and went into the dugout. Statcast says the triple, hit a projected 399 feet, would have been a homer in 29 parks. Ramos later had an opposite-field homer, hit 349 feet down the right field line, and a 110-mph, 434 foot bomb to left-center. Even his groundout tonight was hit 112 mph. Just a week ago, the Giants were being slow to activate Ramos from the IL because of concerns about how he’d fit in with Casey Schmitt playing the outfield. However, those went away with Matt Chapman getting hurt, and Ramos has hit .313 with four homers, eight RBI and eight runs scored in eight games since returning.

Roupp was 0-7 in his previous 11 starts, with the Giants losing all 11 of those games. Roupp didn’t dominate with five strikeouts, 11 whiffs and a 26 percent CSW tonight, but he didn’t need to. The Blue Jays never put together any real threats. They had just two plate appearances with a RISP, going 0-for-1 with a walk. Roupp is 6-8 with a 4.27 ERA overall. He’ll finish the first half with a home start against the Rockies.

He did strike out eight, at least. Gausman had walked just 24 batters in 18 starts coming into tonight, but he does typically have one start per year in which he walks five. He did so once last year and once in 2024. He did it twice in 2023, but that was just keeping pace after he went without one in 2022. This goes as Gausman’s fifth straight loss. Part of that is the Jays’ offensive struggles, but Gausman’s weaker outings have been particularly weak; in his last 11 starts, he’s allowed one or no runs five times and at least four runs in the remaining six outings. He’ll face the Padres on Sunday.