MLB Player News

Johnson will get the chance to stick around as a middle reliever after serving as a 27th man in Wednesday’s doubleheader. He’s allowed one run in four innings for the Phillies this season. He had a 4.43 ERA and a 53/26 K/BB in 42 2/3 innings in Triple-A.

The 372-foot homer off Beau Brieske was Montgomery’s first since he homered in three straight games from May 14-16. He was 3-for-29 with 13 strikeouts from May 17-25, but he seems to have snapped out of that little skid with eight hits in his last five games.

Wenceel Pérez’s third-inning homer was the only damage. Kay left after a walk and an error to begin the sixth, but fortunately for him, the White Sox didn’t mess around and turned right to Grant Taylor, who successfully negotiated the jam. It’s third straight start in which Kay has allowed exactly one earned run, and he’s 4-0 with a 1.65 ERA in his last five turns. We still wouldn’t want to bet on him in mixed leagues, but it’s been quite a run for the 31-year-old. He’ll make his next start in Philadelphia.

Some interesting bullpen usage for the White Sox today, as Grant Taylor came in during the sixth with a 2-1 and escaped a jam for Anthony Kay. He then worked a scoreless seventh. It was a 4-1 game when Domínguez entered, but it doesn’t seem likely that he would have been asked for a two-inning save after working a scoreless ninth in a tie game Friday. Perhaps Bryan Hudson would have been in line for a save, but it proved moot after the White Sox made it a 7-1 game in line for the ninth. Trevor Richards finished up at that point. Hudson could still get a save Sunday, since we assume both Domínguez and Taylor will be unavailable.

Valdez got into all kinds of trouble at the start of the game, allowing a leadoff double and two walks before a run-scoring wild pitch. Still, he limited the damage to two runs and the proceeded to hold the White Sox scoreless through the sixth. He came back out for the seventh and gave up a leadoff homer to Edgar Quero and then eventually a double and an RBI single before being pulled. That cost him what would have been his eighth quality start in 12 tries. With the Tigers hardly scoring at all, Valdez is 0-3 in May and 2-4 overall. He’ll face Seattle on Friday.

With left-hander Framber Valdez on the mound for Detroit, this is a game that Benintendi probably would not have started if not for Munetaka Murakami’s injury. He did double off Valdez, though, before eventually putting the game away with a two-run homer off Beau Breiske that made it 7-1 in the eighth. Benintendi struck out in his other two at-bats. He is hitting .236/.283/.388 with four homers through 181 plate appearances.

This could have been an awkward bobblehead day if not for Kyle Teel’s setback, as there’s a good chance Quero, who has been splitting time evenly with Drew Romo, would have been in Triple-A at this point. The home run off Framber Valdez was just his second of the year, and he’s batting .196/.280/.259 in 134 plate appearances.

Lawlar will likely require a couple weeks of rehab contests to get back up to speed before rejoining Arizona’s lineup. The 23-year-old former top prospect was showing some really positive signs at the plate before hitting the injured list with a fractured right wrist back on April 3.

Crooks got into 15 games for the Cardinals last season and finally got another call up to the big leagues earlier this week after hitting .262/.412/.567 with 13 homers in 39 games for Triple-A Memphis. The 24-year-old offers enough offensive upside that he’s worth monitoring in deeper mixed leagues. He’s unlikely to wrestle enough starts away from Iván Herrera to make a significant impact.

O’Hearn will return to Pittsburgh’s lineup following a minimum stay on the injured list recovering from a right quad strain. The 32-year-old has hit .289/.368/.459 with seven homers, 29 RBI and one steal in 182 plate appearances over 44 games in his Pirates debut this season.

Kim finds himself glued to the bench after hitting .095 (4-for-42) with zero extra-base hits in 12 games since making his season debut back on May 12. It appears that Atlanta skipper Walt Weiss is going to give Jorge Mateo a chance as the club’s primary shortstop as long as he keeps producing.