With the spike in home runs, it should come as no surprise Coors Field continues to produce high scoring games. In fact, the last six games in Colorado generated a combined 134 runs, 192 hits, 29 home runs with batters hitting .377 in them. Per Elias Sports, at least 20 runs in each of the last five games represents the longest streak since it happened 11 times in July of 1894 by the Cleveland Spiders. Let that sink in for a moment. Coors Field takes no prisoners including the major league ERA leader Hyun Jin-Ryu, who ceding seven earned runs in only four innings raising his number from 1.27 to 1.93 in the process.
Coinciding with home runs, the other hot topic in 2019 seems to be injuries. And, last night provided more situations for fantasy owners to mitigate. Cole Hamels walked off during his warm-up for the second inning and will miss time with an oblique strain. An MRI this afternoon will determine the severity. Marcell Ozuna landed on the injured list injuring two of his fingers diving back into first base on a pickoff attempt. Reportedly a fracture and like Hamels, more details will evolve determining how long Ozuna could be out. Tyler O’Neill has homered in three of his last six games at Triple-A and should take his place on the roster for those looking for a power bat on the wire this weekend. Rougned Odor tallied three hits but left the game in the ninth inning in Tampa Bay. No details as of yet to his injury, but keep tabs. Last, Adalberto Mondesi will commence his rehab looking to return to Kansas City as soon as possible.
Hitter Highlights: Stay hot Lourdes
Lourdes Gurriel Jr. became the fourth player in Toronto history to record consecutive multiple home run contests. Gurriel launched two home runs last night driving in three joining Jesse Barfield (1983), Edwin Encarnación (2014) and Josh Donaldson (2017) in the record books. Of more importance to fantasy owners, Gurriel Jr.’s productions since his recall on May 24th. In the 32 games since, he’s hitting .352 (44-for-125) with 27 runs, eight doubles, a triple, all 14 of his home runs and 26 RBI. In this same game, Eric Sogard added his ninth home run tripling his career best of three in a season. Sogard owns a .361 average in June with five home runs and 10 RBI in 22 games.
Another post-hype prospect joined the hit parade on Friday night in Baltimore. Chance Sisco went 3-for-5 with three runs, a double, his third home run and drove in a career high five runs.
Chance Sisco visits Eutaw Street! ????@chance_sis12 | #Birdland pic.twitter.com/4xMRZzZgSX
— Baltimore Orioles (@Orioles) June 28, 2019
A perfect night at the plate for Joey Votto racking up four hits in four at-bats plus drawing a walk scoring two runs and stealing his second base.
BrIan Anderson hit his 11th home run and finished with three RBI leading the Marlins to a win over Philadelphia. Anderson has feasted on Phillies pitching this year with 16 hits in 46 at-bats (.348), four home runs and eight RBI in 11 games.
Amidst the angst centering on the Nationals, Juan Soto keeps on producing:
I mean, this ball is just crushed. pic.twitter.com/hd73BaAJXA
— Jamal Collier (@JamalCollier) June 28, 2019
Soto’s slashing a robust .302/.399/.542 with 14 home runs and he’s reached base safely in 14 straight contests.
Pete Alonso celebrated his invitation to the Home Run Derby by launching his 28th of the season. He’s within five of tying Mark McGwire’s record of 33 home runs by a rookie prior to the All-Star break. In this same game, Austin Riley hit his 13th home run.
No one seems to celebrate getting James McCann off the waiver wire, but he hit his career best ninth home run driving in two on Friday. McCann’s hitting .327/.385/.530 and has four stolen bases. Eloy Jiménez added his 13th home run.
As highlighted in the introduction, the Rockies offense surged again. Nolan Arenado led the way with a season high four hits including two doubles and his 20th home run. For the sixth straight home game, Charlie Blackmon tallied at least three hits going 3-for-4 with three runs scored. David Dahl hit his 11th homer and left the yard four times over his last six games with at least an RBI in each one.
In a loss, Max Muncy hit his 20th home run and drove in a career best five runs. Alex Verdugo went 2-for-4 scoring three runs and he hit his ninth home run. Verdugo’s hit five of his nine home runs versus the Rockies hitting .429 with seven runs, two doubles and eight RBI in only seven games against them.
A double dong evening for Matt Olson in an A’s win over the Angels. Olson’s homered three times over his last three games and hit four in his last four contests. He also leads the American League with 16 home runs since May 12th in a 43-game span.
Fernando Tatis Jr. (10) and Eric Hosmer (13) went back-to-back with home runs in the sixth inning propelling the Padres to a win over the Cardinals. Tatis Jr. also stole his 12th base for a smash and dash.
Starting Pitcher Spotlight: Lynn wins his 10th
When Lance Lynn signed with Texas, it did not move the fantasy needle. However, he improved his record to 10-4 with eight shutout innings in Tampa Bay last night. Lynn scattered three hits and walked one with 10 strikeouts. He’s won seven games since April 28th recording a 3.48 ERA, 3.46 xFIP, 1.16 WHIP and 84:17 K:BB in 72.1 innings. Sometimes sturdy trumps sexy statistics.
Here are the other notable performances from Friday:
Sonny Gray , Cincinnati: 98 pitches, 11 swinging strikes, 17 called, 28.6 CSW%. Gray gets his fourth win giving up four hits, two earned runs and a walk with six strikeouts in 6.1 innings.
Elieser Hernandez , Miami: 93 pitches, 15 swinging strikes, 15 called, 32.3 CSW%. Win number one this year for Hernandez lasting 5.2 innings allowing three hits, two earned runs and two walks with seven strikeouts. He’s an intriguing under the radar add this weekend, especially for Hamels owners.
