MLB Player News

Moreno has been battling a right hand issue since taking a wild pitch off it back on June 6. It sounds like a precautionary decision to keep him on the bench. Jose Herrera will take over behind the plate during Tuesday’s series opener in Toronto. Fantasy managers should consider him day-to-day for now.

Arenado’s homer off Brent Headrick in the fifth gave the D-backs a 6-4 lead. He’d actually had his first slam bid go barely foul one pitch earlier. Arenado has three grand slams this year after totaling just six in his first 13 seasons. He had only one from 2019-25.

All of the runs came on third-inning homers from Heliot Ramos, George Lombard Jr. and Spencer Jones. Burnes averaged 92.7 and 92.5 mph with his cutter in his first two starts back from Tommy John, but he was at 90.9 mph today. With the D-backs likely to be eliminated soon, Burnes might be shut down ahead of his scheduled weekend start against the Padres.

Martinez doesn’t have any saves since returning from elbow surgery, but he’s definitely back looking like a closer. He topped out at 103 mph today. and he’s allowed only two runs — both unearned — and struck out 15 in 11 1'3 innings.

Warren was lifted with a 4-1 lead, the bases loaded and one out in the fifth, and Brent Headrick went on give up a walk and a grand slam before finishing the inning. That took Warren’s season ERA up to 4.02. He might start again next weekend against the Orioles, or the Yankees could take a look at him as a reliever to help determine whether they want him on the postseason roster.

Lombard has two homers in three games and is back up to .235/.290/.386 overall. It seems like a lock that he’ll be the Yankees’ everyday shortstop in the postseason.

Pages will have missed a month with a fractured hand suffered on a HBP. His return will push Tommy Edman back to second base and Alex Freeland to the bench.

Herz is returning from Tommy John and will be making his first major league appearance since Sept. 2024. Since returning last month from a June setback, he has a 4.24 ERA over 17 innings in six minor league starts. He got up to 65 pitches last time out, so four innings would seem to be a realistic expectation for him tomorrow.

Where did that come from? Cronenworth entered with five homers and 31 RBI all season. His only previous two-homer game came in Apr. 2023 against the Brewers. That was also his last five-RBI game. He hadn’t even had a four-RBI game since 2024. The performance raised his OPS this season from .608 to .637. With the win, the Padres stayed five games ahead of the D-backs with six to play.

Buehler was one out away from pitching seven scoreless innings for the first time since Apr. 25, 2022, only to give up a three-run homer to Javier Sanoja on an 0-1 cutter. That was a bummer, but it didn’t stop him from improving to 9-6 with a 4.56 ERA. Even though he’s pretty obviously been a below average starter, the Padres are 21-10 with him on the mound. They’re 15-16 in Michael King’s starts, even though he has a 3.03 ERA. Buehler is in line to face the D-backs on Saturday.

Alcantara was back down to 97 mph with his fastball and sinker today after averaging 100.4 mph in his relief appearance, and he gave up four runs for the fifth consecutive start. He’s now gone six weeks without winning, and his ERA is up to 3.91 as he prepares to face the Braves in his final start of the year.