MLB Player News

One day after being demoted off the active roster, the A’s removed Alexander from the 40-man roster to reinstate Michael Kelly off the suspended list. Alexander will hit the waiver wire, and could see interest for a team needing added infield depth.

Bryan King started the ninth inning after throwing nine pitches in the eighth. He retired the first two batters of the final frame before allowing a single to Orlando Arcia that forced him out of the game. Abreu came in and promptly hit Luke Keaschall and then threw a wild pitch to get runners on second and third. However, he responded by getting Byron Buxton to foul out to third base to end the game and secure his third save of the season. It hasn’t been easy, but Abreu is pitching better of late and is clearly back in the saves mix until Josh Hader returns in a few weeks.

It seems two pitches are sufficient when they’re as good as Burns’ heater and slider. Trea Turner’s solo homer in the third was the only damage against the 22-year-old. Burns reached triple digits with his fastball four times tonight and got 18 whiffs, 14 of which came on the 33 sliders he threw. Of note is that the last pitch Burns threw tonight produced a comebacker from Bryce Harper that got him pretty good on the leg but which he still turned into an out to end the sixth. His outing was over regardless, but no word yet if the bruise he’s sporting will pose any future problems. He’s 6-1 with a 1.83 ERA, and he’ll face the Mets next time out.

Santillan got Trea Turner to hit a foul popup and then struck out Bryce Harper and Alec Bohm in his first one-two-three inning since Apr. 18. He entered tonight with a 16.62 ERA and five homers allowed in 4 1/3 innings this month, making it pretty surprising that Terry Francona saved him for the ninth. Since it worked, consider Santillan to be in the driver’s seat for saves in Cincinnati, at least until he blows another one.

The runs came in the fourth after the Reds loaded the bases with no outs and then settled for a pair of sac flies. As it turned out, that was enough to drop Luzardo to 3-4 on the season. It’s the sixth time in 10 starts that Luzardo has allowed two runs or fewer. Unfortunately, he’s given up 24 earned runs in the other four. He’ll likely face the Padres on Monday.

Ouch. Hayes is hitting a pretty incredible .142/.195/.225 through 128 plate appearances. Statcast thinks he’s been extremely unlucky, as he entered tonight with a .262 xBA and a .417 xSLG. He has underachieved some on his xSLG previously, but never like this, and his average and xBA have always matched up very closely prior to this year. Hayes also has a career-best 16 percent strikeout rate. So, he’s probably not going to continue to be anywhere near this bad. It’s just hard to sell Reds fans on that idea right now.

García has fanned 15 times during a 1-for-29 slump that’s dropped his OPS to .612. He hasn’t fared too badly when he’s made contact and he’s sporting a 50 percent hard-hit rate, but this is ugly right now. He should be in the lineup against a left-hander on Wednesday, but if this continues, maybe he’ll do some sitting in favor of Otto Kemp against righties this weekend.

Paredes took Zebby Matthews deep in the first inning for what would be the only runs of the day for the Astros. The 27-year-old is up to five home runs and 20 RBI on the season. Now that he’s in a full-time role, he needs to be added in more formats.

The Mets were up 5-0 early on, but Wood kickstarted the comeback in the bottom of the second inning with a long drive to left field which deflected off a leaping Nick Morabito’s glove and bounced toward center field. Wood rounded the bases in 15.1 seconds for the second inside-the-park grand slam in Nationals history. It was also the first inside-the-park grand slam in all of MLB since Raimel Tapia in 2022. Wood, who also singled twice, is now up to 13 homers and 34 RBI to go along with a .259/.399/.534 batting line. He’s a big reason why the Nationals have been one of the most potent offenses in baseball this season.

All three of Bell’s hits were singles, but one of them plated a run in the eighth inning. It was his 29th RBI of the season, and Bell is now 6-for-8 with five RBI in the first two games of this series.

Revenge is sweet. Lovelady, who has had multiple stints with the Mets and pitched for them earlier this season, shut down his former team on just 10 pitches. The southpaw struck out Carson Benge swinging to end it. Despite some shaky control, Loveland has emerged as a key piece in the Nationals’ bullpen with a 2.03 ERA over 13 appearances. It’s worth noting that Gus Varland threw two innings on Monday and was unavailable, but Lovelady is giving Blake Butera an alternative for save chances.