Aníbal Sánchez , Washington: 110 pitches, 13 swinging strikes, 19 called, 29.1 CSW%. Another less than sexy option for fantasy, Sanchez has given up two earned runs or less in seven of his last nine starts. Last night, Sanchez recorded his fourth win yielding six hits, one earned run and a walk with eight strikeouts.
Mike Soroka , Atlanta: 93 pitches, four swinging strikes, 11 called, 16.1 CSW%. Soroka gets his ninth win in 10 decisions, allowing seven hits and two earned runs with four strikeouts against the Mets on the road.
Bullpen Notes: Fernando Rodney revival?
Do not overreact since Sean Doolittle received a much deserved night off. However, Fernando Rodney notched his first save of 2019 striking out two in a clean ninth in Detroit. It’s quite a turnaround for Rodney, given his unconditional release by Oakland on May 28th. He recorded a major league record tying save with his ninth franchise shared by Goose Gossage and Octavio Dotel. At a time when every save matters, and Washington’s surging of late winning 22 of its last 31 games, owners can take a look at Rodney in deeper formats.
Here’s the rest of the high leverage events from Friday:
Michael Lorenzen , not Raisel Iglesias , received the save chance versus the Cubs giving up a hit with two strikeouts over 1.2 scoreless innings. Lorenzen’s registered the last three saves for the Reds.
Houston’s Will Harris gets his second win allowing a hit and striking out one in the top of the 10th prior to Yuli Gurriel ’s walk-off home run. Both Roberto Osuna and Ryan Pressly tossed scoreless innings leading up to the 10th inning.
Alex Colomé racked up his 17th save firing a clean inning with a strikeout. Kelvin Herrera looked terrible again serving up a two run home run to Miguel Sanó without retiring a batter.
Felipe Vázquez recorded his second win logging two clean innings with four strikeouts in Milwaukee. Jeremy Jeffress incurs the loss, his second, allowing a run on a hit and a walk in the top of the ninth.
Colorado’s rumored to be looking at other options in the ninth inning due to the struggles of Wade Davis . Scott Oberg appeared to be in line for the save chance, but worked with a four run lead instead. Oberg tossed a clean ninth with a strikeout and could be interim closer while Davis works in lower leverage.
Wash, rinse and repeat for Kirby Yates . He notched his major league leading 27th save with 1.1 clean innings striking out two.
What To Watch For
Brendan McKay will make his debut for the Rays against the Rangers. Between two levels, McKay surged to a 6-0 record with 88 strikeouts against 15 walks, a 1.22 ERA and 0.80 WHIP in 66.2 innings. By the way, he can also hit with a .265/.400/.551 slash and four home runs at Triple-A.
New York and Boston will resume their rivalry in London? Masahiro Tanaka will be opposed by Rick Porcello across the pond.
Marcus Stroman will try to enhance his trade stock facing the Royals at home and could Gurriel Jr. rack up another multiple home run performance?
With Coors Field yielding so much offense, can Clayton Kershaw overcome it? He’s opposed by Jon Gray in the night slate.
Be sure to stay with Fantasy Alarm for the latest information to stay ahead of the competition.
Statistical Credits:
BaseballSavant.com
MLB.com - Game Notes
Fangraphs.co
Player News
Kyren Paris hit a two-run homer in Wednesday’s win for the Angels over the Blue Jays.
That’s the first homer for Paris since April 9 when he went deep twice against Tampa Bay and caused everyone to lose all sense of rational thought. The 23-year-old did also single and walk to improve his on-base percentage to .311,, while the homer bumps his slugging mark to .378. There is long-term upside in Paris with flashes that suggest he can be a fantasy option. Fantasy managers should still absolutely looking elsewhere for options up the middle.
Jorge Soler hit a three-run double in the bottom of the ninth to give the Angels a 5-4 win over the Blue Jays on Wednesday.
Trent Grisham went 1-for-1 with a game-tying two-run home run in the eighth inning of a 4-3 win over the Padres on Wednesday.
While the Yankees won this game on a walk-off in the 10th inning, Grisham’s game-tying home run in the eighth was the biggest moment. He came on as a pinch-hitter for Jorbit Vibas against the usually stout Jason Adam and smashed a two-strike changeup into the right field seats. This clutch shot will only continue to push Grisham’s playing time in the right direction after he just started eight of the last 10 games, hit either first or second in each, and already has 10 homers in 31 games played this season.
Jeff Hoffman blew a save and picked up a loss Wednesday against the Angels.
Devin Williams struck out three batters with one walk and hit another in a scoreless 10th inning to earn the win against the Padres on Wednesday.
The Yankees entrusted Williams with the all important 10th inning and the inherited ghost runner on second base after their dramatic comeback. While he loaded the bases and had some tense moments, he left the inning unscathed and opened the door for them to win it right after. It should be noted that Luke Weaver came on for what were the most important outs of this game at the time, after Ian Hamilton walked two to begin the eighth inning and Weaver allowed both of those inherited runners to score. He was called upon as the fireman though and will likely get the next save opportunity. Still, this was a massive step in the right direction for Williams.
Max Fried allowed five hits and one run with no walks and eight strikeouts over seven innings in a no-decision against the Padres on Wednesday.
Fried’s excellent season continued as he set down the Padres easily besides for a mammoth solo home run by Jackson Merrill. It was no matter though, as they rarely threatened otherwise and Fried continued to find his strikeout stuff. This was his fourth outing of the year with at least seven strikeouts, a mark he only hit 10 times last season in 29 starts. Fried with a strikeout rate that’s better than league average – which is where he’s at right now – is a clear top-10 pitcher in fantasy baseball. He’s set for a two-start week coming up against the Mariners and Mets.