Betting

Swanson’s triple should have been caught by Andy Pages, but it was a well-hit ball to the wall in left-center. His homer off Tanner Scott in the ninth went 413 feet to left. Although he’s mostly batting ninth at the moment, Swanson is tied for eighth in the majors with 21 RBI and tied for fifth with 22 runs scored.

Initially it was reported that the 34-year-old slugger was being held out of the lineup on Friday due to mid back pain, but it’s actually the dreaded oblique that he’s dealing with. The Reds are hopeful that he’ll only have to miss a couple of weeks’ worth of action. It’s unclear what the corresponding move will be on Saturday, though it could mean the return of Noelvi Marte from Triple-A Louisville.

It’s time to take notice of Cortes. His first inning home run was part of the three-homer onslaught the top of the Athletics’ order greeted Rangers’ starter Nathan Eovaldi with, but his second was more impressive. With two outs in the fifth inning of a 3-1 game after Eovaldi had settled in, Cortes hit a 409 foot moonshot that broke this game open. That blast came on the seventh pitch of that at-bat on a cutter that was about an inch off the inside edge. Cortes still found a way to get around on it and he launched it deep into the right field stands. Through 56 at-bats this season, he has a .339/.403/.625 slash line with more walks than strikeouts and solid underlying power metrics. He’s also hitting third against right-handed pitchers in this talented Athletics lineup. There are all the signs of a true breakout here.

McLain victimized Tigers’ left-hander Framber Valdez for a 421-foot (106.8 mph EV) two-run shot in the fifth inning to get the Reds on the board. Then after a lengthy rain delay, he walloped a 419-foot (106.3 mph EV) two-run shot off of Will Vest that tied the game at 5-5 in the seventh inning. The dynamic 26-year-old also drew a walk in the ballgame, finishing the night 2-for-4. He’s now hitting .213/.339/.330 with two homers, eight RBI and four stolen bases through his first 112 plate appearances on the season.

Torkelson got off the schneid when he hit his first home run of the season in Wednesday’s victory over the Brewers. He followed that up by crushing his first career walk-off home run to sink the Brewers on Thursday afternoon. Then on Friday night, he clobbered a solo shot off of Tony Santillan in the eighth inning, igniting a three-run rally. He finished the night 2-for-3 with a walk and a pair of runs scored and is now hitting .210/.347/.370 with three homers and 10 RBI on the season. A notoriously streaky hitter, Torkelson should be started in all fantasy leagues at the moment until he starts to show signs of cooling off.

He will not stop. As usual, Murakami’s long ball was a sight to behold. He somehow got his bat head on a changeup from Miles Mikolas that was spotted well on the low-and-outside corner and launched it 415 feet over the center field fence. This was his sixth home run in his last seven games to bring his total up to 11 on the season. That pushed Murakami into a tie with Yordan Alvarez for the most in the league. We’re witnessing a legendary power surge from someone who’s becoming must-watch television. Just continue to be mindful of his swing-and-miss and high strikeout rate, as they could still derail what looks like it could be a magical rookie season.

Finally! Griffin gave himself a great birthday gift when he blasted his first career home run to break the 0-0 tie in this one. It was an impressive shot for the young right-hander, taking a fastball from Brandon Woodruff over the right-center fence and he grinned all the way around the bases. Later on, Griffin singled and stole a base to help ignite another Pirates’ rally and chipped in a two-out, two-strike, two-run single in the eighth inning to finally put his game out of reach. It’s been a slow first few weeks in the big leagues for the star prospect, but a game like this could certainly open the floodgates and help start a hot streak.

Rutschman cleared the wall in right-center to knock in Taylor Ward in the first inning, then followed it up with another blast down the right field line in the fourth inning to chase the beleaguered Brayan Bello. He added another RBI on a ground out and yet another in the seventh on a single. Rutschman was already having a pretty solid year at the plate before spending time on the IL -- this game sent his seasonal line to .349/.417/.698 with three homers. That’ll play.

The Orioles ran out of fireworks for their home runs. We’re not even kidding about that, that actually happened. None of these homers were cheapies either -- 410 feet, 395 feet, 411 feet, 395 feet, and 393 feet, and of the five, all of them would have been homers in at least 27 of 30 stadiums. The Orioles simply crushed Bello’s fastballs, be they sinker, cutter, or 4-seam, for all 11 of his hard-hit balls allowed. This is Bello’s first true disaster start of the season, but he’d be a tough stream at this point with his 9.00 ERA. A date with the Blue Jays awaits next week.

Martinez barely scraped over the wall in right-center field with a two-run homer in the first inning -- then cleared his second in essentially the same spot, but a few rows deeper as he chased Max Scherzer. The Guardians have started pivoting away from Martinez of late as he has just three starts in his last six games while George Valera plays more often. Maybe this will get him back in the starting lineup conversation. On the season he’s hitting .284/.329/.541 with five long balls and four stolen bases.