Early Game Recaps

The Nationals defeated the Giants 7-5: Adam Eaton made his return to the Nationals lineup after a lengthy stint on the DL and he was promptly inserted back at the top of the lineup. He finished 1-for-4 with two runs scored. With Eaton making his return, it was Michael A. Taylor who was placed on the bench in favor of rookie sensation Juan Soto . Bryce Harper moved over to centerfield and Eaton played in right. Speaking of Harper, he launched his nineteenth home run of the year with a solo shot in the fourth inning. Gio González only lasted 3.1 innings in this one and gave up four earned runs. Sean Doolittle pitched a clean ninth inning to pick up his sixteenth save of the year. For the Giants, Nick Hundley had a big day out of the five spot in the order as he finished 2-for-4 with a home run, a double, four RBI, and a run scored.

The Brewers pounded the Phillies in a 12-3 win: Jesus Aguilar continues to mash baseballs and today was no different as he launched his eleventh home run of the year and finished 2-for-5 with three RBI and two runs scored. DFS players who rostered him today got a strong 34.9 points from him on FanDuel. Christian Yelich collected three hits and a couple of runs scored and is now 11-for-19 over the last three games. Ji-Man Choi delivered a pinch-hit grand slam in his lone at-bat of the day and Jonathan Villar also homered in this one. For the Phillies, all of their runs came on a Rhys Hoskins three-run home run in the third inning off of Brewers starter Brent Suter .

The Blue Jays took down the Orioles 4-3 behind a strong outing from Aarón Sánchez : Sanchez pitched 6.1 innings and gave up just two runs while striking out five. It was his second straight quality start and fantasy owners will be hopeful that he can keep it going after a dreadful start to the season. Randell Grichuck started in right field for the Jays and he homered for the second consecutive day and has now hit three home runs in his last five games. Kevin Gausman gave the Orioles a quality start of his own after pitching 6.2 innings and giving up three runs. He struck out six, he has now struck out at least six in six of his last seven starts. Chance Sisco finished 2-for-4 with a double, a walk, one RBI, and a run scored.

The Cubs gave up just one hit in a 2-0 win over the Pirates: Jon Lester started on the mound for the Cubbies and he was lights out; he pitched seven innings and gave up just one hit while striking out five. They scored both their runs in the first inning and it was more luck than skill; Jason Heyward hit a double to set up the runs, but it would have been caught had Starling Marte not slipped and fell while positioning himself underneath the fly ball. Steve Cishek pitched a clean ninth inning to lockdown his second save of the year. Austin Meadows had the lone hit for the Pirates.

 

Afternoon Action

Carlos Rodon was solid in his return to MLB action today as a he fired five innings and gave up just two earned runs while striking out seven. He has talent and he is worth an add if he is still available in your league. Pitching for the White Sox may limit his wins though.  

J.D. Martínez launched his league-leading 21st home run of the year. He is giving his new team everything they could have wanted and more. Not only does he have the 21 long balls, he is hitting .318 with 54 RBI. His teammate Jackie Bradley Jr. also wanted to join in on the home run action as he clubbed his fifth home run of the year. It has been a rough year so far for Bradley and he is still under the Mendoza line, but he has upped his average from .161 to .197 since May 19. The Sox would love to keep his glove in the field, but he needs to go on one of his hot streaks to warrant being in the lineup every day.

Danny Duffy shutdown the Athletics today to pick up his third win of the year. He scored a league-high 61.0 points on FanDuel today by pitching seven shutout innings and striking out 10. It was easily his best start of the year and he seems to be in a groove now as he has given up just six earned runs over his last 25.2 innings pitched to lower his ERA for the year from 6.88 to 5.28.

Blake Snell picked up his eighth win of the year by holding the Mariners to just two runs (one earned) over six innings. While the Rays are thrilled with what Snell provided today, DFS owners are none too pleased by his outing today as he only struck out one batter. This comes one start after striking out 12; baseball is a funny game.

 

That Just Happened

The Mets offense has come out firing on all cylinders as they have scored three runs in the first inning to take a 3-0 lead early in a Subway Series matchup with the Yankees. Todd Frazier slugged a home run, then Brandon Nimmo tripled, then Asdrubel Cabrera capped it off by blasting a home run of his own.

Paul Goldschmidt has been on fire as of late and he has kept it going today by smacking a home run in his first at-bat to give the Diamondbacks a 1-0 lead in the first inning.

The Astros have jumped out to a 2-0 lead over the Rangers in the first inning via a RBI double by Alex Bregman followed by a RBI single by Yuli Gurriel .

 

Burning Questions

Is Michael A. Taylor the odd man out for the Nationals going forward?

Can Alex Wood rebound from back-to-back poor starts? He has given up 11 earned runs in just 7.1 innings of work over his last two outings.

Will Cody Bellinger homer for a fifth straight game?

 

Stay tuned.