MLB Player News

Matz was making his first start since April 30, and all things considered it went relatively well. The southpaw gave up homers to Jackson Chourio and Joey Ortiz, but allowed just one other hit with three walks and seven strikeouts. The Brewers are a tough nut to crack right now, and the 33-year-old did show some swing-and-miss stuff. The question now is when Matz pitches again, as the Cardinals haven’t lined up their rotation just yet.

Even though it was a breaking ball, Hernández seemed to be in a whole lot of pain afterwards. Chris Taylor ran for him and took over in left field.

Fried was in control for this entire outing. The only run he gave up came after an error by Orlando Arcia, fielder’s choice, and an RBI groundout. Otherwise, the Blue Jays had trouble sustaining any sort of rally. He was deep in his bag showing seven total pitches, used six of those seven as the first pitch of an at-bat, and forced a swing-and-miss with five of them. Just a wily veteran going out there keeping the other guys guessing. Fried is scheduled to face the Nationals on the road in his next start.

Iglesias did well to work around two hits and close this one out. Overall, he has been downright nasty this season. He hasn’t allowed an earned run since June 16th and has a 37.6 K% since then. He’s having one of the best seasons of his entire career and looks like one of the most dominant relievers in baseball right now.

This was Soler’s first game not hitting either first or second since being acquired by the Braves. And that made sense too since you have to get, checks notes, Whit Merrifield into the two-hole. Nevertheless, Soler scalded his double 110.5 MPH and has an .835 OPS since the All-Star break after dragging his feet through the first half.

Lukes scored the Jays’ only run and was their only batter to reach base twice on a tough night against Max Fried. This was Lukes first start in nearly a week despite notching four hits out of the lead-off spot last Saturday.

Gausman did well to hang on for this quality start. He was up to 55 pitches after the Braves batted around in the second inning with three runs home. Gausman was visibly uncomfortable in the Atlanta humidity and was sweating through his jersey as that inning mercifully ended. Yet, he turned his outing around largely thanks to some batted ball luck and finding the command of his splitter. It forced 10 swings-and-misses as it continued to disappear below the strike zone. While not comfortable, this version of Gausman is palatable. He’s scheduled to face the Mets at home next time out.

Merrifield will get a CT scan to rule out a smaller fracture. Consider him day-to-day for now. Luke Williams could start at second base on Saturday.

Kremer was excellent against the Rays’ paltry offense. He had pinpoint command of his four-seamer and left nearly all of them right on the edge of the strike zone. That pitch forced six swings-and-misses and beautifully set up both his splitter and curveball which combined for seven swings-and-misses. Kremer looks like a stud when he’s locating those pitches along with his sinker and cutter. He’ll have a chance to stay hot in his next scheduled start against the Red Sox in Fenway Park.

In a game starved for offense, Henderson’ blast accounted for the only earned run allowed by either side. He got the best of Shane Baz in his third at-bat when a 2-2 slider didn’t quite make it to his back foot and he turned it around for a home run. Henderson cooled for a moment earlier this summer, but has ratcheted it back up with three homers in his last seven games.

The Rays got the tying runs into scoring position after a single, error, and double-steal before Domínguez got Ben Rortvedt to pop-out and end this game. He dealt with some drama in the eighth inning too after his own wild pitch moved Jonathan Aranda to second base, but found a way out of both jams. He’s now closed out five saves in a row and has still only allowed runs via the solo homer as an Oriole.