MLB Player News

He also hit a batter. Rainey’s velocity has been a big issue all spring — he’s been down about 4-5 mph from where he was pre-Tommy John — and he might have been trying to do too much to make up for it today. Rainey is out of options, but one imagines he’ll clear waivers if the Nationals try to send him down.

Tucker continues to play a pivotal role in Chicago’s sustained offensive outburst since returning from their season-opening Japan series as his latest multi-hit performance raises his average to a robust .327 (17-for-52) with five homers and three steals through 13 games. The 28-year-old impending free agent finds himself in the driver’s seat as the marquee name on the open market with Vladimir Guerrero Jr. agreeing to a long-term contract extension with the Blue Jays. He’s in line for a massive contract this offseason once he reaches free agency.

Busch came through with arguably the biggest hit of the contest when he scalded a 100-mph line drive down the right-field line off Rangers starter Nathan Eovaldi with two outs in the fifth inning to give the Cubs a commanding five-run advantage. He’s unlikely to produce elite over-the-fence power, but he’s settled in nicely as a middle-of-the-order run producer for the Cubs and a borderline top-20 option at first base for fantasy purposes.

Steele wasn’t overpowering by any means on Monday night, but temperatures in the mid-30’s at Wrigley Field helped limit an ice-cold Rangers’ lineup to just three hits and a pair of walks over seven frames. He threw 64 of 91 pitches for strikes and held Texas to just seven hard-hit batted balls with exit velocities over 95 mph. He’ll face a tough test his next time out on Sunday against the Dodgers in Los Angeles.

It doesn’t come as a total shock that the Rangers were a bit conservative here after Eovaldi threw 99 pitches in a complete-game shutout in his previous start. He gave up a pair of early runs before things unraveled in his final frame when Michael Busch delivered a run-scoring triple with two outs in the frame that chased him from the contest. He finished with four strikeouts and walked two batters. He’ll square off against the Mariners on Sunday in his third consecutive road start.

Wood, dropped to fifth in the order the previous two games, led off tonight with CJ Abrams out and hit a big lefty-v-lefty homer off Anthony Banda in the seventh inning. It should be enough to keep him somewhere near the top of the order even if Abrams is back tomorrow.

Gore is on the board after going 0-1 with a 2.45 ERA in his first two starts. The only damage against him tonight was the result of a Shohei Ohtani homer. He’ll be an excellent play this weekend with the Marlins next on the schedule.

Dave Martinez, MLB’s most irresponsible manager when it comes to handling relievers, never should have asked this of Finnegan after he threw 36 pitches the last two days, but Finnegan put his arm on the line for the team that non-tendered him in November and came through with a big performance. He’ll be down Tuesday, which might lead to a save chance for Jorge López or Jose A. Ferrer.

Mookie Betts and Miguel Rojas made errors on back-to-back grounders in the second, leading to the two unearned runs. May struck out one and got only two whiffs on 34 swings by Nationals hitters tonight, but he induced a bunch of grounders and harmless flyballs. He doesn’t need strikeout to excel. He’ll make his next start on six days’ rest at home against the Rockies.

Seeing Ohtani and James Wood homer as leadoff men in this one was quite a reminder of how the game has changed in recent years. Ohtani knocked in Chris Taylor on his third-inning homer off MacKenzie Gore, marking the first time he’s driven in someone besides himself this season. He has four homers and five RBI in 12 games.

It’s a significant loss for the Red Sox pitching staff more than anything else as the bulk of the catching duties will go to Carlos Narváez with Wong heading to the injured list. The 28-year-old backstop suffered the injury when he was struck on the glove hand by George Springer’s first-inning swing during Monday’s series opener. There is no timetable for his return at the moment, but fantasy managers should expect him to miss at least a couple weeks. It’ll likely be Blake Sabol coming up from Triple-A Worcester to take his spot on Boston’s active roster.