Gleyber Torres went 2-for-4 and blasted a solo home run on Saturday as the Yankees eked out a 3-1 victory over the Red Sox in New York.
Torres opened the scoring in the ballgame as he jumped on the first pitch that he saw from Tanner Houck in the fourth inning and crushed a 359-foot (100.6 mph EV) solo home run. He also led off the eighth inning with a single, but was quickly erased on a double play. With his two-hit attack, the 26-year-old infielder is now hitting .256/.332/.424 with 11 homers, 28 RBI and six stolen bases on the season.
Sam Long picked up his second career save with a scoreless 10th inning Saturday against the Brewers.
Working with a one-run lead, Long stranded the automatic runner to get the A's the win tonight. He's sporting a 3.00 ERA in 24 innings of relief work since being picked up from the Giants. One wonders if Oakland might look to stretch him out and give him a chance as a starter later this season.
Mike Tauchman went 1-for-4 with a double and a run scored as the Cubs shut out the Giants on Saturday afternoon in San Francisco.
Tauchman lined a one-out double to left field off of Jakob Junis in the fifth inning, then dashed around to score on Christopher Morel's two-run single. The 32-year-old has done a decent job in his limited action with the Cubs this season -- slashing .259/.388/.296 with no homers, six RBI and two stolen bases in 54 at-bats.
Matt Mervis went 1-for-3 and crushed a mammoth solo home run as the Cubs defeated the Giants in San Francisco on Saturday.
Mervis opened the scoring in the contest with his 420-foot (110.1 mph EV) solo shot off of Jakob Junis to lead off the third inning. That would be his only hit in three at-bats on the afternoon. The 25-year-old slugger has struggled for the most part in his first exposure to big league pitching -- slashing just .175/.250/.313 with three homers and 10 RBI.
Christopher Morel homered and drove in three runs on Saturday, leading the Cubs to a 4-0 victory over the Giants in San Francisco.
Morel swatted an opposite-field 365-foot (99.4 mph EV) solo shot off of Jakob Junis in the fourth inning that increased the Cubs' lead to 2-0. He also poked a two-run single up the middle in the fifth inning to make it a 4-0 ballgame. Hopefully, this two-hit attack is exactly what Morel needs to break out of the funk that he has been in. With his 2-for-4 effort, Morel is now slashing .259/.323/.647 with 10 homers and 18 RBI in 24 games on the season.
Taj Bradley surrendered five runs -- four earned -- in 3 2/3 innings Saturday in a loss to the Rangers.
Bradley walked the leadoff man in both the second and fourth and paid for it both times, giving up three runs in the second and two more in the fourth. He's allowed 14 runs -- 12 earned -- over 23 1/3 innings in five starts since returning to the majors last month. He's probably not going to lose his spot just yet, but if he's not better next time out, perhaps the Rays will give Elvin Rodríguez or Evan McKendry a try.
Nathan Eovaldi got his ninth win despite allowing four runs in 6 1/3 innings Saturday against the Rays.
Eovaldi allowed as many runs tonight as in his previous seven starts combined, but the Rangers offense picked him up. He's 8-0 in his last 10 starts, and his season ERA stands at 2.49.
Francisco Mejía went 2-for-4 and hit a three-run homer against the Rangers on Saturday.
Nathan Eovaldi had allowed a total of five runs in 56 innings before Mejía hit a three-run homer off him in the fourth today. It was Mejía's first homer since Apr. 29. The backup catcher is 7-for-15 this month, raising his OPS from .553 to .658.
Brandon Marsh went 0-for-4 with three strikeouts against the Dodgers on Saturday.
Marsh is 1-for-20 with 14 strikeouts in his last six games, which seems bad. He had a 1.000 OPS as late as May 9, but he's hitting .177 with just one homer, one double and 37 strikeouts in 93 plate appearances since. He's at .779 for the season now.
Aaron Nola was charged with six runs in 6 1/3 innings Saturday in a loss to the Dodgers.
This would have been a quality start for Nola, but he gave up three runs in what turned into a six-run seventh inning. He got 18 missed swings and showed some of his best velocity of the season, so this wasn't nearly as bad of a performance as the line suggests. He'll face the Diamondbacks next.
Andre Jackson recorded a three-inning save Saturday in a 9-0 game against the Phillies.
Jackson, who was called up before the game, came through nicely in advance of what's expected to be a bullpen game for the Dodgers on Sunday. Unfortunately, since he'll now need a couple of days off, he might be demoted on Sunday.
