MLB Player News

Rooker had missed Wednesday’s game against the Brewers due to the issue and didn’t feel any improvement after Thursday’s off day, so they’ll sit him down and let the injury heal properly. Jacob Wilson was activated from the injured list in a corresponding move on Friday.

Leahy brought his swing-and-miss stuff to this one. Each of his changeup, curveball, slider and sweeper forced multiple whiffs as he wound up with 14 total swings-and-misses on the night. That was just two off his season-high and he’s been on a heater lately with a 1.49 ERA, 40 strikeouts, and nine walks over his last eight starts spanning 42 1/3 innings. Next up, he’s scheduled to face the Phillies at home.

O’Brien made us sweat with a lead-off walk to start the ninth inning in a one run game, but immediately forced Kyle Karros to hit into a double play and neutralize the threat. His 28 saves are tied with Mason Miller for third-most in the league trailing only Bryan Baker and Cade Smith. He’s also only allowed two earned runs since the start of July in what’s turned into a standout season.

While the Cardinals were held to just four hits in this game, they made them count. None more so than Herrera who tacked on their third run by the second inning with a solo home run. That stood as their final run of the game as they narrowly hung on to win and Herrera hopes this will help him break out of his prolonged slump. Over his last 30 games, he has 31 strikeouts and a .536 OPS.

Rumfield scored the Rockies only two runs – both via Troy Johnston groundouts – in a game where they had 10 hits versus four by the Cardinals. Alas, Rumfield is now up to a .296 batting average and .374 on-base percentage as a rookie. Each of those marks are top-10 among all players in the National League.

Enjoying a start outside of Coors Field, Feltner was moderately effective here. He did a good job of not giving up too much dangerous contact – many of the balls in play against him were either lazy fly balls or hit on the ground – to limit damage despite not forcing many whiffs. He’ll take a 5.71 ERA into another start on the road next week against the Diamondbacks.

Waldschmidt was 0-for-3 with two strikeouts on the night before taking Edwin Díaz deep in the bottom of the ninth for his second homer in 182 career plate appearances. In spite of an ugly 15/0 K/BB, he’s 20-for-52 with two homers since the break. He doesn’t really seem like a mixed-league guy at this time, but at least he does have a favorable week coming up against the Rockies and Braves.

The D-backs didn’t hold Garcia back for a possible save chance tonight, but he did help them win after Taylor Clarke struggled to begin the seventh. He’s still the clear favorite for saves in the Arizona pen for now, and since he needed only 16 pitches to get his five outs tonight, he should be available again Saturday.

Sasaki is three outs shy of having turned in five quality starts in a row; he allowed one unearned run in 5 2/3 innings on July 17 and two earned runs in 5 1/3 innings last time out. Still, he’s allowed a total of eight earned runs in 30 innings in his last five starts. He still needs to prove he can keep it going, but this is the pitcher the Dodgers thought they were signing two years ago. He’ll face the Brewers next week.

Working with a one-run lead in the bottom of the ninth, Díaz walked the leadoff man in the ninth, struck out Tim Tawa and then gave up a walkoff homer to Ryan Waldschmidt. It’s the second homer Díaz has allowed in four appearances since coming off the IL, though it’s the first to hurt the Dodgers. He should still be safe in the closer’s role for now, but another blown save right away could change that.

It could have been 3-for-4 with a homer, but Corbin Carroll brought back Edman’s 359-foot fly to right in the third. It would have been a homer in 21 ballparks, according to Statcast.