MLB Player News

When Pepiot was put on the injured list with hip inflammation right before Opening Day, it didn’t seem like he would be out for an extended period of time, so this is quite the turn of events. Rays manager Kevin Cash said Pepiot is “doing better,” but even after medication and rest, he “he just wasn’t quite feeling like himself.” The team sent him for a second opinion, and he got an injection to help reduce the inflammation. Pepiot will now be fully shut down for a few more days to allow the injection to take effect before he begins ramping up again. Cash said his “hope is that with that 60 days, we’ll be in a good spot"; however, it’s understandable if fantasy managers are starting to feel like this may be a bigger issue than many initially expected.

Missing just over the minimum 15 days with shoulder inflammation, Soroka seemed to have a better chance than teammates Corbin Burnes and Zac Gallen — who each had longer layoffs and also returned during the team’s last two games — to be effective. He was sharper than either of them, maintaining his normal pitch shapes and dialing up a little extra velocity while working in bulk relief after Gallen. Yet, he let up a brutal three-run home run to Bobby Witt Jr. that wound up being the difference in this game. The only real sign of rust was that Soroka struggled to command his four-seam fastball. Attempting to adjust off that, he threw one his two sinkers of the night on the first pitch to Witt to try and get ahead and it was crushed for that homer. Still, we should be mildly encouraged by Soroka’s return and he’s likely to pitch again next week against the Marlins at home.

Gallen pitched fine here given the circumstances, he just wasn’t particularly on point. He heavily leaned into his slider given that it was the only pitch he could confidently command in the zone which helped him stay away from his fastball. That pitch has gotten crushed all season and came in two ticks slower than its average velocity, so it made sense that he shied away from it. The only earned run he let up came via a long home run to Carter Jensen on a slider that hung, which is the game a pitcher plays when they’re so in-zone-slider dependent. Similar to Corbin Burnes yesterday, Gallen returned after throwing one short rehab outing at Triple-A followed by about a 50 pitches appearance in a Bridge League game last week. He’s lined up for what’s likely to be another abbreviated outing at home against the Marlins next week.

Smith threw three innings for the first time in a scoreless outing Sunday against the Pirates, but that only took him 35 pitches. His high pitch count as a major leaguer was 48 over two innings in his debut on Aug. 9. So, one imagines the White Sox will be very happy if he can get through three again Thursday, Two is probably the better bet. Erick Fedde will be available to go long behind him.

Betts has three homers in seven games and is now just one away from getting to 20 and matching last year’s total despite spending five weeks on the IL early on. He’s 12-for-32 with 13 RBI and six walks in eight games this month.

The lone run came on Elly De La Cruz’s homer in the fourth. Yamamoto allowed only two other hits and walked one in the 90-pitch gem. He currently ranks second in the majors with a 0.88 WHIP, trailing only Jacob Misiorowski at 0.80. He’ll pitch in Cincinnati next time out.

It’s the second straight outing in which Lowder has allowed seven runs, and he’s now 6-10 with a 5.81 ERA for the season. Unfortunately, he’s due to go up against the Dodgers again next week and likely the Cubs after that.

Hernández’s homer off Tony Santillan was his third in 30 games this season. He knocked in four runs for the first time since way back on July 23, 2020, when he had his only ever five-RBI game against the Giants.

It took facing a catcher, but Tucker collected his first three-hit game of the second half. He was 10-for-81 with one homer in his previous 24 games, even though he had a nice 13/12 K/BB ratio during the span.

The one disadvantage built into Ohtani’s Two-Way Player status is that he has to be placed on the 15-day injured list like other pitchers. The Dodgers can backdate the assignment to Tuesday, but that still means Ohtani, who is dealing with knee and biceps injuries, will only be able to return for the final five days of the season. Expect Josue De Paula to play regularly against righties until then and probably share time between left field and DH with Teoscar Hernández.

The Brewers were up 7-1 after three and 8-1 after eight before the Cubs tried to pull off a furious comeback with Trevor Megill unavailable in the ninth. Chourio’s second homer in two games was crushed, traveling a projected 436 feet. He went 8-for-14 with five RBI as the Brewers swept the three-game series to open up a 10-game lead on the Cubs and all but clinch the NL Central.