MLB Player News

Montgomery disappointed as a starter in the upper minors, but since moving to the pen, he’s looked like someone who could become one of the league’s top lefty relievers. First, though, he needs to crack a Rays pen that is largely filled with out-of-options pitchers. It’s a mission made more difficult by the fact that he has all of his options remaining.

Boyd’s outing got off to an inauspicious start as Tommy Edman connected for a three-run homer in the opening frame to put him behind early. Fortunately, Chicago’s offense got in on the action, clobbering four homers of their own to supply him with a touchdown and a field goal worth of run support. He finished with three strikeouts and only issued one walk. He’ll factor into Chicago’s pitching plan against the Royals this weekend.

Wrobleski has turned into a pumpkin since the All-Star break, allowing eight home runs across 16 2/3 innings, which has caused his ERA to balloon from 2.69 to 3.31 in the process. He allowed four round-trippers in this outing while striking out four and also issuing three walks. He’ll attempt to right the metaphorical ship when he faces the Diamondbacks on Sunday to wrap up a two-start week. The “unbeatable” Dodgers have suddenly lost a season-high four straight games, which sets quite a stage for Tarik Skubal’s impending debut at Wrigley Field on Tuesday night.

Burleson was a hot name at today’s MLB trade deadline, but the Cardinals decided to hold onto him, and he rewarded them for their loyalty. This was Burleson’s first career three-home-run game, and he hit each of them off a different Yankees pitcher. Burleson has 18 home runs and 77 RBI this season to go along with a .288/.350/480 slash line.

Church had an RBI single in the third inning and then hit a crucial three-run home run off Angel Chivilli in the eighth inning that gave the Cardinals a two-run lead they would not relinquish. Church now has nine home runs and 35 RBI this season to go along with a .232/.280/.366 slash line.

Boy, did Grisham need this one. The 29-year-old hit .165/.242/.306 in 85 at-bats in July. He has posted great batted ball data for much of this season and was playing great baseball before a hamstring injury sidelined him in the middle of June. Maybe this will be the game that gets him going again.

Garcia Jr. is going to like hitting in Yankee Stadium. The 26-year-old has had a breakout season, in part, because he’s pulling the ball in the air more often. That’s going to work well in his new home park. Garcia Jr. now has 24 home runs and 78 RBI on the season.

McGreevy walked one and struck out five, but threw just 58 percent of his pitches for strikes. He posted a 10 percent swinging strike rate, which was above his season average, but had just 14 percent called strikes in a game where his command really struggled. He’ll take a 3.59 ERA into a meeting against the Phillies next week.

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.