MLB Player News

Nastrini was claimed off waivers on July 1, and hits the waiver wire a little over a week later. A former top prospect, Nastrini could see interest again on the wire, but if not he’ll report back to Triple-A Jacksonville.

As of now, the Royals are taking things day-to-day with Garcia, who was pulled from Tuesday’s game due to left hand soreness. There’s a chance that he winds up spending time on the injured list for this though. Nick Loftin will once again start in his place at the hot corner and will bat seventh for the Royals against Cardinals’ left-hander Matthew Liberatore.

With left-hander Noah Cameron toeing the slab for the Royals, Nootbaar will get a breather. Fellow left-handed hitters Jimmy Crooks and Nathan Church are also out of the Cardinals’ lineup on Thursday. Nelson Velazquez will start in Nootbaar’s place in left field and will bat cleanup for the Cardinals on Thursday night in Kansas City.

Guerrero’s homer, his first in a month and a day, was a 410-foot drive barely over the deepest section of the Green Monster in left center. We wouldn’t say just yet that he’s warming up, but it did give him his first three-RBI series since Apr. 17-19 against the D-backs.

Yesavage took a 3-1 lead into the eighth, only to give up back-to-back homers to Isiah Kiner-Falefa and Caleb Durbin to start the inning. As sharp as he was through seven, one imagines he still would have been lifted from the game prior to the eighth if the Jays hadn’t used all three of their top relievers to secure wins on Tuesday and Wednesday, leaving them unavailable today. It doesn’t seem like a major cause for concern, but Yesavage has now given up five homers in three starts after allowing none in his first seven outings. He’ll take a 3.76 ERA into his next start at home against the Astros.

Louis Varland, Tyler Rogers and Jeff Hoffman all had this one off after working the previous two days. That seemed like it might come back to bite the Blue Jays, but Tommy Nance and Fluharty retired five of six batters in relief of Trey Yesavage to conclude a 4-3 win. Fluharty eliminated Wilyer Abreu, Willson Contreras and Jarren Duran without even breaking a sweat, inducing three balls in play with a combined xBA of .050. It was his second career save since debuting last year. He also has three wins and 10 holds to go along with a 3.64 ERA this season.

Homers from Vladimir Guerrero Jr. in the first and Nathan Lukes in the seventh bookended the outing. Gray allowed six hits, walked one and struck out four. It’s his sixth quality start in his last seven tries, though the Red Sox fell to 9-4 in his starts. He’ll face the Rockies in Coors Field next week, but he still seems like a solid enough play. It’ll be just his second career start there; he allowed one run over seven innings and struck out nine while pitching for the Reds there in 2019.

Chapman gave up two hits; a tapper down the third-base line from Ernie Clement and then a wind-aided double that bounced off the Green Monster. Even the hitter, Brandon Valenzuela, thought it was just a routine fly off the bat. Earlier in the at-bat, Valenzuela popped up a ball at the plate, but Connor Wong struggled to deal with it in the sun and the wind and it fell foul. It has to go down as one of the cheapest losses of Chapman’s career. The run he allowed was his first since Apr. 4.

Giménez came down a little awkwardly on what turned out to be an infield single and was checked on by the trainer. He was going to be lifted for a pinch-hitter in a tie game in the ninth, but after the preceding batter, Nathan Lukes, gave the Jays the lead, the team changed its mind about going to Alejandro Kirk and let Giménez pop out against Aroldis Chapman. Giménez will probably be fine, but if he’s not in Friday’s lineup, his shoulder will likely be the reason.

Kiner-Falefa’s homer off Trey Yesavage gave the Red Sox their third run of the three-game series and was immediately followed by Caleb Durbin going back-to-back to tie the game at 3-3. The RBI was Kiner-Falefa’s first since June 3. At .277/.344/.361, he’s one of the few Red Sox hitters exceeding expectations this year. He’s actually ahead of his career-high .699 OPS from 58 games in 2020.

The versatile 27-year-old is the son of Jose Cruz Jr. and the grandson of Jose Cruz. Selected by the Tigers in the third round of the 2020 draft, this will be the first trip to the big leagues for Cruz. He was slashing just .228/.326/.333 with two homers, 16 RBI, one stolen base and a 39/18 K/BB ratio over 144 plate appearances at Triple-A Toledo. He’ll provide the Tigers with versatility off the bench.