MLB Player News

The thin air of Colorado did Waldron’s knuckler no good today, so he threw the pitch just half as often as he did last time out. He has a 12.46 ERA after two starts, which might lead to a Triple-A demotion. If not, he’ll face the Cubs on Wednesday.

Boston will attempt to notch their franchise-record 16th consecutive victory with rookie lefty Eduardo Rivera on the mound and Alec Gamboa coming up from Triple-A Worcester as long relief depth for Wednesday’s nightcap at Fenway Park. Suarez won’t be able to take the ball due to an illness. It’s challenging to pinpoint his exact return date given everything that has transpired in the last few days, but Suárez appears likely to return for either Friday’s series opener against the Blue Jays or Monday’s matchup against the Athletics, if the Red Sox opt to give him a few extra days.

Let’s try this again. Montgomery is back at shortstop and hitting cleanup after being scratched from Tuesday’s lineup out of an abundance of caution. The 24-year-old slugger suffered a contusion when he fouled a ball off his right shin during Monday’s series opener. It doesn’t appear to be a significant concern moving forward.

The Red Sox have matched their franchise-long win streak from 1946. Duran’s first-inning triple helped give them an early 4-0 lead in this one and they simply held on from there. Duran is just 7-for-44 this month, but 15 of his 36 balls in play have been hit hard. It still seems like he has to get hot at some point. His exit velocity numbers are down some from the last couple of years, but not enough to justify his .238 BABIP. His career mark was .340 previously.

Bennett’s weakest showing in over a month didn’t prevent him from winning a fifth straight start. He gave up nine hits, including a Christian Encarnacion-Strand homer, but he walked none and struck out four. Since getting his full-time rotation spot last month, he’s walked just five in 49 innings, with one of those being intentional. He’s 6-3 with a 2.58 ERA overall, and in spite of his below average 18.3 percent strikeout rate, he’s worth using in mixed leagues right now. He’ll pitch in Sacramento next week.

Chapman gave up a single and a walk, but he got a double play and then another groundout to end it. He moved into a tie with Dennis Eckersley for ninth place all-time in saves. He’s 23-for-25 this year. With the Red Sox using Chapman, Garrett Whitlock and Justin Slaten to finish off the first game today, it’s possible Tyron Guerrero could get a save chance in game two.

Four of the runs came right away in the first. The Orioles never made up that deficit, but at least Kremer was able to settle down and get through six with the team playing two games today. Kremer finished up with five strikeouts and one walk. He allowed eight hits, five of which came in the first. He is 1-2 with a 5.57 ERA in four starts since returning from a quad strain, and he figures to next pitch Monday or Tuesday in Detroit.

Encarnacion-Strand is now 6-for-12 with two homers in three games since joining the Orioles. His homer today was a 424-footer off Jake Bennett and was one of three hard-hit balls in the game. He figured to play mostly against lefties, but with Samuel Bassalo joining Blaze Alexander and Adley Rutschman on the IL, the Orioles don’t have anything to lose by giving him regular at-bats between third and DH for now.

There’s zero reason for the Rangers to rush Jung back with Thursday’s off-day looming. It’ll be Ezequiel Duran taking over at the hot corner after Jung made a precautionary exit from Tuesday’s game with left calf tightness. He’s presumably day-to-day heading into Friday’s series opener against Seattle.

It appears to be a planned maintenance day for Buxton, who started back-to-back games after coming off the injured list earlier this week. Although, you never really know with Buxton sometimes. There’s no reason to panic at the moment. The 32-year-old fantasy stalwart will get some extra rest prior to Thursday’s series finale in Cleveland. It’ll be Luke Keaschall in center field on Wednesday evening in his place.

Scherzer struck out seven and walked zero while throwing 56 total pitches. It was an effective start for the 41-year-old, who has battled multiple injuries this season. He will likely need at least one more rehab start before being activated, but it’s possible the Blue Jays could trade him away for a lottery ticket prospect at the trade deadline.