MLB Player News

Today’s walk was intentional, as the Royals put him on with none out and a runner on second in the seventh. It worked, too, since the A’s failed to score in the inning. Kurtz’s walk streak is tied for the third longest of all-time. Ted Williams also got to 19 in 1941. Roy Cullenbine holds the all-time record at 22 games in 1947, and Barry Bonds walked in 20 straight games between 2002 and ’03.

Jose Siri won the game by singling in automatic runner Nick Madrigal in the 10th. O’Hoppe’s homer off Peter Lambert was just his third in 45 games this season. The fractured wrist he suffered in April seems to have sapped his power, but it might be coming around now; since Monday, four of his five balls in play have been hit hard (not counting tonight’s sac bunt). Tonight’s homer left the bat at 107.7 mph and was projected at 423 feet.

Detmers might have been this pitcher two or three years ago if drafted into a healthier organization, but better late than never. He has a 97/24 K/BB in 81 innings, and while his ERA still sits at 4.00, the estimators have him right around 3.00, which is how he’ll be valued if the Angels finally trade him this summer. He’ll face Arizona next Tuesday.

Zeferjahn struck out two, intentionally walked Joey Loperfido and then got Shay Whitcomb to ground out to strand the automatic runner. That he’s unintentionally walked 21 batters in 31 2/3 innings this season has held him back, but he has an argument for being the Angels’ best reliever. It’d just a better one if he could be trusted at all to throw strikes.

Lambert left in the seventh after taking a comebacker off his pitching wrist, but he said afterwards that he was fine. The only runs he allowed tonight came on homers off the bat of Mike Trout and Logan O’Hoppe. It went as his first no decision after he opened the year 5-4 with a 3.55 ERA in nine starts. That he’s been so tough to homer against has been the biggest key to his nice run, but two tonight brings his total to five homers allowed in 57 innings, and he should be pretty average there going forward. He’ll face the Tigers next week.

Altuve is 2-for-18 with 10 strikeouts since coming off the injured list. His strikeout rate sits at 22 percent for the year, compared to 17 percent the last three years and 13 percent for his career. It just doesn’t look like he’s going to be a top five second baseman and maybe not even a top 10 second baseman over the rest of the season.

Milwaukee scored single runs in the first, second and third innings and then never mustered another. The A’s came back with an Alika Williams homer in the sixth and homers from Carlos Cortes and Butler in the seventh to prevail. Butler’s homer was his fourth of the season. He was starting for just the fifth time in 22 games, as the A’s are mostly using Henry Bolte and Carlos Cortes over him in the outfield against righties. However, they had room for all three tonight with Brent Rooker hurting. Butler is batting .165/.251/.256 in 183 plate appearances. There’s still reason to think he’ll go back to being useful as a platoon guy against righties, but first he needs to show the A’s that he’s better than the alternatives. It’s not clear that he is.

Gary Sánchez and Jackson Chourio homered off Perkins, who hasn’t pitched very well in either start since being added to the A’s rotation last week. It seems likely that he’ll remain a starter after Kade Morris was sent down Wednesday, but he’s only of interest for fantasy purposes as a reliever. He’ll likely face the Pirates next week.

Alvarado retired Christian Yelich, Jackson Chourio and Brice Turang to become the eighth A’s reliever to earn a save this season. He’s pitched 4 1/3 scoreless innings with nine strikeouts since being recalled from Las Vegas five days ago. Alvarado made the A’s out of spring training, only to be sent down with an 8.78 ERA after 10 appearances. Consider him part of the saves mix now, but if we were going to roster an A’s reliever, Hogan Harris is still the one we’d choose.

Sproat has struggled almost everywhere else, but he was able to handle the A’s in Vegas, giving up just four hits and a walk tonight. It’s only the second time this season that he’s completed six innings, and he lowered his ERA from 6.17 to 5.70. He’ll likely make his next start Tuesday or Wednesday against the Guardians.

Vaughn, who started at first, played one inning at third base after the Brewers made a few moves in the eighth. It was his third ever appearance at the position, with the other two both coming in 2021. We wouldn’t expect to see much more of Vaughn at third, but the Brewers have got to start playing him regularly. His OPS is up to .980, yet he’s started only six of the team’s last 13 games against right-handers.