MLB Player News

That’s twice this week the Jays have started a reliever with stellar results. Tallet, Jeremy Accardo and League combined on a two-hitter against the Orioles on Monday. Downs lasted five innings tonight. He’s thrown 11 scoreless innings this month, lowering his ERA from 4.93 to 4.03. It’s expected that he’ll be returned to the pen with Gustavo Chacin set to come off the DL next weekend.

It’s difficult to ignore Cameron’s impressive start to his career. He went toe-to-toe with Hunter Greene in this game and straight up out-pitched him despite Greene’s average slider velocity – 91 mph – nearly matching Cameron’s average fastball velocity – 92 mph. Nevertheless, Cameron deftly mixed his changeup, cutter, curveball, fastball and slider to keep the Reds’ hitters off-balance all night. His efficiency is remarkable while throwing so much junk as he threw a first pitch strike to eight of the first nine hitters he faced and it took him only 83 pitches to work through six innings. He was pulled in the seventh after a walk, but Angel Zerpa tiptoed out of a jam to keep that inherited runner from scoring. Cameron has now completed six innings and allowed one run or fewer in each of his four starts as a big leaguer. Yet, his next turn in the rotation is in question with Seth Lugo’s imminent return from the injured list.

The Royals called on Estévez to put out a fire in the eighth inning after Spencer Steer cut their lead to one. He forced Will Benson to pop out on the first pitch he saw and then breezed through the ninth inning to earn his 15th save of the season. He now has a 1.85 ERA and has held off Lucas Ergec well for ninth inning duties.

Runs were tough to come by in this game and Witt had a hand in two of the three his Royals would score on the way to a victory. First, with a double off Hunter Greene in the fifth inning and then a sacrifice fly in the seventh. That sac fly wound up bringing home an important insurance run as the Reds rallied for a run of their own in the eighth inning, but fell short of mounting a comeback. While Witt’s had another great season, his power has lagged a bit with just five home runs through more than a third of the schedule.

Steer had two separate run-scoring singles and that was the extent of the Reds’ offense in this one. He hit two of his batted balls at least 98 mph and has put a disastrous April behind him with a solid .765 OPS in May.

The juxtaposition of Greene and the soft-tossing Noah Cameron in this game was stark. While both pitched well, Greene was outdueled mostly because his pitch count climbed above 40 through his first two innings and he was never able to quite settle in. His fastball command was a bit erratic and it only forced four whiffs on 28 total swings. Instead, it was often far off the plate and able to be laid off of or caught too much of it and was fought off for a whopping 11 foul balls. He also took a line drive off his ankle in the fourth inning and stayed in the game after being looked at by trainers. This wasn’t a bad start by any means, but Greene has elevated his game so much this season that more strikeouts are expected. He’ll look to get back on track next time out against the Brewers.

Royals manager Matt Quatraro turned to closer Carlos Estévez for a four-out save on Wednesday night after John Schreiber got in trouble in the eighth inning with Erceg feeling under the weather. The 30-year-old lefty should be available again at some point in the coming days once he’s feeling better.

Wallner has gone deep four times in five rehab games at the Triple-A level and figures to rejoin Minnesota’s lineup for Friday’s series opener against the Mariners. The 27-year-old slugger has been out since mid-April recovering from a left hamstring strain.

The calls to promote Anthony, the consensus top prospect in baseball, are only going to increase with the Red Sox losing their fifth consecutive game on Wednesday afternoon. The 21-year-old prodigy seemingly has nothing left to prove at the Triple-A level as he continues to record stratospheric exit velocities and tear the cover off the ball. He should get his opportunity to make an impact at the highest level at some point in the near future.

Giménez kicked off his rehab assignment by playing seven innings at second base. He’ll get another game under his belt on Thursday before the Blue Jays re-evaluate his status. The 26-year-old infielder hit the injured list back on May 9 with a right quad strain.

Pérez flashed his trademark top-of-the-rotation upside in his seventh rehab start as he inches closer to making his return from last year’s Tommy John surgery. The 22-year-old is expected to only require one additional rehab outing before joining Miami’s rotation for his season debut at some point in early June. He’s worthy of a speculative roster spot in all fantasy formats given his talent and upside potential.