MLB Player News

Kikuchi held the Tigers off the board through four innings until a base hit and a double brought a run in to score in the fifth. He loaded the bases with no outs in the sixth and was pulled before Jake Rogers cleared the bases with a grand slam. Kikuchi ended the day with eight strikeouts. The 33-year-old left-hander will take a 4.54 ERA, 1.31 WHIP, and a 125/28 K/BB ratio across 111 innings into a start against the Rangers in Toronto on Friday.

Cobb was originally slated to face the Dodgers this weekend, but that’s no longer happening. The oft-injured 36-year-old veteran has been effective, when healthy, over the last few years, which keeps him on fantasy managers’ radar screens. He developed a small bister surface on the inside of the middle finger on his right hand during last Sunday’s outing against the Pirates. No word on when he’ll be ready to take the ball again. It’ll be Gavin Williams and Tanner Bibee moving up in Cleveland’s rotation to start this weekend at Dodger Stadium.

Aledgheri struck out seven in notching his first big-league victory in his second start since being called up. We wouldn’t go picking him up in mixed leagues, but this was a nice performance from a 22-year-old who often struggled with control in the minors. He’s slated to face the Astros next time out.

Garabito wasn’t exactly an opener tonight, but it does seem like the Rangers always intended for José Ureña to go long, and Ureña did, throwing the final 5 2/3 innings of the 5-1 defeat. Garabito was making his second start in his 12th appearance for Texas, and he has a 3.10 ERA in 20 1/3 innings. Garabito will likely return to either Triple-A or the bullpen in the coming days.

It’s been a rough go for O’Hoppe of late, but he now has two homers in three games. He’s 3-for-11 this month after going 8-for-86 with a 43/7 K/BB and just one homer in his final 24 games in August.

Ragans tonight became the fifth Royals pitcher to strike out 200 batters in a season, joining Dennis Leonard (244 in 1977), Zack Greinke (242 in 2009), Kevin Appier (207 in 19996) and Bob Johnson (206 in 1970). The win makes him 11-9 with a 3.33 ERA ahead of a start against the Yankees next week.

Matthews allowed nine hits, seven of which were singles, and struck out four. He dropped to 1-3 with a 7.36 ERA, though he’s looked considerably better than that ERA suggests. Still, he’s going to need to miss a few more bats in order to succeed. He’s a decent play in mixed leagues with a home start against the Reds coming up next.

Massey had as many hits tonight as he did in going 3-for-23 in his previous eight games. He’s definitely the Royals’ preferred option at second base against righties, but he’s primarily a platoon guy right now.

Valdez allowed just two hits and struck out seven in another gem. He’s pitched seven scoreless innings in three of his last four appearances, and he’s allowed two runs or fewer in 16 of his 25 starts this season. He’s very much in the mix for one of the top three spots on AL Cy Young ballots.

Pfaadt had a 3.92 ERA four weeks ago, but he’s since given up 21 earned runs in 33 2/3 innings, putting him at 4.42, even though his peripherals are pretty much unchanged. He’s due to face Milwaukee in his lone start next week, and he’ll probably pitch in Coors afterwards, so he’s very droppable in mixed leagues at this point.

Alvarez took Brandon Pfaadt deep in the fifth and put the game away an inning later against Jordan Montgomery. He has seven homers in his last nine games, though all of those have come in three contests. He’s hit .362 with 12 homers and 13 walks in his last 25 games, pushing his season OPS up to .970.