Betting

After striking out Carlos Santana to begin the frame, Díaz made things interesting by issuing a walk to Alek Thomas. Thomas then swiped second base to get himself into scoring position, but the 32-year-old right-hander battled back to strike out Jordan Lawlar and then got Ketel Marte on a ground ball to end it. As long as he stays healthy, there’s little reason to believe that Díaz won’t finish among the upper echelon closers once again at season’s end.

The 22-year-old infielder did his damage in the fourth inning of this one, launching an 0-2 fastball from Gavin Williams for a 367-foot (98.6 mph EV) go-ahead three-run homer. That proved to be all of the run support that George Kirby and company would require in this one. That was his only hit on the evening and his only knock through his first six at-bats on the season thus far.

It looked as though the 21-year-old phenom had connected on his first big league home run in the second inning, only to see Jackson Merrill pull it back from over the center field wall. He still made his mark on the game though. McGonigle strolled to the dish with the bases loaded and two outs in a 2-2 game in the eighth inning. Padres’ skipper Craig Stammen turned to left-hander Wandy Peralta to try to get him out, but McGonigle battled him for 10 pitches, fouling off four two-strike offerings and working the count full before lining a go-ahead two-run single into right field that proved to be the difference. He’s off to a sizzling 5-for-8 (.625) start to his big league career with two runs scored and four RBI.

He’ll presumably replace an IL-bound Christopher Morel. De Los Santos went 2-for-4 with a homer and a walk for Jacksonville tonight. The Marlins presumably will give him a fair amount of playing time at first for now, with Connor Norby moving around between first, third and DH.

Trout hit his second homer in as many games in the fifth inning to push the Angels’ lead to 5-2. Trout is off to a blazing start through the first two games of the season, going 4-for-6 at the plate while also drawing four walks. It’s only two games, but Trout’s early power display after failing to homer in 41 spring at-bats is encouraging.

Lowe broke things open for the Angels in the second inning when he took Mike Burrows deep for a three-run shot, putting the Angels up 4-1. Lowe, who also doubled in this one, hit just 11 homers in 396 at-bats last season but does have one 20 homer season on his resumé. He could have some fantasy upside in deeper leagues, especially if he sees some base-stealing opportunities.

Giménez put the Blue Jays up 2-1 in the fifth inning when he floated a ball into left center that was misplayed by two defenders and rolled to the back of the wall for a triple. After a game-tying homer by Shea Langeliers in the ninth inning, Giménez again came up clutch for the Jays, when he squeezed snuck a grounder past second base to drive in Kazuma Okamoto from third for the walk-off win. Not often known for his bat, we’ll need to see a few more outings like this from Giménez before we consider him a fantasy viable option this season.

Langeliers ended a scoreless tie in the fourth when he connected on a Kevin Gausman splitter that sailed 388 feet into the left field stands. It was the first homer of the season for Langeliers, who came up clutch again in the ninth inning when he took Jays closer Jeff Hoffman deep to tie the game at 2-2. Langeliers hit second for the A’s on Friday and is coming off a season in which he belted a career-high 31 homers.

Gausman held the Athletics scoreless through 3 1/3 innings until Athletics catcher Shea Langeliers took him deep on a solo homer to put the A’s up 1-0. It was the only hit and baserunner Gausman would allow all game, as the veteran righty was nails all night. Gausman threw 60 of his 83 pitches for strikes and relied almost exclusively on his fastball and splitter to get the job done. It was a strong first start of the season for Gausman, who will make his next start on Wednesday against the Rockies.

Albies wasted little time getting on the board for the first time this season. The switch-hitting second baseman took an 83 MPH changeup from Cole Ragans into the left field seat in the bottom of the first to give the Braves an early 1-0 lead. Albies was surprisingly listed third in Thursday’s lineup, but the decision paid early dividends for manager Walt Weiss who made his managerial debut for the Braves. Albies would single to right in the third inning for his second hit on the night, but was caught stealing a few pitches later. Albies is looking to rebound from a disappointing .240/.306/.365 line in 2025 and is off to a strong start after hitting .188 this spring.