MLB Player News

Luzardo gave up two hits, walked none and struck out eight. He improved to 2-3 on the season with the win. Luzardo still has a 5.50 ERA after six starts, but his 2.58 xFIP tells us more good starts are in his future. The 28-year-old left-hander is lined up to face his former team in the Miami Marlins on Sunday.

With a left-handed pitcher on the mound, the Red Sox will have Andruw Monasterio at designated hitter, batting sixth, which will slide Duran to the bench. Duran is hitting just .172/.234/.253 on the season, but his .225 BABIP is far below his .334 career average. His barrel rate is the same as last season, but his hard-hit rates are down a little bit, and he’s swinging and missing more than ever, especially at pitches far out of the strike zone. It seems like the 29-year-old is pressing a little bit and just needs a few bounces to start going his way.

Machado was removed from Monday’s game with a calf injury and sat out on Tuesday, but he’ll be right back out there on Wednesday. Miguel Andujar will play third again, while Nick Castellanos will start in left field and bat eighth, with Ramon Laureano getting a day off.

Kikuchi came out to warm up in the third inning, but he didn’t throw a pitch before the trainer came out, and the two left the field together. Kikuchi had thrown two scoreless innings, allowing two hits and walking one on the day. Mitch Farris is in the game to replace him and could also replace him in the starting rotation if Kikuchi has to go on the injured list.

Eaton is taking the place of Garrett Crochet, who was placed on the IL with shoulder inflammation. The Red Sox will need another starting pitcher this weekend, so this could be a short stay for Eaton, but he is off to a strong start this season, slashing .292/.373/.458 in 110 plate appearances with three home runs and six steals.

Oh, wow. Crochet looked more like himself in his last start, throwing six shutout innings on Saturday and striking out seven batters. It appears that all was not actually well. There is no word yet on how long Crochet will be out, but this is a brutal blow for the Red Sox and fantasy managers. Left-hander Jake Bennett was scratched from his start for Triple-A Worcester on Tuesday, so he will likely start on Friday against Houston. The big lefty has a 0.86 ERA, 0.71 WHIP, and 16/3 K/BB ratio in 21 innings at Triple-A but may only be up with Boston, if he’s up at all, until Sonny Gray (hamstring) comes off the IL.

Over his last 10 games, Duran is hitting .276/.364/.379 with four RBI and three steals. Over that same timeframe, Josh Smith is hitting .216/.362/.270 with four RBI and one steal in 15 games, so it makes some sense for the Rangers to give Duran a few extra starts at second base to see if he can continue to give them solid production.

It’s a standard rest day for a catcher with a day game after a night game. It’s unfortunate that it comes after Wells had a solid performance on Tuesday night, but hopefully he can carry that over after the brief off day. J.C. Escarra will catch and bat seventh.

It seems like a routine day off for Schanuel, who is hitting .271/.323/.390 in his last 15 games with one home run and 11 RBI. Vaughn Grissom will get the start at first base and bat seventh.

Caminero was removed from Tuesday’s game against the Guardians with a right jaw contusion after he fouled a ball off of home plate, and it ricocheted into his jaw. However, after the game, manager Kevin Cash said the exit was precautionary and that turns out to have been the case. We can all breathe a sigh of relief.

Farris has started three games in Triple-A this season, but he has been used only as a reliever with the Angels. He will likely continue to serve a multi-inning relief role, but he could be an option in the rotation if there is an injury or regression for a pitcher like Walbert Urena.