MLB Player News

Buehler got one strikeout and three missed swings in his 71-pitch outing tonight. Eight of the 18 balls in play against him were hit hard. He’s probably clinched a spot in the Dodgers’ postseason rotation, but that’s less because of his performance and more because of all of the team’s injuries. He ends the regular season 1-6 with a 5.38 ERA and a 64/8 K/BB in 75 1/3 innings.

Davidson was designated for assignment and sent to Triple-A Norfolk, but he rejected the assignment and elected free agency instead. The 28-year-old split time between the rotation and bullpen this season but spent almost the entire year i Triple-A, posting a 3.89 ERA, 1.34 WHIP, and 104:46 K:BB ratio in 115 2/3 innings (17 starts) for Baltimore. He will look to get a shot at a big league job with another organization.

The Padres evened the series at 1-1 as they head home for Game 3 on Tuesday. Darvish struck out only three tonight, but he mostly produced soft contact and was aided by his defense, particularly when Jurickson Profar took a homer away from Mookie Betts. It’s the first time since May 19 that Darvish has completed seven innings. He improved to 5-6 with a 3.88 ERA in 12 career postseason starts.

The first three runs came on a pair of homers in the first two innings. Flaherty did a nice job after that, but he was tagged with more run after being pulled in the sixth. His velocity, down in his final two starts of the regular season, was back up tonight, as he averaged 93.6 mph with his fastball. It’s reason to be encouraged if he gets another opportunity; he’ll be available to work in a Game 5, potentially in relief of Yoshinobu Yamamoto.

Tatis homered and doubled off Jack Flaherty, whom he had already enjoyed great success again during the regular-season games, and then added another homer in the ninth after the game was decided. He’s an incredible 9-for-14 with three homers and two doubles in four postseason games.

It was still a contest when Merrill hit a two-run homer off Ryan Brasier to make it a 6-1 game in the eighth, and the Padres piled on from there. Merrill is 6-for-14 with three extra-base hits and two walks four games into his first postseason.

Bogaerts promptly homered after a visit from the trainer and then took what was probably his slowest trot of his career. We’re guessing this was a cramping situation and that he’ll be OK for Tuesday.

Max Muncy moved from third base to first. The Dodgers will start working on getting Freeman ready for Tuesday’s Game 3. Prior to returning Saturday, he missed the final three games of the regular season with an ankle sprain.

After doubling to right in the first inning, Vientos went the other way again in the third with a runner on to give the Mets a 2-0 lead. Six innings later, he tied the game in the ninth with a two-run blast to left off Matt Strahm at 6-6. The 24-year-old is off to a nice start to the postseason with seven RBI in the first five games of the playoffs, and he should continue to hit near the top of the lineup as long as New York is alive.

Both steals came in the first inning; one when the Mets basically told him third base was open if he wanted it. It’s still nice to see the 31-year-old run after he “only” picked up 19 steals in the regular season. We’ll see if this is a sign of things to come for the Philadelphia postseason run.

After the Phillies scored three in the sixth to tie the game, Nimmo untied it with a two-out solo shot off Orion Kerkering. Nimmo also singled and has hit .333/.391/.476 slash over the first five games of the postseason.