MLB Player News

Valera had already been designated for assignment on Tuesday as the Guardians tried to make some room on their 40-man roster, so it’s not shocking to see that he wasn’t tendered a contract. It’s possible that they could still attempt to bring the 24-year-old outfielder back into the fold on a minor league contract.

Helsley got the save chance in the ninth with a two-run lead over the Rangers. He worked a perfect frame, striking out two batters for his 13th save of the season to go with a 3.00 ERA and 23 strikeouts over 21 innings.

Gray was outstanding on Saturday, shutting down the Rangers over seven scoreless frames. He scattered four hits and walked one batter while collecting ten strikeouts on 19 whiffs. The 35-year-old right-hander ends the day with a 3.65 ERA, 1.12 WHIP, and a 76/14 K/BB ratio across 69 innings. Gray will take on the Dodgers in St. Louis on Friday.

After a scoreless first inning, the Cardinals scored a run in the second without recording a hit with a walk, wild pitch, and sacrifice fly. A pair of doubles plated a second run in the fourth inning. Corbin would pitch into the sixth, recording one out and leaving with a runner on base at 83 pitches. The 35-year-old left-hander has been surprisingly solid for the Rangers as he’s yet to allow more than three runs in any outing. He’ll take a 3.71 ERA, 1.26 WHIP, and a 41/18 K/BB ratio across 53 1/3 innings into a start against the Rays in Tampa on Thursday.

The Red Sox were the only team that hadn’t been shut out this season, but that’s over now. Schwellenbach and Walker Buehler were both about 1.5 mph over their typical velocities in this one, which had us wondering if there was some sort of calibration issue. However, the relievers that followed in the contest were at their norms or below. Schwellenbach was recorded hitting 100 mph twice and averaged 98.1 mph with his 49 fastballs. It’s the second straight outing in which he’s tied his career high of 11 strikeouts, and he went without allowing a run for the first time since doing so in each of his first two outings of the year. Schwellenbach will take a 4-4 record and a 3.13 ERA into his next start against the Giants.

Buehler had good velocity and struck out six today, but he gave up 10 hits and 11 hard-hit balls, two of them homers. The loss leaves him 4-3 with a 4.44 ERA. He’s a mediocre mixed-league play most weeks and a bad one with his next start coming at Yankee Stadium.

The homer was hit 428 feet off Walker Buehler. Acuña is 11-for-30 with three homers in eight games since returning from a torn ACL. He’s yet to attempt a steal, and while that should change sometime soon, he’s expected to run quite a bit less than usual for at least the rest of this season.

Ironically, his only hard-hit ball was his lone out; he shot a grounder towards second with a man on third and the infield in during the eighth and Kristian Campbell made a great play to grab it, something he might not have been able to do if he had been playing back. Harris now has 33 RBI on the season, which is a pretty remarkable total given his struggles. His .611 OPS is easily the low mark for the 58 players with at least 30 RBI; Bryan Reynolds has the next lowest OPS at .668.

As Campbell prepares to play first base for the first time on Sunday, it must be emphasized how little he’s hitting like a first baseman at the moment. The AL Rookie of the Month for batting .301/.407/.495 in April, he just finished off a .134/.184/.171 month of May. He had one extra-base hit and four RBI in 87 plate appearances. Because he signed a long-term deal, the Red Sox have nothing to gain financially by sending him down. However, if his slump lasts for another week or two, they should consider it anyway.

Loftin, called up a week ago from Triple-A, got the start in left field on Saturday for the Royals and had one of the team’s only two hits against Tarik Skubal through seven scoreless innings. With Skubal out of the game in the eighth, Loftin doubled and scored the only run of the game on a base hit by Vinnie Pasquantino. The 26-year-old is 4-for-12 with two runs scored and a steal in his limited playing time.

Estévez got the call to work the ninth with a 1-0 lead over the Tigers. He allowed a two-out base hit before closing it out for his 16th save to go with a 1.78 ERA across 25 1/3 innings on the season.