MLB Player News

Gray was set to open the year back at Triple-A Rochester working his way towards a return to Washington’s rotation for the first time since April, 2024. The 28-year-old right-hander’s once-promising career has been derailed by injuries the past couple seasons after making 58 starts for the Nationals from 2022-2023. He was one of the top pitching prospects in baseball roughly a half-decade ago before being shipped from the Dodgers as part of the Trea Turner and Max Scherzer trade back in 2021.

Walker got the Cardinals going early with a run-scoring single in the first inning. Later, he broke this game open with a three-run homer in the fourth to stretch the Cardinals lead out to 7-0. That home run was 17th of the season, which set a new career-high. His 52 RBI after this game also set a new career-high. Both of those marks were set in Walker’s rookie 2023 when he played 117 games. He’s played just a touch more than half that in what’s been a magical breakout season so far for the young slugger.

Alvarez launched a two-run homer here in just his second game off the injured list following a torn meniscus. Most amazingly, that injury only occurred four weeks ago and generally has a six to eight week recovery timeline. He will be a big boost to the Mets’ poor offense and his two-run shot here represented the only two runs they scored in this entire game.

Good grief. Starter, reliever, bulk pitcher, it doesn’t matter which role the Mets deploy Peterson in, he simply does not have it. He entered the game in the second inning and evaded trouble despite allowing two quick hits. Then, Nelson Velázquez and Jordan Walker each homered over the next two frames to put five runs off the board and another Cardinals’ rally in the fifth sent Peterson to the showers. Right now, Peterson has poor stuff and worse command. He and his 5.75 ERA should not be considered in any leagues.

This was yet another frustrating outing for Luzardo. His final line was solid, but he pitched with a comfortable lead from the third inning on and struggled with his efficiency. This was on display in the sixth inning. He had a six run lead, forced a groundout from Vladimir Guerrero Jr. to start the inning, and was at just 79 pitches. Then, he proceeded to walk both Ernie Clement and Kazuma Okamoto before giving up a run-scoring single and was pulled before completing the frame. He remains too reliant on his sweeper, which forced 10 of his 13 total swings-and-misses, when opposing lineups are stacked with right-handed batters. Again, this was a fine start, just one that he made more difficult than it should have been. He’s scheduled to face the Marlins at home next time out.

Duran made sure there would not be late night heroics for the Blue Jays on consecutive nights. Even after giving up two hits. Luckily, the first of which was erased by a double play and Duran put the finishing touches on this one by stunning Kazuma Okamoto with a sprinkler, sweeper, changeup sequence for a strikeout looking. With a 1.99 ERA and 34 strikeouts over 22 2/3 innings he is certainly one of the game’s best closers.

The Phillies’ lineup jumped all over Max Scherzer in this one for six quick runs. A 423 foot, two-run shot from Schwarber was right in the middle of the party. That was his 24th home run of the season, two ahead of Yordan Alvarez for most in the league. His .239 batting average is also nearly identical to where it wound up last year. That’s just fine with him on a 50-homer pace for the second straight season.

The Blue Jays simply did not have enough power to forge a comeback after falling down by six runs early against the Phillies. They chipped away and put some runs on the board, but ultimately couldn’t find that home run to get over the hump. In fact, they didn’t have a single extra-base hit, only eight singles. This is nothing new for Guerrero, who only has two extra-base hits in June and whose last home run came way back on May 17th. Him having just three homers and a .740 OPS in the middle of June is not what we expected.

Scherzer was not sharp at all in his return from the injured list. Bryce Harper wasted little time welcoming him back with a first inning home run and Alec Bohm hit a three-run shot in the third. Scherzer was missing plenty of bats with 13 whiffs, but these same home run issues that have plagued the twilight of his career remain. He’ll take a rough 10.23 ERA and 13 to 12 strikeout to walk ratio over 22 innings into his next scheduled start against the Red Sox at Fenway Park.

All this guy does is hit. Two more singles – both with runners in scoring position – raised his league best batting average to .342 in one of the best stories of this season. A big reason for Lopez’s massive step forward is that he’s hitting the ball harder than he ever has. In this game, he had four hard-hit balls, including one at 111.9 mph. That is harder than he’d ever hit a ball before this season began. Enjoy the ride.

This was both Gusto’s longest major league outing this season and his most effective. He mixed six different pitches and worked the edges of the plate well with each of them. There wasn’t much hard contact either despite him only forcing five swings-and-misses. Also, he worked up to 66 pitches after throwing 40 and then 33 in his two prior outings. He’s lined up to face the Phillies on the road next.