MLB Player News

Murphy will require a trip to the injured list at the start of the season while he continues working his way back from last year’s hip surgery. The 31-year-old backstop’s absence leads to Drake Baldwin, who posted a near-75 percent hard hit rate during spring training, shouldering an even larger share of the catching duties for Atlanta.

Despite very diminished velocity, Woodruff still acts like a power pitcher out there. In the first inning, he only threw four-seam fastballs. Yet, they sat near 91 mph. It was only those fastballs and a smattering of sinkers during his first trip around the Pirates’ order. The only problem was that he didn’t have his best command here. So, mixing up lots of low-90s fastballs that mostly wound up in the heart of the zone did not yield good results. His velocity did tick up as the game wore on, so there’s no cause for alarm with his slow start. Also, it’s worth noting that this was the third time in five starts so far this season where he was pulled before reaching 75 pitches. He wasn’t pitching particularly poorly in any of those either, so it may just be a maneuver by the Brewers to manage his workload. He’s scheduled to face the Diamondbacks next time out.

Rutschman cleared the wall in right-center to knock in Taylor Ward in the first inning, then followed it up with another blast down the right field line in the fourth inning to chase the beleaguered Brayan Bello. He added another RBI on a ground out and yet another in the seventh on a single. Rutschman was already having a pretty solid year at the plate before spending time on the IL -- this game sent his seasonal line to .349/.417/.698 with three homers. That’ll play.

He kick-started the festivities with a leadoff homer that bounced in front of the warehouse in right field and added a pair of other singles that he would eventually come around to score on. Henderson badly needed a game like this -- even with it, he’s at .182/.247/.424 over his last 15 games. The four homers and three stolen bases over that timespan are nice, but fantasy managers didn’t invest in Henderson early to watch him flirt with the Mendoza line at .207, with 37 strikeouts in 111 at-bats.

His 403-foot shot to right-center barely cleared the deepest part of Camden Yards while also being a homer in 29 of 30 parks. Abreu’s hot start carried him closer to the middle of the order -- but he’s still hitting just .218/.306/.291 in his last 15 games even after this outburst. Boston’s problem is that, well, nobody else is really hitting well enough to push Abreu back down the lineup anyway. With an .845 OPS, it’s hard to be upset with the performance for his draft price, but Abreu’s .269/.321/.346 line against lefties continues to loudly speak to the idea that he should be a platoon player.

Yennier Cano stranded a runner left on second base in the sixth inning, but Young pitched effectively backwards with his splitter and slider as primary pitches. The 10 hard-hit balls also point to this being an outing that was more lucky than good, but it’s good to be lucky. If he remains in the rotation, Young looks likely to draw the Astros next week.

The Orioles ran out of fireworks for their home runs. We’re not even kidding about that, that actually happened. None of these homers were cheapies either -- 410 feet, 395 feet, 411 feet, 395 feet, and 393 feet, and of the five, all of them would have been homers in at least 27 of 30 stadiums. The Orioles simply crushed Bello’s fastballs, be they sinker, cutter, or 4-seam, for all 11 of his hard-hit balls allowed. This is Bello’s first true disaster start of the season, but he’d be a tough stream at this point with his 9.00 ERA. A date with the Blue Jays awaits next week.

Kikuchi’s record now sits at 0-3 on the season. The veteran lefty got off to a strong start in this one, retiring the side in order in the first inning while keeping the Royals off the board until the fourth. Things came apart in the fourth frame for Kikuchi after he allowed two of the first three batters he faced to reach base, which led to Bobby Witt Jr. scoring on a fielder’s choice. The Royals would then string together four straight hits, including back-to-back doubles, to push their lead to 5-0. Kikuchi would pitch a scoreless fifth before exiting, but the damage had already been done. He’ll have a good chance to pick up his first win of the season next Wednesday when he takes the mound against the White Sox.

Suarez continues to fill in admirably for Rasiel Iglesias, picking up two saves in his last three games while holding the opposing offense at bay. Suarez felt the heat a bit in this one, allowing a leadoff walk to Treat Turner and a two-out single to Adolis Garcia. A wild pitch would put both runners in scoring position, but a groundout by Brandon Marsh ended the threat and secured the win for the Braves. Suarez remains the top option to fill the Braves’ closer role as long as Iglesias is sidelined.

Acuña hit a 420-foot shot off Andrew Painter in the bottom of the third inning to tie the game at 2-2. It’s just the second homer of the season for Acuña, who has struggled to find his power in the early part of this season. The righty has just two extra-base hits in his last nine games and just one multi-hit game over that span. Hopefully, this latest homer is the spark he needs to get on track after his slow start.

Turner sent his third homer of the season 394 feet into the stands to give the Phillies a 2-0 lead in the top of the third inning. It was the third homer of the season for Turner, who has struggled at the plate this first month of the season. The veteran shortstop is slashing a paltry .190/.288/.362 in his last 15 games and hasn’t recorded a multi-hit game since April 12th. We would expect him to get out of this slump sooner or later, but Turner is becoming increasingly harder to trust while he irons things out.