Bobby Miller pitched three-hit ball for six innings in the Dodgers' 9-0 shutout of the Phillies on Saturday.
While Miller's talent was never in doubt, his minor league numbers provided no suggestion that this was coming. However, after four starts, he's 3-0 with a brilliant 0.78 ERA. He struck out seven and allowed just a double and two singles in this one. Maybe his command will let him down at some point, but mixed leaguers should certainly ride him for now.
Ryan Pressly rebounded from a rough outing on Friday night to close out the Guardians in the ninth inning on Saturday, earning his 12th save of the season in the process.
The right-hander came on with the Astros leading 6-3 in the ninth inning. Once again he made things interesting as he allowed a leadoff single to Steven Kwan and then Amed Rosario reached on an error. He battled back though, getting Jose Ramirez to line out to center field before Josh Naylor plated a run with a sacrifice fly. Pressly then punched out Will Brennan to end the ballgame. The 34-year-old hurler now sports a 3.42 ERA, 0.99 WHIP and a 29/4 K/BB ratio over 26 1/3 innings on the season.
Triston McKenzie was knocked around in Saturday night's loss to the Astros, giving up five runs on seven hits over his five innings of work.
The right-hander also issued three free passes in the ballgame while striking out five. Most of the damage came during a three-run uprising in the opening inning -- including a two-run homer off the bat of Jose Abreu. He also allowed a pair of run-scoring singles in the fourth inning. McKenzie generated 15 swings and misses on 92 pitches in the ballgame, posting a CSW of 25 percent. He'll look to get back on track as he carries a 4.50 ERA, 1.20 WHIP and a 15/4 K/BB ratio (10 innings) into Friday's matchup against the Diamondbacks in Arizona.
J.P. France logged a quality start in Saturday's victory over the Guardians, allowing three runs on seven hits across 6 2/3 innings.
The right-hander issued a cringe-inducing six free passes in the ballgame, but helped to make up for it by punching out six batters as well. The Guardians scratched out a run against him in the opening inning on a sacrifice fly, then France was able to keep them off the board until they pushed two more across while chasing him in the seventh. The 28-year-old hurler got nine swings and misses on 105 pitches in the game, posting a CSW of 30 percent. Now 2-1 on the season, France will tote a 3.54 ERA, 1.28 WHIP and a 35/15 K/BB ratio (40 2/3 innings) into Saturday's matchup against the Reds.
Josh Naylor went 2-for-3 and drove in three runs on Saturday as the Guardians fell to the Astros in Cleveland.
Naylor got the Guardians on the board with a sacrifice fly off of J.P. France in the opening inning. He then contributed a run-scoring single in the seventh inning to cut the Guardians' deficit to two runs at 5-3, but that would be as close as they would get. He also added a sacrifice fly in the ninth. With the two-hit attack, Naylor is now slashing a strong .283/.332/.465 to go with eight homers, 47 RBI and four stolen bases on the season.
Jose Altuve went 2-for-4 with a walk, stolen base and a run scored as the Astros triumphed over the Guardians on Saturday afternoon in Cleveland.
The 33-year-old second baseman smacked a one-out double off of Triston McKenzie in the opening inning and then scored the game's first run on an RBI single by Alex Bregman. He then led off the third inning with a single, swiped second and took third on a wild pitch, but the Astros were unable to cash him in. Altuve is now hitting .262/.348/.443 with two homers, six RBI and a pair of stolen bases through his first 15 games on the season.
Tucupita Marcano went 0-for-4 in the loss to the Mets on Saturday.
Marcano is 6-for-32 with no extra-base hits or walks in his last 10 games (seven starts), dropping his OPS from .851 to .752. He could start losing some time to Rodolfo Castro is he doesn't turn it around.
Johan Oviedo yielded two runs in 6 1/3 innings Saturday in a loss to the Mets.
Oviedo showed a little extra velocity today, averaging 97.2 mph with his fastball, and he allowed just four hits to the Mets. He took the loss because of an infield single to start the seventh in a 1-1 game. He was pulled after striking out the next batter, and the runner came around to score off Dauri Moreta. Oviedo fell to 3-5 with a 4.16 ERA.
Mark Canha doubled twice and knocked in three runs as the Mets' No. 9 hitter Saturday against the Pirates.
It was Canha's first time starting a game in the ninth spot since 2018. He'd seem to deserve a little better, especially since he had a .906 OPS over his last eight games. He now has nine RBI in nine games after collecting a total of 12 in his first 47 games.