MLB Player News

Okamoto takes a seat after striking out four times during Friday’s contest against the White Sox. Ernie Clement takes over at the hot corner with Davis Schneider at the keystone. The 29-year-old third baseman is hitting .250 (11-for-50) with two homers and three RBI through 13 games in his first exposure to the majors.

It was his first of the year and a towering blast that went deep into the left field stands off Foster Griffin. Ozuna started the year off ice cold, hitting .051 in his first 10 games of the season. But he’s now hit in four straight games and is trying to bash his way back into the deep league conversation.

On the plus side, Boyd racked up six strikeouts on the afternoon while allowing only one base on balls. He threw 64 pitches in the contest — 46 of them for strikes — while his fastball topped out at 94.5 mph. The expectation is that he’ll now be cleared to rejoin the Cubs’ rotation next week, likely at the expense of Jaiver Assad.

Griffin gave up plenty of hard contact in this one, and perhaps most disappointingly, gave up a 4-0 lead immediately by allowing an Oneil Cruz RBI double and a three-run blast to Marcell Ozuna that hit off the facade in left field. Griffin did still manage to leave the game with a one-run lead, but Washington’s bullpen immediately squandered it. Nothing about Griffin’s 3.05 ERA has felt sustainable so far and we wouldn’t be excited about streaming him against the Braves next week.

Ashcraft cruised through the first four innings, while allowing just three singles and a walk, but sandwiched a hit by pitch and walk around a double to load the bases in the top of the fifth. Ashcraft struck out James Wood, but a grounder from Luis Garcia Jr. knocked in all three runs when Konnor Griffin tried to take it to the bag himself, was a step late, and then spiked the throw into right field. Ashcraft, not to be outdone, fired a pickoff throw into center field to allow a fourth run. Jorbit Vivas singled in the sixth, chasing Ashcraft, and Pittsburgh’s bullpen allowed the inherited run to come in. Tough one for Ashcraft, as he allowed just three hard-hit balls. He’ll look to bounce back against the Rangers next week.

He didn’t factor into the scoring, stranding a runner on third with nobody out in his one real chance, but Sanchez hit the ball well and took a walk. Luis Rengifo picked up the RBI on a sacrifice fly, and the Brewers would scrounge up their other run with back-to-back-to-back bunts to score a leadoff walk. Sanchez is up to a .273/.429/.758 line in his first 33 plate appearances this season. He’s certainly an interesting short-term catcher candidate with Christian Yelich’s injury opening up DH at-bats.

Giménez is now hitting .292 with an .825 OPS in the early going, and we’re a little surprised he hasn’t been moved up Toronto’s batting order further. He hit seventh today for the second day in a row. Nobody’s rushing out to the waiver wire to claim this is a Giménez renaissance year or anything, but he’s been playable in deeper mixed leagues.

It was as good as you could have expected firing up Corbin against one of baseball’s best offenses, but Corbin got a no-decision for his efforts filling in for Toronto’s injuries in the rotation. He’s slated to face the Angels next week. There’s no reason to recommend starting him, but Corbin’s done a nice job of turning around his career and becoming a reliable low-end starter over the past few seasons.

It’s his best start as a Brewer to date, which is faint praise considering he’s currently sporting a 6.88 ERA, but perhaps this will spark a turnaround for one of the main pieces in the Freddy Peralta trade. Sproat managed 12 whiffs in 41 swings, with three different pitches missing at least three bats. That’ll play. Sproat will face the Tigers next week assuming things stay as scheduled for the Brewers.

Staked to a 2-1 lead, Zerpa allowed a leadoff single to Vladimir Guerrero Jr. before dispatching the middle of the Blue Jays lineup in order on three consecutive groundouts. Presumed closer Abner Uribe had worked two days in a row, and Trevor Megill worked the eighth inning. It’s possible the Brewers dabble with a committee at some point, but this was likely just a save chance earned by not wanting to use Uribe three days in a row.

Foster came over in last year’s Cedric Mullins trade with the Mets. He’s sporting a 10.50 ERA in six appearances with Norfolk this year, and now has a 7.01 ERA in 21 career appearances at the Triple-A level. He’s likely up for low leverage appearances only.