MLB Player News

Josh Schreiber, McArthur and Will Klein combined to give up nine runs in the eighth after the Royals entered the inning with a 3-2 lead. The good news for McArthur was that Schreiber, the Royals’ best alternative in the closer’s role, was pretty much equally ineffective tonight. Schrieber still has a big ERA lead on McArthur (3.00 to 5.32) and McArthur is up to four blown saves, so a change might be considered.

Sears has a much-improved 36/5 K/BB in 45 1/3 innings over his last six starts. He had come in at 56/28 in 84 innings over his first 16 turns. The win moves him to 8-8 with a 4.53 ERA in 22 starts this season. Last year, he had essentially the same ERA in 32 starts (4.54) and finished 5-14.

He also walked three. Ray was surprisingly sharp in his rehab assignment as he came back from Tommy John surgery, and his velocity has been very good since returning. His old problems with walks and homers showed up tonight, though. We still like the way he’s throwing, but there will be bumps in the road.

There’s little doubt Rooker would have fetched a nice return at the deadline, but the A’s decided to stay the course. That it’s going to be extremely difficult to sign major league talent while playing in a minor league park for the next few years likely played some role in their decision. Rooker has been one of the league’s very best hitters in amassing a .965 OPS, and while he’s not particularly young at almost 30, he’ll still be fairly inexpensive as a first-time arbitration-eligible player next year.

Machado took Tyler Glasnow deep in the second and then hit one of the two homers that fueled a ninth-inning comeback against Blake Treinen. The Padres went on to win on a Donovan Solano pinch-hit single in the 10th. Machado has nine homers in his last 26 games after totaling seven in his first 75 games. He’ll have to keep up the recent pace in order to reach 30 for the eighth time in his spectacular career.

All of the runs came in the first. Waldron bounced back to allowed just one hit and no walks over the subsequent three innings, but the Padres declined to send him back out for the fifth at 81 pitches. It’s the first time that Waldron has allowed five runs since he gave up eight to the Diamondbacks on May 5.

Glasnow left with a 5-3 lead, but it failed to hold up, denying him his ninth victory. With his showing tonight, Glasnow has a 3.50 ERA with a 155/34 K/BB and 14 homers allowed in 121 innings this season. Last year, he had a 3.53 ERA with a 162/37 K/BB and 13 homers allowed in 120 innings for the Rays.

Treinen was picked over Daniel Hudson tonight after Hudson blew a save on Saturday. Treinen had been pretty effective in amassing a 2.30 ERA in 31 appearances coming into this one, but the Dodgers would almost certainly prefer to leave him in more of a setup role if Evan Phillips bounces back or Hudson can settle things in the ninth. Treinen actually has twice as many blown saves as Phillips (four to two) despite converting just one save and eight holds.

It really looks like the Dodgers might phase out both Pages and Outman after acquiring both Tommy Edman and Kevin Kiermaier, but Pages tried to add to his case for sticking around tonight. He’d probably make more sense for the roster as a part-timer than Outman, since he could be a righty complement to Jason Heyward.

Just when it seemed like Suarez’s tear might be winding down. It’s his second three-homer game, with the other having come for Cincinnati against Pittsburgh in 2020. He’s raised his season OPS from .591 to .721 while hitting .326/.394/.744 with 10 homers and 27 RBI this month. He totaled six homers and 32 RBI in 80 games previously.

Nelson had a 7.06 ERA through seven starts this season, and he probably would have spent considerable time in the minors had Eduardo Rodriguez and Merrill Kelly not gotten hurt, but he’s been very effective in amassing a 3.55 ERA in his last 13 outings. He was particularly strong in going 3-0 with a 2.41 ERA and a 33/8 K/BB ratio for the month of July. It’ll be interesting to see what happens if the Diamondbacks get Rodriguez and Kelly back within these next couple of weeks; Nelson is pretty clearly outpitching Jordan Montgomery at this point and there won’t be room for both in a five-man rotation.