MLB Player News

The 37-yeear-old southpaw racked up eight strikeouts on the night while issuing a pair of walks. The lone tally against him came in his final inning of work as Ian Happ worked a leadoff walk, advanced on a fielder’s choice, took third on an error and then scored the game’s first run on a bounce out off the bat of Matt Shaw. Sale got 16 whiffs on 100 pitches on the evening — eight of those on his slider — while posting a strong CSW of 32 percent. He has been as good as advertised through his first nine starts on the season, going 6-3 with a minuscule 1.96 ERA, 0.91 WHIP and a 64/14 K/BB ratio across 55 innings. He’ll try to get back in the win column when he takes on the Marlins in Miami on Tuesday.

Massey is now hitting .323/.338/.581 with four home runs in his last 23 games. This year, Massey’s bat speed is up two mph, his average exit velocity (91.2 mph) is 2.4 mph above his career average, and his 10 percent barrel rate is almost three percent higher than his career mark. He’s done that by being a bit less patient and positioning the sweet spot of his bat more towards center field as it travels through the zone, rather than being as pull-side focused. That has allowed him to drive the ball into the gaps, but with exit velocities that can still carry it out of the park when he gets out in front of one. He’s worth adding in deeper formats, given his everyday role, and is also worth a look in 12-team leagues while he’s hitting like this.

The Red Sox are set to face left-hander Trevor Rogers, so Mayer will head to the bench. Even with Trevor Story (abdominal) on the injured list, Mayer continues to sit against left-handed pitching. Today, Isiah Kiner-Falefa will play shortstop with Andruw Monasterio at second base despite Monasterio being just a career .249/.343/.380 hitter against left-handed pitching.

Murphy returns to the minors after posting a lackluster 6.75 ERA across 9 1/3 innings for Chicago this season. The 27-year-old lefty figures to return as a middle relief option for the White Sox at some point this summer.

Tonight’s homer was hit 106.8 mph off Michael Lorenzen. Grissom’s .246/.325/.410 line isn’t spectacular, but his 47 percent hard-hit rate, in combination with a tiny 11 percent strikeout rate, is very impressive. It seems doubly painful that the Red Sox traded Kyle Harrison for Caleb Durbin when they could have just gone forward with Grissom instead.

Ureña struck out seven in another solid outing. He’s allowed a total of nine runs over 39 innings in his last seven starts, and he’s now 3-4 with a 2.68 ERA overall. Ureña is still a tough sell in mixed leagues as a rookie in a tough situation in Anaheim, but he’s emerging as one of the Angels’ building blocks.

Lorenzen has lost his last six decisions, and his ERA is up to 8.01. The Rockies probably don’t have anyone they want to replace him with at the moment, but this can’t go on for too much longer. He’s given up 99 hits in 60 2/3 innings. The next highest total in the majors in 86 hits, and that’s from Sandy Alcantara, who has worked 82 1/3 innings.

It was Madrigal’s fourth start in eight games since he was called up last week, and he’s now 6-for-15 in the span. Somewhat interesting is that Madrigal has hit balls 111.6 mph this spring and 113.6 mph in Triple-A this year. Previously, his hardest-hit ball was 106.9 mph for the Cubs in 2023. Maybe it’s enough to turn him back into a viable major leaguer, but he also has to stay healthy, which has been a big issue.

Freeman took Walbert Ureña deep to extend his hitting streak to eight games, and he’s up to .277/.353/.380 for the season. It was his third homer in 157 plate appearances, giving him one more than he had in 428 plate appearances last year.

Soderstrom helped complete the Athletics’ comeback with a single off Caleb Thielbar to tie the game in the eighth inning. Heading into this game, he had a .182 batting average against left-handed pitchers, so that knock was as shocking as it was huge. He’s gotten his season back on track with hits in 12 of his last 13 games with three home runs and three doubles over that stretch.

Sterner was tasked with holding onto a one-run lead in the 10th inning and did the job here. The game-changing at-bat came when he struck out Pete Crow-Armstrong with a runner on third and one out after a tough battle. This may have little to do with the Athletics’ closer hierarchy as Hogan Harris came on for the bottom of the ninth in a tie game after nabbing the save on Tuesday. Continue to keep an eye on this bullpen.