MLB Player News

The Phillies have tried Brandon Marsh and Alec Bohm at cleanup before, and García has batted cleanup against lefties already this season. The 33-year-old is hitting just .204/.279/.352 on the season, but perhaps moving to the middle of the order will give him better pitches to hit if pitchers are worried about hitters who are on base ahead of him.

The move is now official. Langford told reporters he’s been diagnosed with a Grade 1 flexor strain in his right forearm and anticipates being ready to return when first eligible to be activated in early May. The 24-year-old suffered the injury on an awkward swing during Tuesday’s game against the Pirates. Ezequiel Duran will see the bulk of the opportunities in left field during his absence.

Lowe returns to second base and will hit second on Wednesday night against the Rangers at Globe Life Field following a two-game absence due to left knee discomfort. The 31-year-old slugger is hitting .267/.375/.600 with seven homers and 18 RBI through 19 games in his Pirates debut.

Horwitz is back at first base and hitting seventh after being a late scratch from Tuesday’s lineup due to neck discomfort. It winds up being just a one-game absence.

Freeman returns to Colorado’s lineup at DH following what amounts to a two-game absence after making an early exit from the first inning of Monday’s game against the Dodgers due to illness.

Antonacci went 2-for-5 with his first career home run, which was of the inside-the-park variety, during Tuesday’s win over Arizona. The 23-year-old contact-oriented rookie has gone 4-for-21 with just one strikeout in six games since being called up from Triple-A last week. Tanner Murray is in left field on Wednesday night with lefty Eduardo Rodriguez toeing the rubber for the Diamondbacks.

The 110-mph homer was Mayo’s lone hit of the day, but he did have a 108-mph lineout to go along with it. Kind of incredibly, Mayo now has 12 100-mph balls in play this season but only seven hit between 90-99 mph. The power is obviously there, but the consistent contact just isn’t, which is why he’s hitting .164 this year and .195 in 122 big-league games to date. If the Orioles get healthy, he still could wind up back in the minors at some point.

Bassitt allowed eight hits, including two homers, and struck out just three, but eight runs of support proved sufficient to put him in the win column. Bassitt is sporting a 6.75 ERA and a hideous 10/13 K/BB in 21 1/3 innings. He’ll face the Astros next week, but if this keeps up, he’s going to get sent to the pen at some point.

With Ryan Helsley on the on the bereavement list, Nunez, making just his 11th big-league appearance, was the pick to protect a two-run lead in the ninth, and he did so easily, even after a Coby Mayo error brought Bobby Witt Jr. to the plate as the tying run with two outs. Nunez went on to strike out Witt on six pitches, five of which were sweepers out of the strike zone. This comes two days after he picked up his first win in extra innings against Kansas City. He has a 1.46 ERA and a 15/2 K/BB in 12 1/3 innings.

Wacha gave up a two-run homer to Pete Alonso in the first but then kept the Orioles scoreless until the sixth, when the team erupted for six runs. Wacha was charged with four of those after a walk and three singles, but the big blow came after he departed and Coby Mayo hit a three-run homer off Eli Morgan. It’s Wacha’s first loss this season, as he’d allowed just three runs in four starts prior to today. He rates as a weak play next week in a road start in Sacramento.

Henderson seems like more of a No. 5 hitter than a leadoff man at the moment. He’s hitting .189/.269/.443 with a whopping 36 strikeouts in 25 games. He’s currently on pace for 233 strikeouts, which is 10 more than Mark Reynolds’ major league record from 2009.