MLB Player News

The 40-year-old right-hander came out of Friday’s rehab outing feeling good and experienced only normal fatigue from the start after throwing 56 pitches. He’ll throw a side session on Sunday before rejoining the Bisons for another start on Wednesday. If all goes well with that one, he could then get clearance to return to the Blue Jays’ rotation.

What a moment for Gonzalez to hit his first career home run. He launched a 428 foot blast off Phillies’ starter Andrew Painter into the upper deck at Citizens Bank Park to extend his squad’s lead to 6-0. Now, after one week of major league action, Gonzalez is 6-for-19 with four RBI, two walks, and four strikeouts as Munetaka Murakami’s replacement at first base. After years of minor league struggles, the former first round pick credits a change to his swing mechanics that’s helped him find significantly more power. His batted ball data at Triple-A back up that story and he’s an incredibly interesting player.

Watching an inning like this from Taylor can give a baseball fan goosebumps. He made mincemeat of Adolis García, Edmundo Sosa, and Kyle Schwarber with three strikeouts and was in control the entire time. He was up 0-2 on all three hitters, regularly flashed triple digits with his fastball, and forced six swings-and-misses in just one inning of work. If he’s ever unleashed as the White Sox’s full-time closer, he’d instantly be one of the nastiest in the league. His last save came nearly three weeks ago though, so be on the lookout if he actually takes this job over.

Following opener Brandon Eisert – which Burke has rarely done this season – he did not have a great outing here. His strikeout stuff was working and each his fastball and slider forced at least four swings-and-misses, but there was either too much nibbling or he was just too focused on hunting those strikeouts. His five walks were his most in any start this season, including two in a row in the sixth inning to set-up a Phillies’ rally. Still, there are reasons to be encouraged by his season as a whole with a 3.88 ERA and a 67 to 23 strikeout to walk ratio across 69 2/3 in total. He’s scheduled to face the Dodgers and Yankees in his next two starts, so he’ll have his work cut out for him.

After going down 6-0 early, Marsh tried to help the Phillies claw their way back into this one with his sixth inning home run. They still wound up losing by a few runs, but Marsh got his. The home run was his seventh of the season and double was his 11th. All in all, he’s leading the National League with a .335 batting average and has an .870 OPS in what’s quietly been a phenomenal season to this point.

It was more of the same here for Painter in another poor outing. The White Sox jumped all over him for four runs in the first inning after their first four batters reached base via two walks, a hit batsmen, and a single. Then, he almost squirmed out of it with just two runs on the board before an 11-pitch battle with Tristan Peters ended with a two-out, two-run double. Then, he gave up two solo home runs in the third and was pulled with runners on second and third in the fifth before Tanner Banks cleaned up his mess. Despite mixing up his repertoire lately to try and hide his subpar fastball, good results have not followed for Painter who left this outing with a rough 6.21 ERA on the season. He’s scheduled to face the Brewers next time out.

Polanco was supposed to play again Saturday after going 0-for-2 with two walks for Triple-A Syracuse on Friday, but either player or team decided that was a bad idea. He’ll be reevaluated in New York.

Nootbaar was intentionally walked after hitting for Pedro Pagés in the sixth inning today. In a lefty-lefty matchup with Sam Moll in the eighth, he crushed an 83-mph sweeper 433 feet for his first homer of 2026 and 10th homer in 509 career plate appearances versus southpaws. No one would have been surprised in Nootbaar started slowly in his return from multiple surgeries, but he has two barrels and three hits through seven at-bats. Since he probably won’t start against lefties in the short term, his fantasy upside would seem to be limited. But we’ll see.

It’s the fourth time in five starts that Liberatore, whose velocity was down one mph today, has allowed at least three runs while getting no more than 15 outs. The Cardinals won anyway, so they’re 9-4 when he pitches this season, even though his ERA stands at 4.48 and he’s completed six innings only three times. He’ll pitch in Minnesota next weekend.

O’Brien is making things way too interesting of late, but he managed a scoreless ninth after allowing two singles and a walk with two outs in the ninth today. The walk today was O’Brien’s fifth in six appearances after he issued just two in his first 22 outings. He’s 16-for-20 saving games this season.

Lodolo gave up five singles in a three-run second inning. The third was a bunt, and the fourth was one that a better right fielder than Noelvi Marte would have caught. The remaining damage against Lodolo was a Jordan Walker homer in the fifth. He remained in to start the sixth, but he was pulled after a single and an Eugenio Suárez error. Fortunately, Tejay Antone halted the rally from there. Lodolo was pretty good in his previous two starts, but he’s still struggling to settle into a groove here after missing the first several weeks with a blister. He’ll take a 5.51 ERA into a home start against the D-backs next Friday.