MLB Player News

Cruz got a cutter over the heart of the plate and didn’t miss, sending a majestic blast into the Allegheny River over the right-field fence at PNC Park. It’s just the seventh round-tripper to reach the iconic river in the ballpark’s 25-year history, according to MLB.com’s Aiden Stepansky. The incredible feats of strength are nothing new for Cruz, but he’s made strides against left-handed pitching and boasts the highest hard-hit rate of his career so far. He’s up to 12 homers and 17 stelas in 252 plate appearances through 56 games. That’ll work.

Chourio delivered a 431-foot homer off Kai-Wen Teng in the fifth. He’s hitting .267/.320/.411 with two homers (on 12 barrels) and five steals in 97 plate appearances since returning from a fractured finger.

Crow allowed one run in the first and three in the third before being pulled from his third big-league start at just 61 pitches. It’s quite possible he’ll head back to Triple-A now, but if not, he’ll likely start at home against the Giants on Wednesday. He has a 3.14 ERA and an 8/3 K/B in 14 1/3 innings to date.

Abner Uribe got the win after throwing a scoreless ninth in a tie game. There’s no doubt at this point that Brewers manager Pat Murphy soured some on Uribe after his inappropriate gestures Tuesday against the Cardinals. That doesn’t necessarily mean that Megill is back in the closer’s role, but it does seem like change is in the wind.

Teng fanned seven and allowed just three hits, but he walked four and two of the hits he gave up were homers from David Hamilton and Jackson Chourio. Hamilton’s was a 343-footer that was a homer in exactly one ballpark, according to Statcast. As such, we’ll rate this as another solid showing from Teng. He’s an option in deeper mixed leagues in a home start against the Pirates next week.

Brought in after Bryan Abreu walked two of the three batters he faced in the eighth, King gave up the tying run on an RBI groundout before finishing the inning. He then worked a scoreless ninth to send the game to extras. It was definitely a positive outing for the lefty, but it went as his third blown save anyway. He remains the Astros’ favorite for saves with Josh Hader absent for a little bit longer.

Smith had three of the game’s five hardest-hit balls tonight, ranging from a 105.9-mph groundout to a 108-mph double. His homer came in at 107.5 mph and was hit 419 feet to left-center. Smith somehow was hitting just .118 with three extra-base hits in home games until busting out some tonight. He had 48 total bases on the road at 14 in Houston.

Arenado remained out of the starting lineup Friday because of a groin strain, but he entered as a pinch-hitter in the seventh and singled. He then got hit in the ninth by Andrés Muñoz and departed for a pinch-runner. Fortunately, it was just the funny bone, apparently, and Arenado shouldn’t miss additional time.

Gore had just three strikeouts and seven whiffs versus 11 hard-hit balls surrendered, but that all worked out just fine in what’s arguably the league’s best environment for pitchers at Globe Life Field. He’s been quite the disappointment in going 4-4 with a 3.96 ERA to date, but in such a situation for great pitchers, maybe for once he’ll reverse his usual trend and actually get better as the season goes along. He’ll pitch in St. Louis next time out.

Facing the Rangers in Arlington is probably the second most favorable assignment a pitcher can get right now (next to most home starts against the Rockies), so this is quite the letdown after Kolek pitched a shutout against the Mariners last week. Still, he did strike out five and generate 15 whiffs. Kolek isn’t much of a streaming option next week for his start in Cincinnati.

Nimmo hit a 435-foot homer off Stephen Kolek two innings after his 407-foot blast to center came up just a little short. Statcast said the first drive would have been a homer in 14 ballparks. Nimmo has seven homers while hitting .263/.344/.427 this season. The .769 OPS is 33 points shy of his career mark, but it’s good for a 128 OPS+ that beats his career output of 124.