MLB Player News

Feltner allowed just one hit on the afternoon — a leadoff single by Luke Raley in the second inning — though he did walk three batters. His punchout victims were Julio Rodriguez, Cal Raleigh, Donovan Solano, J.P. Crawford and Victor Robles. The 28-year-old hurler got 12 swings and misses on 64 pitches in the game, posting a strong CSW of 34 percent. Feltner has impressed through his first three starts this spring, posting a 3.38 ERA, 1.25 WHIP and a 9/4 K/BB ratio over eight innings.

Bellinger will get a breather for the middle game of a three-game set against Boston. Jasson Dominguez will hit seventh and play left field in Bellinger’s absence.

Sánchez doubled and scored in the third and later hit a 415-foot homer off Brad Lord in the seventh. He’s batting .313 with five homers and 20 RBI in his last 22 games, and even though the Marlins have him under control through 2027, he’s very much a candidate to be traded to a contender next month.

We knew Junk would be in the bulk role today, but we didn’t realize he’d be the Marlins’ fourth pitcher of the game. After Cade Gibson allowed one run in the first, the Marlins used Ronny Henríquez and Anthony Veneziano to pitch into the third. The desire there was for the lefty Veneziano to face James Wood and Nathaniel Lowe the second time through the order. It didn’t really go as planned, as Veneziano retired only one of the three batters he faced in the third, but Junk immediately got a double-play ball after entering and just kept cruising from there. Junk ended up allowing two hits, walking none and striking out four while pitching through the eighth. He’s made five relief appearances for the Marlins, pitching at least four innings every time and doing great work in four of the games. We wouldn’t expect him to keep it up, but he’s been really useful thus far.

The Marlins seemed to be looking to stay away from Faucher today after he threw 20 pitches last night, but Bender gave up two runs after being handed a 4-1 lead in start the ninth. Faucher took over with James Wood up and got a popup to end the game for his seventh save. It’ll be interesting to see what happens if they have another save situation on Sunday, since all of their top relievers have pitched on back-to-back days already. Tyler Phillips might be an option. Faucher threw just four pitches today, but if the Marlins didn’t want him pitching today, they’re not going to make him throw again tomorrow.

He allowed six hits, walked one and struck out three in falling to 3-8 with a 5.71 ERA. Dave Martinez scoffed at the idea of lifting Williams from the rotation after his loss to the Rangers on Sunday, and this outing was better than that one, so nothing figures to change now. Williams has a home start against the Rockies in the four-game series coming up next week, but if anyone is looking for streaming options, all of the Nationals’ other starters in the series (Jake Irvin, Michael Soroka and Mitchell Parker) seem like better bets.

Most managers would desperately try to avoid using a young reliever a day after he threw 38 pitches, and that should have extremely been the case here, considering that Lord, a 25-year-old rookie, has little in the way of relief experience and had never before worked on back-to-back days as a professional. But Dave Martinez isn’t most managers, of course, and Lord was actually his first choice out of the pen in relief of Trevor Williams today. It wasn’t just one up-and-down, either, as Lord faced three batters in finishing the sixth and then three more in the seventh. There simply isn’t anyone in baseball more irresponsible in his bullpen usage than Martinez, and it’s gotten plenty of relievers hurt through the years. If Lord isn’t next, maybe it’ll be Jose A. Ferrer, who is tied for the MLB lead with 34 appearances and who also pitched on back-to-back days today after throwing 34 pitches last night.

O’Neill will not do any baseball activities for a week. The outfielder will then likely restart his rehab assignment, and if things go well he could be back in the Baltimore lineup by the end of June. That will depend largely on how O’Neill reacts to the injection, however.

Chisholm missed a couple of days with his after picking up his groin injury Wednesday, but the 27-year-old is ready to roll for the second game of the four-game tilt against Boston.

Stephenson’s slam off Jack Flaherty in the fifth was the second of his career. He struggled in his first 15 games after coming off the injured list at the beginning of May, but he’s hit .329 with five homers, five doubles and 17 RBI in his last 18 games. The Reds seem a little more hesitant to use Stephenson at DH now that they’ve shed their third catcher by moving on from Austin Wynns, so he was out of the starting lineup entirely on Sunday and Wednesday. He did DH with Jose Trevino catching today, though.

Singer got through six for just the second time in his last seven starts. Still, the quicker hooks have been working for him. It just wasn’t necessary today with the Reds giving him seven runs to work with. Singer is 7-4 with a 4.34 ERA and a 60/32 K/BB in 74 2/3 innings. He’s set to face the Cardinals next time out.