With 11 days until the trade deadline, contending teams will be sending scouts to many games in an effort to determine which players to target. Reports continue to stream in regarding pitchers being watched and Marcus Stroman stifled the Tigers in Detroit benefiting his stock. Stroman recorded his sixth win throwing seven shutout innings giving up six hits and striking out five. Will it be his last start with Toronto? Time will tell but if so, a nice finish to his tenure with the team:

 

Surging to his 12th win, Justin Verlander racked up 12 strikeouts generating 20 swinging strikes and 18 called of his 116 pitches for a 32.8 called plus swinging strike (CSW) percentage. Here’s a look at his evening:

 

Verlander did cough up two home runs in a game highlighted by seven runs scored, five via solo dingers. For Texas, Rougned Odor (14) and Asdrúbal Cabrera (12) homered while Yuli Gurriel (17), Alex Bregman (26) along with Yordan Alvarez (10) launched solo shots for Houston. Bregman also survived a scare being hit in the helmet by a 97 MPH fastball from José Leclerc in the eighth inning. 

Here’s the other notable starting pitcher performances from Friday night:

  • Reynaldo López , Chicago White Sox: 102 pitches, 14 swinging strikes, 17 called, 30.6 CSW%. Lopez won his fifth game working seven innings in Tampa giving up six hits, two earned runs and a walk with eight strikeouts. It feels like when owners trust him he implodes, but Lopez has worked with higher velocities since the start of the second half. 

  • Mike Leake , Seattle: 98 pitches, six swinging strikes, 24 called, 30.6 CSW%. Carrying a perfect game into the ninth inning, a lead-off single by Luis Rengifo ended Leake’s bid. Leake did win his eighth game yielding one hit and one walk with six strikeouts in a complete game shutout. 

  • Hyun-Jin Ryu , Los Angeles Dodgers: 102 pitches, 13 swinging strikes, 16 called, 28.4 CSW%. Win number 11 for Ryu allowing four hits, an earned run and three walks with seven strikeouts. His ERA sits at 1.76 this year, beyond impressive. 

  • Jacob deGrom , New York Mets: 108 pitches, 25 swinging strikes, 12 called, 34.3 CSW%. Just another frustrating outing for deGrom owners. He fired seven shutout innings on the road giving up three hits and issuing three walks with 10 strikeouts in a no-decision. 

  • Tyler Beede , San Francisco: 89 pitches, 13 swinging strikes, 14 called, 30.3 CSW%. Beede battled deGrom firing eighth shutout innings yielding three hits and one walk with five strikeouts. Beede’s buy low window seems to have expired. If he’s still on your waiver wire, target him this weekend. 

  • Mike Minor , Texas: 113 pitches, 18 swinging strikes, 17 called, 31 CSW%. Minor could be moved soon as well. He allowed four earned runs in seven innings but struck out 10 against one walk in Houston. Look for the Yankees to target him or Stroman in the coming days. 

 

Bullpen Notes: Kimbrel Heating Up? 

With the Cubs moving ahead by two and a half games, Craig Kimbrel locked down his fifth save since joining the team walking one and striking out three on Friday afternoon. He’s recorded four saves during his last five outings giving up one hit and three walks with nine strikeouts his last five innings. Pedro Strop gets his second win after suffering his fourth blown save serving up a solo home run to Josh Naylor in the eighth inning preceding a Cubs rally in the bottom of the frame. 

Here’s the rest of the high leverage events from Friday:

  • First career save for Cole Irvin working two scoreless innings giving up a hit with one strikeout. Philadelphia also shifted Nick Pivetta to the bullpen to provide depth. 

  • Stephen Tarpley secured his second save striking out six in his three innings of work against the Rockies. Tarpley generated nine swinging strikes of his 49 pitches producing an 18.4 swinging strike percentage. 

  • Working in a non-save outing, in a heavily scouted game, Shane Greene tossed a clean ninth with two strikeouts.

