MLB Player News

Just an odd day. Clark’s misses came back-to-back in the first inning. He whiffed on a Matt Olson popup, which was scored generously as a single, and then had Austin Riley’s fly to the warning track go off his glove and bounce over the wall for an error. One batter later, he wound up with the ball again, having collected Ozzie Albies’ groundball double that went down the line and bounced off the side wall, and he slipped while making a poor throw to second. Finally, the one time he reached base, he had to be told to go to first, since he didn’t realize it was ball four (the scoreboard said it was 3-1, so that wasn’t so much his fault). Clark, who is Baseball America’s No. 6 overall prospect, is likely to open this season back in Double-A.

Wells’ homer off Brian Keller tonight was projected at 430 feet. That’s a new career high by seven feet and a season high by a whopping 34 feet. It was his seventh homer in 237 plate appearances this year. He had 21 homers in 448 plate appearances last season.

Weathers, whose velocity was up 1-1.5 mph from his season averages tonight, has his July victory after also getting one apiece in April, May and June. He deserves a little better than a 4-7 record for his 4.25 ERA in 20 starts, and the Yankees have gone 10-10 with him on the mound. He seems to be clearly ahead of Will Warren in the Yankees’ thoughts right now, which might prove important when Carlos Rodón is ready to come off the injured list. He’ll face the White Sox next week.

It was Bednar’s 20th straight scoreless appearance. His last blown save came way back on May 17. This was Bednar’s second straight day pitching, so he’ll likely be off Sunday. Fernando Cruz might get a chance to close then.

Keller had thrown six innings his last two times out for Triple-A Lehigh Valley, but the Phillies didn’t ask for nearly that much from him tonight. He did a nice job is throwing first-pitch strikes to nine of 11 batters and allowing only two hits, so he should get to stick around for now. He might start next time through, though the Phillies are hoping to fill the opening in their rotation with an acquisition prior to the trade deadline.

Chisholm is 1-for-12 in his last three games after homering twice Monday against the Pirates. His strikeout rate is currently at 30.2 percent, which would be the second highest mark of his career. He came in at 30.8 percent in 2023 before finishing at 24.5 percent and 27.9 percent the last two years. With the increased strikeout rate, he’s batting just .223, which is 25 points lower than his career mark.

Díaz led off the bottom of the first with a base hit, then doubled in the fifth before scoring the team’s first run on a double by Junior Caminero. The 34-year-old slugger remains one of the best pure hitters around, slashing .306/.381/.465 with 14 homers, 57 runs scored, and 61 RBI across 441 plate appearances.

Baker got the call in the ninth to close out the game against the Guardians with a three-run lead. He worked around a base hit, inducing three weak fly outs to end the game, securing the win for the Rays and Baker’s 27th save of the season.

Martinez was outstanding against the Guardians on Saturday, holding them scoreless over six easy frames. He scattered four hits and did not walk a batter, tossing 60 of 84 pitches for strikes. He struck out five. The 35-year-old right-hander will take a 2.45 ERA, 1.10 WHIP, and a 67/20 K/BB ratio across 117 1/3 innings into a start against the White Sox in Tampa Bay on Friday.

Bibee stranded six baserunners through four scoreless innings before the Rays broke through in the fifth. Three hits and a sacrifice fly would put two runs on the board for Tampa Bay. The Rays would plate one more run in the sixth before Bibee’s day was done. He finished with a quality start, striking out five in the loss. The 27-year-old right-hander will take a 3.89 ERA, 1.18 WHIP, and a 97/37 K/BB ratio across 125 innings into a start against the Diamondbacks in Cleveland on Friday.

Bellinger came up a little lame while running out a double in the top of the eighth. He stayed in to run and waved off the trainer when they started to pay him a visit on the basepaths, but he didn’t come back out for defense afterwards. If Bellinger needs to miss some time, the Yankees would likely recall Spencer Jones.