MLB Player News

Maton rejoins Chicago’s high-leverage mix following a nearly three-week absence due to knee tendinitis. The 33-year-old’s lengthy history is key spots would suggest he’ll get a chance to work the ninth inning while both Daniel Palencia and Caleb Thielbar on the injured list, but the Cubs will probably opt against throwing him right into the fire, especially since he’s allowed six runs in four innings this season.

Caglianone took lefty reliever Brandon Leibrandt deep to left-center field in the fifth inning to extend Kansas City’s lead to 6-1 at the time. It was his first time leaving the yard since May 16.

Arroyo singled to right field in his final at-bat of the contest after striking out his first three times up. The 22-year-old top prospect’s signature moment during his highly-anticipate debut came during the second inning when he made an extremely athletic play at second base, ranging to his left into shallow right field to make a sliding stop before firing accurately to get the runner at first base. He figures to take over as Cincinnati’s starting second baseman, with Matt McLain handling shortstop, for at least a few weeks while Elly De La Cruz (hamstring) is on the injured list. He’s at least worthy of a speculative roster spot in deeper mixed leagues given his combination of fantasy-relevant tools and path to regular at-bats.

Avila managed to hold Cincinnati to just a solo homer from JJ Bleday over five frames in his first start as a full-fledged member of Kansas City’s rotation. He struck out five and also issued four walks. He was staked to an early four-run cushion and was able to cruise through five innings to notch his first win of the year. He’ll close out the week with a favorable road matchup against the Twins on Saturday.

Simpson received stitches at a local hospital after splitting his lip on a head-first slide into second base where his helmet fell off and struck him in the mouth during Monday’s series opener against the Tigers. The 25-year-old speedy outfielder is dealing with a significant amount of lower-lip swelling to the point that he’s having difficulty speaking. However, Rays manager Kevin Cash told reporters he could potentially be in the lineup for Tuesday’s contest.

Dingler served as Detroit’s primary catalyst during Monday’s wild slugfest at Tropicana Field where the Tigers launched five homers and barely managed to escape with a win. The 27-year-old backstop took Tampa Bay starter Griffin Jax deep in the third inning before parking one against reliever Trevor Martin two innings later. It was his first multi-homer performance of the season. He’s homered four times in his last seven games and has already matched last year’s career-high 13 homers in just 54 games after needing 126 to reach that total a season ago.

There’s a lot to unpack here. Kyle Finnegan came on to put out a sixth-inning fire and recorded four outs earlier in the contest while Detroit was leading by four runs. Vest was summoned to get the final two out of the eighth inning before coming back out to toss a perfect ninth for his first save of the year. It seems like Kyle Finnegan will be Detroit’s preferred closing option while Kenley Jansen (groin) is on the injured list, but it wouldn’t be surprising if Vest got a few chances as well.

Madden got plenty of help from Detroit’s offense and reeled off three scoreless frames before running into trouble when Junior Caminero connected for a two-run homer. He wound up being lifted after recording just one out in the frame and didn’t stick around long enough to qualify for a win in his return from the injured list. His time in Detroit’s rotation is probably going to be over later this week with Justin Verlander (hip) seemingly getting close to returning from the injured list. He’s shown enough promise that he would make sense as a long relief option in the postseason.