MLB Player News

Judge enjoyed the warm Sacramento weather in Sutter Health Park as he slugged two solo homers. He took JP Sears deep to lead off the fourth inning, then went yard off Justin Sterner to start the sixth. Judge later drove in a third run on a groundout in the ninth. The 33-year-old superstar is up to a league-leading 14 homers with 37 RBI while slashing .396/.486/.772 across 175 plate appearances. Following Saturday’s contest, Judge is leading baseball in homers, batting average, and RBI.

Nootbaar will get at least two additional rehab contests under his belt before potentially being activated for Friday’s series opener against the Reds, which is when his rehab assignment clock expires. The 28-year-old is working his way back from offseason surgery on both heels. He should make it back to St. Louis by the end of the week.

Ekness hit the injured list with a right calf strain prior to Monday’s series opener against the division-rival Nationals. The intriguing rookie southpaw has posted a strong 1.69 ERA and 5/5 K/BB ratio across 5 1/3 innings over six appearances in a pair of stints with the Marlins this season. He’s unlikely to rejoin Miami’s relief mix until around next month’s All-Star break.

Twins general manager Jeremy Zoll told reporters Monday that Rojas is already feeling better and could be cleared to resume throwing at some point this week. It’s an encouraging update after the 23-year-old rookie hit the injured list with elbow inflammation last Friday. He’s going to miss at least a couple weeks, but it doesn’t appear that he’s headed for an extended absence.

The Rockies erased a 6-3 deficit by scoring five in the top of the eighth, only to see the Angels tie things up in the bottom of the inning. In the ninth, Kyle Karros singled, McCarthy doubled and TJ Rumfield delivered a sac fly to make it 9-8, and the Rockies held on this time. With the Rockies having three outfielders on the IL, McCarthy has been an everyday player of late, starting 17 straight games. The good times won’t last forever, but he’s a mixed-league outfielder right now.

Since the beginning of his rookie season in 2027, Freeland has allowed at least five runs on 58 occasions. That’s tied with the retired Kyle Gibson for second most during the timespan. The top spot belongs to Patrick Corbin with 62 such outings. Freeland wasn’t involved in the decision tonight, but he’s 1-6 with an 8.06 ERA in 10 starts. Still, nothing much figures to change here. Expect him to face the Brewers on Sunday.

Senzatela came in with an 8-6 lead, two on and one out in the eighth and gave up a game-tying triple to Jorge Soler. Still, he preserved the tie from there and then worked a scoreless bottom of the ninth after the Rockies regained the lead in the top of the inning. Senzatela is 5-0 with a 1.30 ERA. The Rockies probably shouldn’t risk waiting until the trade deadline to deal him.

Engraving Soriano’s name on to the AL Cy Young Award after his incredible April is looking like a mistake now. He’s walked 22 and allowed 19 earned runs over 33 1/3 innings in his last six starts, five of which turned into Angels losses. This seemed like the perfect opportunity for a rebound, but he instead walked seven against the offense with the second worst walk rate in baseball (only the Giants are worse). Soriano will probably have more good starts than bad going forward, but inconsistency has been a hallmark throughout his career. He’ll face the Dodgers next.

Yates allowed a single, a double and a sac fly to put the Rockies on top. Actually, all five batters he faced had hard-hit balls against him. It’d be fun to see Yates step up as the Angels’ closer, but the stuff just isn’t there at this point. The hardest of his six fastballs tonight checked in at 91.2 mph. The Rockies swung at seven of his 10 pitches and made contact every time.

Tovar joins Matt Wallner, teammate Willi Castro and Kyle Schwarber with five-strikeout games this year. Give this one some extra credit, though, as the rest of the Rockies combined to go 10-for-30 with five extra-base hits, 10 walks and just six strikeouts in scoring nine runs against the Angels. Tovar is hitting .216/.267/.328 in 221 plate appearances and might benefit from a Triple-A stint if it would do anything to encourage him to show even a tiny bit of discipline at the plate.

Siri is 7-for-23 with two homers and two doubles since his callup. He’s starting primarily against lefties, so there’s no fantasy value to be had here. However, he is the Angels’ best defensive outfielder, which might pay off if he remains somewhat productive.