Fantasy Baseball Daily Round-Up

The game was anything but wild for 6 1/2 innings, but after Corbin Burnes exited, the Cubs scored five times in the bottom of the seventh, giving them a 7-1 lead. The Diamondbacks responded with 10 in the top of the eighth, which included a grand slam from Eugenio Suárez and a three-run shot from Lourdes Gurriel Jr. However, the Diamondbacks were trying to avoid most of their top relievers today, and they let Bryce Jarvis and Joe Mantiply combine to give up six runs in the bottom of the eighth. Kelly, Kyle Tucker and Seiya Suzuki all homered in the frame. Ryan Pressly then calmly set Arizona down in the top of the ninth. Kelly is currently hitting an absurd .419/.578/1.097 in 45 plate appearances. Even though he debuted nine years ago in 2016, just these 11 games along have taken his career OPS from .681 to .701.

Rea, still getting stretched back out after opening up as a reliever, fanned five in the 69-pitch outing. The Cubs have Monday and Thursday off next week, and they might have Javier Assad ready to return by the time they would need a fifth starter again. However, there’s also the possibility they could also keep Rea in the rotation and send Ben Brown to the pen or the minors to make room for Assad.

Craig Counsell is glad the Cubs’ comeback will lead to fewer questions about his managing today. Hodge thought he was going to pitch the eighth in a close game, but then he sat back down after the Cubs scored five runs to take a 7-1 lead in the bottom of the seventh. Jordan Wicks, who was just called up today and has next-to-no relief experience, was brought in instead, but he gave up three straight singles and was pulled. Hodge entered, immediately gave up a grand slam and then got himself into another jam afterwards. He eventually surrendered a two-run double, and after he was lifted, Ethan Roberts gave up a three-run homer to Lourdes Gurriel Jr., producing a 10-run inning. Hodge’s ERA jumped from 2.00 to 7.45.

Ethan Roberts, who finished the eighth but retired just one batter and gave up a homer beforehand, was in line for the win after the Cubs went ahead in the bottom of the inning, but the official scorer had the leeway to award it to a more effective pitcher. The scorer still has some time to change his mind, but for now, Pressly has two wins and four saves on the season.

Three strikeouts, seven whiffs and a 21% CSW made for an effective yet rather uninspiring effort from Burnes. Normally one of the game’s best at limiting hard contact, Burnes’ exit velocity numbers look like something one would see from Juan Soto in the batter’s box. He currently has a 50% hard-hit rate. His worst mark in the last five year was 34%. At least today was better in that regard, with only eight of 20 balls in play being hard hit. Burnes’ velocity remains strong, and we’d expect him to get back to being a top pitcher at some point in the coming months. He just isn’t one right now.

Arizona was dealing with a short pen today, and the team was probably looking for Nelson to go multiple innings after entering down 2-1. Instead, he threw 36 pitches and got two outs before being replaced by Bryce Jarvis. There’s a good chance he’ll be sent down in exchange for a fresh arm after this, but that might be best for everyone; Nelson, who entered with a 4.50 ERA in 10 innings out of the pen, is going to be needed as a starter at some point, and the Diamondbacks should have him stretched out when it happens.