Fantasy Baseball Daily Round Up: April 28

The Rangers pounded out a 15-1 win over the Mariners and got a dominating performance from Mike Minor . He pitched seven innings of one-run ball and struck out a career-high 13 batters. The 13 strikeouts tied a Rangers record by a lefty and all of them can be seen below. He led all players in scoring on both Fanduel (67.0) and DraftKings (40.8). Minor had a fantastic April, pitching to a 1.75 ERA, winning three games, and striking out 36 over five starts (36.0 innings). The Rangers got offensive production from their entire lineup, but the most notable performers were Elvis Andrus , Rougned Odor , and Logan Forsythe . Andrus finished 3-6 with a home run, a double, three RBI, and three runs scored. Odor only had one hit, but it was a three-run home run and he also walked twice and scored two additional times. Forsythe had a four-hit night with two doubles, three RBI, and a run scored.

Strong Outings

Minor may have stolen the show last night, but a few other guys also pitched well:

• Clayton Kershaw was great once again last night, tossing seven innings of one-run ball and striking out eight. Kershaw has picked up three straight quality starts to begin 2019 and he now has a 2.25 ERA, 0.75 WHIP, and 21 strikeouts through 20.0 innings pitched.
• Yu Darvish gave the Cubs six quality innings in a win over Arizona. He gave up just two hits and one run while striking out eight. Darvish is still sporting a 5.02 ERA on the season, but last night was his best outing of the year and he has pitched at least five innings and given up three or fewer runs in three straight starts.
• Charlie Morton pitched six shutout innings in a win over the Red Sox. He only gave up two hits and struck out five. He did have four walks and needed 102 pitches to get through the six frames, but that’s just nitpicking at a great outing. He is now 3-0 with a 2.76 ERA.
• Aaron Sanchez tossed five innings of one-run ball (zero earned) in the Blue Jays win over Oakland. He gave up two hits and walked four while striking out four. He has given up two earned runs or fewer in five out of six starts this year and will carry a 2.32 ERA into his next outing.

Extra! Extra! Read All About It!

We had two games go into extra innings yesterday and both finished in exciting fashion.

The Padres scored six runs in the top of the tenth inning to take home an 8-3 victory over the Nationals. The game was tied 2-2 through nine with both teams scoring via a two-run home run (Hunter Renfroe for the Padres, Juan Soto for the Nationals). Both teams got strong performances from their starting pitchers as Stephen Strasburg tossed seven innings of two-run ball with nine strikeouts for the Nats and Eric Lauer hurled 5.2 innings of two-run ball with six strikeouts for the Padres. San Diego used three hits, three walks, a HBP, and two sacrifice flys to score their six runs in the top of the tenth. Howie Kendrick delivered a solo home run in the bottom of the tenth before the final out was made.

In the other extra inning game, the Astros grabbed a 4-3 win over the Indians in ten innings. In the bottom of the tenth inning the Astros called upon Tony Kemp as a pinch-hitter and his job was to find a way on base and spark a run, but he was a game ending spark as he swatted a walk-off home run to right field. The home run was his second of the year. Much like the Padres/Nationals game, this game got strong outings from the starting pitchers. Brad Peacock delivered six innings of one-run ball and struck out seven. Shane Bieber gave the Indians a quality start as he hurled six innings of three-run ball and struck out nine. The only other notable scoring output from this game was a two-run blast from Carlos Correa . The Astros improve to 16-11 on the season, while the Indians fall to 15-11 with the loss.

Hitter Highlights

• David Bote swatted a pair of home runs and drove in five.
• Max Kepler also hit a pair of long balls, but ‘only’ drove in four.
• Hunter Dozier finished 4-5 with two triples, four RBI, and a run scored.
• Anthony Rizzo went 3-5 with a home run, two doubles, two RBI, and three runs.
• Marcell Ozuna had a home run, a double, and five RBI.
• Christian Yelich finished 3-4 with a home run, a steal, two RBI, and two runs.
• Pete Alonso collected three hits, a home run, and three RBI.
• Gary Sánchez slugged the longest grand slam since 2015.

What to Watch for Today

Tyler Glasnow (4-0) will take on Chris Sale (0-4). Glasnow has been fantastic to start the year (1.53 ERA), while Sale has been abysmal (7.43). This game will kick off the action today and it should be a good pitching duel, despite what Sale’s stats show.

Gio González will make his 2019 MLB debut against the Mets in New York. He will be pitching at a field he’s very comfortable at, as he enters this start with an 11-2 record and 1.75 ERA in his career at Citi Field across 17 games (108 innings).

Sonny Gray vs. Jack Flaherty should give us a decent pitching duel. Gray enters with a 0-3 record, but has pitched well with a 3.65 ERA, 0.97 WHIP, and 31 strikeouts across 24.2 innings of work. As for Flaherty, he has pitched great when he hasn’t faced the Brewers, but unfortunately for him, he has faced them three times already.

Domingo Germán will look to keep his fantastic start to the year going against a weak Giants offense. German enters this start with a 4-1 record and 1.75 ERA. He will likely be a very popular option on DFS sites today, as the Giants are ranked 28^th in runs scored this year.