MLB Player News

Julien doubled and scored the go-ahead run to open the sixth. An interesting thing happened earlier in that at-bat, when Julien challenged a 2-1 cutter off the plate and had it briefly turned into a ball, only for the Mets to appeal down to the third base ump afterwards and have it ruled that he swung at the ball. Julien is hitting .282/.363/.394 in 80 plate appearances as the Rockies’ second baseman against righties. That’s solid, but his defense there remains a problem and he’s not really showing enough to be at attractive option at first base or DH. He’s still a fringy major leaguer at this point.

López gave up five hits, walked one and struck out three. He fell to 4-2 with the loss. López has managed to complete five innings in each of his last three starts. While that represents progress for him, he still isn’t working deep enough into games to have significant fantasy upside.

Liberatore gave up four hits, walked one and struck out six. He improved to 5-6 with the win. Liberatore has won two of his last three starts. The 26-year-old left-hander was excellent Saturday as he shutdown the Braves’ offense. Liberatore takes a 5.00 ERA into the All-Star break, though his 4.37 xFIP points to better starts in the future.

Ward’s home run was just his sixth of the season. He hit a solo shot off Noah Cameron in the sixth inning. After hitting 61 home runs over the two previous seasons, Ward has had a power outage. Saturday’s home run was his first since June 22, breaking a streak of 15 games without a home run. Ward’s .104 ISO is still on pace to be a career-low.

Alonso’s home run was his 21st of the season. He hit a two-run shot off Noah Cameron in the fourth inning. Alonso also doubled and scored in the second inning. He’s hitting .253 with an .826 OPS and 64 RBI in his first season in Baltimore.

Cameron gave up five hits, walked two and struck out nine. He fell to 5-7 with the loss. Cameron was done in by the long ball as four of the five runs he allowed came on three of the home runs he allowed. He’s now allowed 13 home runs in 95 2/3 innings (1.22 HR/9). Cameron takes a 4.89 ERA into the All-Star break, though his 4.15 xFIP points to better starts ahead in the second half.

Bradish gave up two hits, walked two and struck out five. He improved to 6-9 with the win. The lone Royals run came in the seventh inning on a sacrifice fly by Salvador Perez. Bradish kept Kansas City off the scoreboard otherwise. He has a 3.61 ERA heading into the All-Star break.

Mikolas’s suspension for his tussle with Nate Eaton in the June 30 game against the Red Sox didn’t get reduced, but it hardly matters. He pitched four innings today, so he obviously wasn’t going to pitch Sunday, and the Nationals will be fine going without him in the first four games after the break.

Valencia’s home run was his second in three career games so far. He hit a solo shot off Cristopher Sanchez in the fifth inning. Valencia is 5-for-9 with two home runs and three RBI in three games to begin his career. Saturday was his first MLB start at catcher with Dillon Dingler returning from a hand injury as the DH. Once Dingler is back behind the dish, Valencia should still see plenty of at-bats against left-handed pitching as the DH.

He allowed two runs in five-plus innings against the Cubs. Lodolo already missed the first five weeks of this season with blister issues and also lost starts in 2023 and ’24. If this is another IL-type situation, the Reds could replace him in the rotation with Chase Petty.

Duran’s save was his 24th of the season. He retired the side in order in the ninth inning without the Tigers hitting the ball out of the infield. Duran has a 1.38 ERA heading into the All-Star break as one of the top closers in all of baseball.