MLB Player News

Martinez certainly made this one interesting. He came into this game with one out and two on in the eighth inning and got two strikeouts sandwiched around an intentional walk to Ronald Acuña Jr. to get out of it. Then, he returned for the ninth, loaded the bases with two walks and a hit batsmen, walked in a run, and finally struck out Michael Harris II to end the game a whopping 37 pitches later. This was the second time in four outings since coming off the injured list where he’s allowed a run.

Busch’s two-run single in the sixth inning capped off a five-run inning and extended the Cubs’ lead to 8-0 in a game Chicago would eventually win 11-0. He’s hitting .245 with a .766 OPS and 56 RBI this season.

Crow-Armstrong’s home run was his 23rd of the season. He hit a two-run shot off Ron Marinaccio in the seventh inning. His stolen base was his 26th. After hitting a double and a home run on Friday night, Crow-Armstrong’s offensive domination continued against the Pirates on Saturday. He’s hitting .291 with a .934 OPS and 59 RBI.

Skenes gave up six hits, walked two and struck out 11. He fell to 9-9 with the loss. Skenes kept the Cubs off the scoreboard for the first four innings before running into trouble. After getting the first out of the fifth inning, four consecutive Cubs hits led to three runs. In the sixth inning, Skenes again retired the first batter before allowing two baserunners to reach. At that point, he was removed. Both runners came around to score as the Cubs would add five runs to extend their lead to 8-0. Skenes saw his ERA bump up to 3.65. He’s lined up to face the Reds on the road next Thursday.

Bellinger exited after a double in the seventh against the Phillies. “It just feels a little tight,” he said after the game. “I really don’t think it’s anything too serious.”

Langford was 3-for-4 with two doubles before coming out. It’s unlikely that there’s a significant injury here, but the Rangers were up 5-1 and had chance to give him a break after he struck out to end the sixth.

Imanaga gave up four hits, walked one and struck out four. He improved to 7-8 with the win. Imanaga has a scoreless streak of 13 innings over his last two starts. The 32-year-old left-hander has lowered his ERA to 3.72 in the process. Imanaga is lined up to face the Cardinals on the road next week.

Wells’ homer off Brian Keller tonight was projected at 430 feet. That’s a new career high by seven feet and a season high by a whopping 34 feet. It was his seventh homer in 237 plate appearances this year. He had 21 homers in 448 plate appearances last season.

Weathers, whose velocity was up 1-1.5 mph from his season averages tonight, has his July victory after also getting one apiece in April, May and June. He deserves a little better than a 4-7 record for his 4.25 ERA in 20 starts, and the Yankees have gone 10-10 with him on the mound. He seems to be clearly ahead of Will Warren in the Yankees’ thoughts right now, which might prove important when Carlos Rodón is ready to come off the injured list. He’ll face the White Sox next week.

It was Bednar’s 20th straight scoreless appearance. His last blown save came way back on May 17. This was Bednar’s second straight day pitching, so he’ll likely be off Sunday. Fernando Cruz might get a chance to close then.

Keller had thrown six innings his last two times out for Triple-A Lehigh Valley, but the Phillies didn’t ask for nearly that much from him tonight. He did a nice job is throwing first-pitch strikes to nine of 11 batters and allowing only two hits, so he should get to stick around for now. He might start next time through, though the Phillies are hoping to fill the opening in their rotation with an acquisition prior to the trade deadline.