MLB Player News

McGee was up with the Brewers for a couple of days to add a fresh arm to the bullpen, but with Aaron Civale returning to start on Thursday he was the odd-man out on the pitching side. The 27-year-old hurler threw one perfect inning with a strikeout in his lone appearance with the Brewers. He should get another opportunity in Milwaukee before the summer is through.

Vasquez issued four free passes, and that’s one of the main culprits for why he was only able to pitch into — and not complete — the fifth frame. He also allowed just one hit and struck out one, so he was once again fortunate to only allow those pair of runs. He’ll likely be the fifth starter for the Padres after the All-Star break.

Machado swatted his 16th homer of the season with a solo blast off Eduardo Rodriguez. He also doubled and singled and is now up to 2,004 hits in his impressive career. Machado remains one of the best third baseman in the sport, and should be able to remain at that level for the foreseeable future.

Tatis Jr. gave the Padres an early 2-1 lead in the third with a solo homer off Eduardo Rodriguez. The 26-year-old star also singled, and the three-reach game improves his slash to .262/.358/.450. It’s not the superstar level he was playing at to begin the year, but it’s far from unusable.

Suarez is now up to 27 saves on the season, a large number considering we haven’t quite reached the All-Star break. His 3.63 ERA is far from elite, but it’s based mostly on just a couple of horrific outings. For the overwhelming majority of the year, Suarez has been one of the upper-echelon closers in baseball.

After giving up 12 hits and nine runs against the Royals on Friday, Rodriguez was better, but to say that’s faint praise is an understatement. He allowed eight hits with two of those homers, and he walked a pair with three strikeouts. Rodriguez now has an unsightly 5.94 ERA on the season, and the 32-year-old offers more fantasy risk than upside at this stage of the campaign.

Ward hit a solo homer off Patrick Corbin in the fifth inning, but he needed it to be an eight-run homer for it to matter as it came with the Angels trailing 9-1. The 31-year-old now has 21 roundtrippers, 64 RBI and a .785 OPS on the season.

Kochanowicz was awful before exiting, and if we’re being honest, he was due for an outing like this. He allowed eight hits and three free passes, and he was in consistent trouble before mercifully being pulled. Kochanowicz will take a 6.03 ERA and 3-9 record into the second half, and it seems plausible that the Angels — who are surprisingly still in the American League Wild Card conversation — may need to look at a replacement. It’s worth noting that Carson Fulmer pitched 5 1/3 innings after Kochanowicz exited, and the team has turned to Fulmer as a starter before. Just saying.