MLB Player News

It might have been his left ankle, as he appeared to roll it while fielding a grounder in the top of the first. Felix Reyes hit for him prior to his first at-bat.

Young’s hit was a little 65-mph flare to shallow left that no one had a play on. Fortunately for Young, automatic runner Randy Arozarena had just stolen third base; he almost surely would have been held up if he’d still been on second. Young also walked tonight. His .250/.325/.363 line isn’t going to make him a fantasy darling, but it’s really quite solid for a 22-year-old second baseman playing in one of the game’s toughest hitting environments half of the time.

Hancock never pitched with a man on base; he gave up two solo homers and retired the other 18 batters he faced. Hancock allowed only one homer in five starts last month before Jared Young and Marcus Semien got to him tonight. He left down 2-1 but avoided taking the loss after the Mariners tied things up in the seventh. Hancock has four wins and eight quality starts in 12 tries. He’ll face the Tigers on Sunday.

Manaea departed the game in line for the win, but Brooks Raley gave up a game-tying homer immediately afterwards. Even though this was set to be Manaea’s longest outing of the year, he found some extra velocity tonight, averaging 92.1 mph with his sinker. He had previously averaged 89.7 mph this year. Last year, he came in at 91.7 mph. If that gain sticks around, he could prove to be a viable mixed-league pitcher. However, he probably needs another strong outing right away this weekend against the Padres to avoid being sent to the pen if Kodai Senga rejoins the rotation next week.

Bichette went 5-for-10 with three homers in a two-game span against the Nationals a couple of weeks ago, but it wasn’t the start of a big turnaround; he’s 8-for-45 with zero extra-base hits in 12 games since, dropping his OPS back down to .574. Bichette’s exit velocity numbers aren’t much different from last year, and he still figures to rebound at some point.

Troy homered to give the D-backs a 2-1 lead in the seventh. In the ninth, he opted to try to bunt for a hit with none on and two outs. He succeeded, and Ketel Marte followed with a two-run homer. The start tonight was Troy’s seventh in nine games since being called up (he actually arrived too late to start the first game). He has a .945 OPS, compared to .724 for Ryan Waldschmidt, and that could prove big with Jordan Lawlar and Lourdes Gurriel Jr. due back during the middle of the month.

Rodriguez endured an amusing sequence in the fourth, when Miguel Rojas challenged a pair of strike calls and both were found to have missed the zone by 0.1 inches. That put Rodriguez behind 3-1, but Rodriguez came back with an obvious strike and then another close call that Rojas again challenged. This time, the strike call stood, with about one-quarter of the baseball catching the corner. In truth, Rojas really shouldn’t have challenged any of them, considering there were two outs and none on at the time. The D-backs didn’t go ahead until the bottom of the seventh tonight, so Rodriguez remained 5-1 with a 2.24 ERA. Arizona did improve to 9-3 in his starts, however. Rodriguez will face the Nationals on Saturday.

Since taking his first blown save on May 13, Sewald has a win and six saves in his last seven appearances, allowing just one run in the process.

Sheehan allowed only one hit through five scoreless innings before giving up homers to Nolan Arenado in the sixth and Tommy Troy in the seventh. That might suggest he had another one of his typical in-game velocity dropoffs tonight, but he actually held up nicely there tonight; he averaged 95.9 mph with his fastball in the sixth and 95.4 mph in the seventh, compared to an average of 95.9 mph overall. Sheehan has allowed one or two runs in four of his last five starts, and his season ERA is down to 4.50. He’ll likely face the Angels on Sunday.

Vargas gave the D-backs a scare tonight after a hard foul off his shin sent him to the ground, but he was able to continue. Last year, he missed seven weeks with a broken foot sustained in similar fashion. The D-backs still need Vargas for now, as Pavin Smith is expected to be limited to DH duties for the foreseeable future. Vargas, though, has long since cooled off at the plate. He’s batting .193 with one homer and three walks over 114 plate appearances in the 28 games since he lost his season-opening 24-game hit streak.

Naylor departed just after hitting a solo homer in the seventh, with Patrick Wisdom replacing him at first base. The Mariners could use Luke Raley at first and Victor Robles in right if Naylor can’t go Tuesday.