MLB Player News

Kaiser heads back to Arizona with veteran outfielder Lourdes Gurriel Jr. set to miss the rest of the season with a torn ACL in his right knee. The 28-year-old infielder went 2-for-14 with a pair of RBI in five games with the Diamondbacks last month.

Cholowsky had gone 6-for-36 with a homer and seven walks in nine games for High-A Winston Salem. He’ll probably return there for the start of next year, but he might be in Double-A before long.

Carlson, who turned 20 in July, is still best known for his defense at shortstop right now. He hit .256/.388/.338 with no homers and 13 steals in 57 games for Low-A Kannapolis.

Not a bad effort at all considering that Lukes wasn’t even in Toronto’s lineup to open the contest. He entered as a pinch-hitter in the fourth inning and immediately delivered an RBI single to extended the Blue Jays’ early lead. He wound up supplying a pivotal insurance run when he took Yankees rookie reliever Bradley Hanner deep in the eighth inning for his eighth round-tripper of the season. With the victory, Toronto pulls within one game of the Rangers for the final AL Wild Card playoff spot.

García got New York back within a single run by taking Blue Jays side-winding reliever Tyler Rogers deep in the eighth inning. It was his second big fly in his last three games and third time leaving the yard in 16 games since coming over from the Nationals at the trade deadline.

Varland got the call to protect a one-run lead in the final frame at Yankee Stadium and managed to work around a leadoff double by Jazz Chisholm Jr. to preserve the narrow victory. He struck out Austin Wells, coaxed a ground ball from José Caballero and struck out Trent Grisham to strand the potential tying run in scoring position. The 28-year-old has been a revelation this season, converting 29 of 30 save chances to go along with a microscopic 1.22 ERA and 82/18 K/BB ratio across 66 1/3 innings of work. He’s one save away from becoming the sixth stopper to reach the 30-save plateau this season.

Cease walked five batters and managed to keep a no-hit bid alive until Jazz Chisholm Jr. singled on his 106th pitch of the contest with two outs in the seventh inning. He finished with eight strikeouts in his second consecutive outing against New York. The 30-year-old All-Star righty has allowed three earned runs or fewer in nine consecutive starts since July 3. He’ll carry a stellar 2.37 ERA, 1.06 WHIP and 209/64 K/BB ratio across 144 1/3 innings into a face off against the struggling Mariners in his next start on Friday.

The 23-year-old Sears only just made his Triple-A debut, throwing 9 2/3 scoreless innings in two starts at the level. He previously has a 2.57 ERA in nine outings in Double-A. It’s possible he’ll just be up for the one outing. The Tigers have next Thursday off, so they probably wouldn’t need him again next weekend.

Pages had been alternating between hitting second and third of late. Betts, who had mostly been batting fifth recently, has reached six times in his last two games, but that still leaves him with just a .295 OBP on the season. Eventually, it might be Will Smith hitting third to help break up the lefties.

Mullins has occasionally hit eighth against lefties, but this is just the second time this season he’s hit this low against a righty; he hit ninth against one on May 29. Mullins is batting just .207/.285/.353 on 422 plate appearances. He’d probably be a backup by now if Jacob Melton had been able to stay healthy in Triple-A.

He’s sitting even after going 3-for-5 with a homer last night. It’s unclear if this is easing Lawlar in as he returns from the IL or if sitting him against righties is just part of the plan. Things are also complicated by Nolan Arenado being locked into the DH spot at the moment. Lawlar has mixed-league upside while healthy, but he’s probably not a great bet here for the final five weeks.