MLB Player News

Doyle’s four-game absence is finally over. The centerfielder injured his shoulder making an excellent diving catch in his last appearance Tuesday, but the Rockies had not been forthcoming with the information that an injury was the reason Doyle had been held out of the lineup. He has seven hits in his last three appearances, so it shouldn’t have been performance-related.

Moniak has been shelved since May 22 due to a right ankle tendinitis. Schaeffer noted the Moniak is making strides in his recovery which could mean that a minor league rehab assignment could be in the cards soon. The 28-year-old slugger was hitting .280/.335/.607 with 12 homers and 28 RBI in 164 plate appearances before landing on the injured list.

Marte hit is first homer of the season in the bottom of the second inning off of Eduardo Rodriguez to give the Reds an early 1-0 lead. His homer would account for one of only two runs the Reds managed on the evening. Despite drawing nine walks on the night, the Reds managed just four hits and came up short on multiple occasions with runners in scoring position. Marte has hit well since being recalled from the minors in June. The 24-year-old outfielder is slashing .316/.381/.526 in 19 at-bats this month and will hopefully continue to find his stride after tearing up Triple-A pitching.

It was one of the better outings of the season for Lodolo, who struck out three batters through his first two innings of work. He struggled a bit with his command in this one, hitting three batters on the night. One of those hit batters was Jordan Lawlar, who would take his base after the HBP and later come around to score in the sixth inning to tie the game at 2-2. Lodolo continues to look better than the player we saw earlier in the season, showing better command of the strike zone while also allowing just three earned runs or fewer in four of his last five starts. We’ll see if he can string together another good start on Wednesday when he takes on the Mets.

Rodriguez struggled with his command early in this one. He threw 40 pitches and walked three batters in the first inning, but somehow managed to escape the frame after forcing back-to-back flyouts to end a bases-loaded threat. Rodriguez would allow a leadoff homer to Noelvi Marte to start the second inning, and he only recorded two outs in the third before being pulled with a runner on and 85 pitches thrown. The five walks Rodriguez allowed are the most he has allowed in any game this season. We’ll assume this was just a bad night, and he’ll regain his command in his next start, which is scheduled for Wednesday against the Angels.

Espinal singled in the second inning off of Anthony Kay to put the Dodgers up 2-0. It would be the only two runs the Dodgers would score on the day, as Kay and the White Sox’s bullpen held the Dodgers to just four total hits on the day while allowing only one walk. Espinal served as the Dodgers’ designated hitter on Friday with Shohei Ohtani (knee) out of the lineup. If Ohtani returns to the lineup on Saturday, Espinal will likely be returned to the bench.

Benintendi hit his seventh homer of the season off of Roki Sasaki in the first inning to give the White Sox an early 1-0 lead. It was the only homer the White Sox would manage on the evening despite an eight-run outburst that included a five-run fifth inning against Dodgers starter Roki Sasaki. Benintendi is slashing .250/.382/.571 on the month with three homers and six RBI.

This was a jaw-dropping performance. There was never a moment where Misiorowski wasn’t in complete control and was one Kyle Schwarber single away from throwing a perfect game. That inning ended with a double play so in the end, Misiorowski faced only the minimum 27 batters. He struck out eight of the first nine batters and in the first inning specifically, his fastball averaged 104 mph. Yes, 104 mph! Just completely ridiculous. It only took him 52 total pitches to reach that point too. From there, the Brewers had opened up a big lead and he was more shooting for outs rather than strikeouts, but this was still as dominant a start as we’ve seen from any pitcher in quite some time. Possibly most impressively, he mostly just leaned on that fastball. He threw it 73% of the time, it averaged 102 mph, and it forced 23 of his 25 total swings-and-misses. The final five he threw were all at least 103 mph and it looked like he had a few more scoreless innings in him if the game called for it. It’s becoming difficult not to call him the best pitcher in baseball at this point with that kind of velocity, drastically improved command, a 1.34 ERA, and a 131 to 22 strikeout to walk ratio across 96 innings this season. Misiorowski is scheduled to send the Guardians to the buzzsaw next.

Bauers crushed a three-run shot off Andrew Painter as Jacob Misiorowski decimated the Phillies on the other side. That longball was Bauers’ 13th of the season – a new career-best – along with 43 RBI and a .277/.376/.515 slash-line across 58 games in a somewhat shocking mid-career breakout.

Oftentimes, a player going 1-for-3 with a single is not notable enough to make it into these recaps. Yet, this was a special occasion because Schwarber’s fourth inning single was the only thing that wound up standing between Jacob Misiorowski and a perfect game here. Funny enough, he was immediately erased by a double play. He now has a .240 batting average and .930 OPS in another standout season.

Painter’s struggles continued here. Even as the Phillies tried to take some pressure off him by having him follow an opener, he still wasn’t even close to being effective. After mixing up his repertoire a good bit over his last few outings, he refocused on his fastball and slider and threw them a combined 77% of the time. Last time out, they combined for just 39% of his total pitches and hung around 50% for the two prior. An adjustment is something, but it didn’t lead to better results and mostly seemed due to the fact that he struggled to command anything else. Sadly, the former top prospect and his 6.43 ERA should not be trusted in any league at this time.