MLB Player News

Leiter ran into trouble early in this one. After walking the first batter of the game, Cedanne Rafaela would later reach on a fielder’s choice and then come around to score on a sacrifice fly by Wilyer Abreu. Willson Contreras would hit a solo homer in the next at-bat to put the Red Sox up 2-1. Leiter would settle in to pitch three straight scoreless frames after that, but surrendered four more runs in the fifth inning. Leiter’s night would end after that, as the Red Sox did enough to spoil what was otherwise a decent outing for the righty. Leiter has now allowed five earned runs in back-to-back games and has struggled to get through the fifth inning in both of those starts. We’ll see if he can turn it around in his next start, which is scheduled for Thursday against the Twins.

Grisham smacked his 16th homer of the season in the sixth inning off Shane Bieber to briefly give the Yankees a 1-0 lead. It’s the fifth homer of the month for Grisham, who has enjoyed a bit of a power surge in August. He’s been one of the most productive hitters for the Yankees this month, as he’s now hit safely in six straight games and is slashing .304/.319/.739 in August.

Kirk put the Jays on the board in the sixth inning when he doubled off Gerrit Cole to bring home George Springer. In the eighth inning, he blasted a solo homer to extend the Jays’ lead to 3-1, which proved to be plenty in a game that saw the Yankees struggle all night offensively. Kirk is off to a blistering start in August, as he’s currently slashing .385/.435/.564 with three extra-base hits and nine RBI.

At first, it seemed like Lindor would be responsible for another disappointing game by the Mets. He let a ground ball skip past his glove that helped push across an early run in a game that stood at 1-0 until the sixth inning. Then, in the bottom of that inning, Lindor launched a 409 foot solo home run that tied the game. The Mets rallied after and held on to win this one. After a poor start to the season and calf injury that cost him most of the first half, Lindor’s now up to 12 home runs and a .769 OPS. Eight of those homers have come in his last 30 games though and he has an elite .921 OPS over that span.

Senga is the Mets closer right now. This is the second lead he was tasked to protect this week and he’s secured both opportunities. This one got a bit hairy as he let the tying run come to the plate in a three-run game. Still, he got out of it with a nasty ghost fork and looks like a relatively trustworthy ninth inning option moving forward.

This was an encouraging outing for Stock after a rough previous start. The only run he gave up came after Francisco Lindor whiffed on a ground ball and he dug deep to escape a few other jams. Clearly not built up, his velocity fell sharply after he reached about 50 pitches, but that’s not a shock given his lack of starting experience in the big leagues. The Nationals also didn’t chase as many pitches out of the zone after their first time around the lineup. Still, he forced multiple whiffs with three of his four pitches and threw a few nasty cutters and changeups to left-handed batters. Stock has good enough stuff and misses and misses enough bats where you can squint and possibly see someone who can be a factor in (very) deep leagues should his stamina improve. He’s scheduled to face the Padres at home next time out.

It’s the second straight game that Turang has missed due to pain in his right knee. It sounds like the Brewers may consider a stint on the injured list if he’s not feeling any better on Saturday. David Hamilton is starting in his place at second base and batting eighth against Yoshinobu Yamamoto and the Dodgers on Friday night.

House drove home the Nationals’ lone one when he roped a single to the opposite field in the third inning. In fact, he had two of their five total hits here. After mostly only starting against left-handed pitchers for the last few weeks, this was his second straight start against a righty as he could be getting a solid audition during the last chunk of the season.

It was a shame Alvarez couldn’t finish off the sixth inning in this game. He breezed through the middle frames retiring 10 consecutive batters before there were two outs in that sixth. Then, Francisco Lindor got him for a game-tying, solo home run on a hanging slider that may as well have been on a tee. Even more frustrating, Alvarez struck out Bo Bichette to follow, but it came on a pitch in the dirt that Keibert Ruiz couldn’t keep close enough and Bichette scampered to first. Alvarez was pulled there and to make matters worse, Daylen Lile then misplayed a blooper in left field and a two-out single by Carson Benge put Alvarez on the hook for the loss. An absolutely brutal chain of events that shouldn’t overshadow a solid start from the young lefty. His next start is scheduled to come on the road against the Rangers.

It was a nice bounce-back outing for Bieber, who allowed five earned runs to the Phillies in his last start. The righty held the Yankees in check all night, with his lone earned run coming on a solo homer by Trent Grisham in the sixth inning. Bieber draws a tough Rays team in his next start, which is scheduled for Thursday in Tampa Bay.

Gonzales was hit on the left ear flap of his helmet by Jake Bennett in the fifth inning. He was able to walk off the field under his own power, but is being treated for a facial contusion. He’s considered day-to-day.