  • Blown save number seven led to win number five for Luke Jackson . He coughed up a two-run home run by Victor Robles . Atlanta rallied in the ninth winning via walk-off. Jackson’s allowed at least a run in 11 of his last 24 appearances. Fernando Rodney incurred his third loss allowing the winning run in the ninth inning. 

  • Save number 21 for Roberto Osuna logging a clean ninth against the Rangers.

  • Carlos Martínez held on for his seventh save but yielded two runs on two hits and two walks with two strikeouts. He’s given up runs his last three outings and worked in five of the last six days. 

  • Liam Hendriks racked up his seventh save firing 1.2 clean innings with three strikeouts in Minnesota. He extended his scoreless streak to 19.2 innings with a robust 33:2 K:BB in it. 

  • Although Greg Holland could be moved, he notched his 16th save striking out one in a clean outing. 

  • Kenley Jansen gets his 24th save striking out the side against the Marlins. 

  • Sam Dyson won his fourth decision after the Giants walked off the Mets in the 10th inning. Will Smith tossed a clean ninth with two strikeouts. 

 

HItter Highlights: Vogelbach Hits Two Tank Shots

Patience with power seems to define Daniel Vogelbach this year. Last night, he launched two home runs driving in six of the Mariners 10 runs in a rout of the Angels: 

 

Vogelbach became the first left-handed hitting Mariner to record at least 20 home runs with 50 walks before the All-Star break. He’s drawn a walk in 22 of his last 39 contests accruing 29 since June third. Vogelbach also moved into sixth place in the American League raising his home run total to 23 as a result of last night. 

Anthony Rizzo crushed a grand slam for his 20th home run of the season. Javier Báez added his 23rd home run among his two hits. 

Yankees Edwin Encarnación also hit a grand slam, his 29th homer of the year and 12th slam of his career. Aaron Judge went 1-for-3 with his 11th home run and walked twice scoring two runs with two RBI. Mike Tauchman tallied three hits with two runs, a double and his second stolen base. Over his last six games, Tauchman’s hitting .500 with four runs, two doubles, a home run, five RBI and the steal. 

It seems as though Paul DeJong ’s emerging from his slump. He recorded his second straight multi-hit game with a home run in each. DeJong hit his 15th homer last night driving in four. 

Vladimir Guerrero Jr. channeled his gene pool reaching out for a pitch low and away for one of his three hits. Guerrero Jr. scored three runs and drove in one during the Blue Jays win. 

A career best five hit night for Oscar Mercado . He finished with two runs, a double and two RBI. Tyler Naquin went 2-for-3 with his ninth home run and two RBI. He’s recorded seven multiple hit games in July in 11 games with six in his last seven played. So far in July, Naquin’s hitting .447 (17-for-38) with five doubles, three home runs and 11 RBI. 

Not only did Ronald Acuña Jr. lead-off the ninth inning with a single and score the game winning run, he went 3-for-4 with two runs, a double, RBI, walk and stole his 19th base. Acuna Jr.’s on pace for 123 runs, 38 home runs, 92 RBI and 31 stolen bases this year. Josh Donaldson hit the walk-off single scoring Acuna Jr. in the ninth inning. 

Christian Yelich launched his 35h home run in a loss to Arizona. He’s within one home run of his total from last year. Christian Walker hit his 19th home run for the Diamondbacks while Eduardo Escobar added his 22nd home run with two RBI.

 

What To Watch For

For starters, on the East coast, heat. Boston will activate Nathan Eovaldi to enhance the bullpen but reports suggest Brandon Workman could hold on to the “closer” role going forward. Stay tuned. 

Knowing the Marlins will be trying to move veterans, they hope to add this guy to the lineup soon:

Houston designated Tyler White for assignment and Kyle Tucker started taking reps at first base in Triple-A. Things which make you go hmmmm.

Both Lucas Giolito and José Berríos will look to bounceback on Saturday night. Atlanta will turn to Mike Soroka to extend their lead in the division against the Nationals. 

More trade news will surface so stay with Fantasy Alarm to remain ahead of the competition for all the latest updates. 

 

Statistical Credits: 

BaseballSavant.com

Fangraphs.com

MLB.com - Game note