MLB Player News

There’s no room for Walton with New York’s overcrowded infield mix so they’ve decided to ship him to the division-rival Phillies where he’ll have more of an opportunity to get back to the big leagues. The 31-year-old utility specialist has only appeared in just nine major-league games over the last three years. He’s merely organizational fodder at this juncture of his career.

Jason Foley and Caleb Kilian finished up with hitless frames. Roupp recorded just two strikeouts and five whiffs on 44 swings, but aside from Luke Raley’s 400-foot flyout in the second, he gave up little loud contact. After going 0-7 between May and June, Roupp has opened July with consecutive wins, allowing just one run over 15 innings in the process. He has a favorable matchup in Kansas City next week.

Miller left a splitter up to Bryce Eldridge in the fifth, and Eldridge drilled it out to center for a two-run homer. The unearned run came after he exited in the sixth, an inning that featured an error by Colt Emerson before Miller departed and an error by Cole Young afterwards. Even though he was on seven days’ rest, Miller’s velocity was again down tonight; he averaged 95.1 mph, matching his season low from his final start before the break. 95.1 mph was also his career average through the end of 2025, so it doesn’t spell doom. Still, there’s less reason for excitement now than when he was averaging 96.4 mph in his first nine outings. Miller will likely make his next start Friday against the Rangers.

Adames’ shot to right center in the seventh inning was the first homer allowed by Nick Davila in 20 1/3 innings since he debuted in May. It’s his seventh career grand slam. He’s driven in nine runs in 11 games this month.

Not only did Cavanaugh stick around over veteran Eric Haase with Daniel Susac coming off the IL today, but he got the start over Susac to open the second half. The 24-year-old is hitting .265/.390/.265 in 42 plate appearances since joining the Giants on June 26. He’ll probably spend the rest of the year dueling with Susac for playing time

Emerson is 3-for-28 with no extra-base hits and 13 strikeouts this month, dropping his OPS from .749 to .658. That’s still not a disaster, but Statcast thought he was awfully lucky during his first six weeks in the majors, and he has one of the league’s lowest xwOBAs since arriving. With Brendan Donovan on the way back, it’s possible Emerson could be in line for additional Triple-A time at some point.

Baseball is a funny game. After the Padres put up three runs in the top of the 10th, the Royals rallied for four in the bottom of the inning on four weakly hit balls that all barely left the infield. Jensen got the biggest of those to walk it off, and he himself had an odd game. He smoked two doubles a bit earlier – including one off Mason Miller – but a knubber through the hole won it. It’s been a very hot month for him overall with five home runs and an .856 OPS over his last 30 games.

Lange was one out away from securing this save until Ty France launched a solo home run to tie the game. This came after Lange imploded and allowed five runs in the bottom of the eighth inning against the Mets in his last outing before the All-Star break. It feels like his grasp on this closer role should be tenuous.

It felt dicey at times, but Lugo grinded his way to a quality start here. While he allowed nine hard-hit balls, most of those were on the ground as he did a good job of keeping the ball low. It was also fun to see the wily vet reach back and pull out four of his eight hardest pitches – and his only one above 95 mph – in a fifth inning where the Padres rallied. He now has a 4.39 ERA with 89 walks and 36 strikeouts through 110 2/3 innings on the season and is lined up to face the Giants at home next time out.

Down by one run with two outs in the ninth inning, France socked a 421 foot home run off Alex Lange to send this game to extra innings. The Padres’ bullpen imploded in the bottom of the 10th, but it was still a great moment for France. That was his 12th home run of the season to go along with a .268/.328/.502 slash line through 71 games.

King pitched to a solid final line here, but it came with more of the unevenness that’s defined his season. He didn’t locate his fastball or sinker particularly well and the Royals made hard-contact against each. He also hung a sweeper that Lane Thomas belted for a 445 foot homer and let too many of his changeups float away from left-handed batters. His stuff is good enough to keep him solid, but command is the thing holding him back from the ace-ceiling he’s shown in the past. He’s scheduled to face the Braves in Atlanta next time out.