MLB Player News

Carpenter’s homer was a solo shot off Peter Lambert in the seventh, one of just two hits the Tigers would collect against him. The lefty-swinging slugger has remained in his usual platoon role this season, but his strikeout rate has jumped over 30% to go along with a declining barrel rate. Carpenter’s track record suggests he’ll turn it around, but those metrics are worth watching.

The last three runs came in the fifth. That inning started with a single and a walk before William Contreras hit what looked like a double play ball. Unfortunately, Elly De La Cruz booted it, and Lowder was lifted. All three runners then scored with Sam Moll in the game. So, Lowder didn’t deserve that, but it’s not like he was any good beforehand. He ended up with just two strikeouts and four walks. He’ll take a 5.43 ERA into next week’s outing against the Dodgers.

Suárez, who missed games Tuesday and Wednesday, homered in his first at-bat back with the Reds after passing his naturalization test and becoming a U.S. citizen. It was his 21st of the year.

Pratt also picked up his 13th steal since debuting. His exit velocity numbers aren’t much to look at, but he’s hitting .275/.345/.380 anyway and the steals have made him pretty useful in mixed leagues thus far.

He hit a 96 mph Zebby Matthews fastball over the bullpen in right-center, it landed 416 feet from the plate and made the score 4-0. Montgomery’s been all-or-nothing of late, hitting .182 over his last 15 games but with four homers and a .436 slugging percentage. He hasn’t exactly taken a major step forward -- he’s on pace to strike out over 230 times -- but the power is still here and still playing in fantasy leagues even if the batting average is hurting you for it.

It was his sixth of the season -- he tagged a 92 mph Zebby Matthews cutter to right-center. It hasn’t been pretty for Montgomery as he’s hitting .208/.317/.330 over his last 30 games with just three homers and no stolen bases. Perhaps he’ll take a leap forward in the near future, but as things currently stand he’s probably not a lock to start in the playoffs if Chicago wins the AL Central. He certainly shouldn’t be in many fantasy lineups at this point.

It was Minnesota’s only run of the game. Bell hit a deep drive off a Taylor curveball to make it 4-1, sending one 460 feet into the Chicago night. When Bell’s hot, he’s hot, and over his last 30 games he’s hitting .304/.380/.473 with five homers and a stolen base. Fire him up while you can in deeper leagues.

The Zebster allowed three homers, the longest a two-run shot by Colson Montgomery that made it 4-0 in the fourth inning. He just wasn’t missing many bats, with a 15 percent whiff rate, while the White Sox had four hard-hit balls off his four-seamer. It snaps a nice run of starts for Matthews as he’d been 5-0 with a 2.90 ERA in August while striking out 24 and allowing just three homers. He’ll look to get back on track next week against the Tigers.

He struck out two and allowed just three hits, lowering his season ERA to 4.00 on the dot. Fedde has only allowed two runs in four games since August 13, though two of those were as a follower. It’s not like we’re advocating you to fire him up next week against the Pirates, but he’s been more serviceable than you might have thought.

Chapman locked down the save against the Orioles on Friday night, retiring the side in order while recording one strikeout. It was his 32nd save of the season. Chapman now has 399 career saves and with one more he’ll become the ninth pitcher in MLB history to join the 400 saves club.