MLB Player News

The 32-year-old had hit .250/.420/.441 with seven homers in 201 plate appearances at Triple-A Charlotte before requesting his release from the White Sox on June 1. He’ll jump right into action with the Astros, starting in left field and batting fifth against Pirates’ right-hander Jared Jones on Thursday evening in Houston.

Wacha was tremendous in this one, scattering four hits across eight innings of work while striking out a season-high 10 batters. The veteran righty didn’t allow an extra-base hit on the night and allowed only one runner to get into scoring position. Wacha ends the month of August having allowed just nine earned runs over 32 1/3 innings while striking out 25 batters. He’ll look to continue his strong run in his next start, which is set for Thursday at home against the Marlins.

The Rangers are hoping they caught it early, and they will see where he is in a few days. Before the setback, it looked like he’d rejoin the Texas rotation in early September.

Arenado has taken Jose Fernandez’s spot at third base and is batting fifth.

Vazquez was only up for two days. The 26-year-old will head back to the International League with Blaze Alexander coming off the injured list in a corresponding move.

Alexander missed six weeks while dealing with a fractured hand. He’s in the lineup Friday against the A’s, and should see playing time against left-handed pitching — with some starts versus righties — for the remainder of the season.

Arenado was scratched from Thursday’s game with inflammation in his thumb, and he’ll at least begin Friday’s contest on the bench. Consider the 35-year-old day-to-day. Jose Fernandez will handle third base duties with Arenado out.

Henderson will get a break against southpaw Jacob Lopez to open the three-game series against the A’s. Blaze Alexander will get the start in Henderson’s absence, and hit leadoff in the process.

Stephenson’s homer off Trent Thornton gave the Reds a 7-3 lead in the sixth. Though he had slumped some of late, the homer was his fifth in August and 13th overall. He came into the day 6-for-31 with a lone double and 16 strikeouts in his previous 10 games.

Thanks to a six-run top of the sixth, Lowder got a win in a game in which he was outperformed by the opposing starter (David Peterson allowed two runs over five innings). Lowder went 3-1 in August despite a middling 4.34 ERA and six homers allowed in 29 innings. He’ll take on the Padres next week.

Pagan struck out Ian Happ in between flyouts from Alex Bregman and Nico Hoerner. His velocity was also strong again for a second straight outing after a mysterious drop last week, so it looks like nothing further will come of that. He has seven saves and one win in nine appearances this month. Fortunately, his one bad outing while his velocity was down came with a three-run lead; he gave up two runs but got the save anyway.