Although the Kansas City Royals weren't able to secure the win on Saturday night against the Detroit Tigers, starting pitcher Jon Heasley was a bright spot.After giving up six hits and four runs in his MLB debut just over a week ago, the Royals' 24-year-old righty pitched into the sixth inning at Comerica Park in start No. 2. He allowed just three hits all night and walked two, adding a trio of strikeouts into the equation as well. Heasley did a good job mixing up his pitches, and Royals manager Mike Matheny was proud of that performance when he spoke to the
A. J. Pollock Jersey media postgame."I thought he was terrific and had everything," Matheny said of Heasley on Saturday. "Located everything well
Walker Buehler Jersey right out of the gate and made tough pitches. Made a number of 3-2 changeups behind in the count, breaking balls... he had everything going today. It was a great outing for him."Heasley was able to put his full arsenal of pitches on display in Detroit. Not only did he do a solid job of simply throwing his offspeed options, but he hit the strike zone several times with his changeup-curveball combo and left plenty of them down in the zone or working in on hitters. Compared to the first start of his young major league career, Heasley said he felt better about things this time around.Scroll to Continue"I felt pretty good about it overall," Heasley
Kenta Maeda Jersey said of his start. "Definitely more comfortable today, nerves weren't quite as crazy. Definitely felt a little more settled in. Had a good plan going in, felt like I attacked the zone and got some outs on quality pitches. Got some big help defensively from Nicky (Lopez), a couple of really good plays out there. Overall, felt really good about the outing and was happy to get back out here again."Heasley was also asked about which pitch he feels is his secondary one. Many have said his changeup is the second-best in his mix, but others have praised the curveball. Matheny said it depends on the night
Fernando Valenzuela Jersey , and Heasley was quickly able to allude to which offering he thinks is his bread-and-butter when not hurling fastballs."Personally, I would say that the curveball is probably my second pitch behind the fastball," Heasley said. Kind of forever, it's been my putaway pitch. But the changeup has come along nicely this year and obviously, if I can have it working like it was tonight, then it puts me in a good spot to be succe sful.When Heasley is changing things up (no pun intended) routinely and keeping opposing hitters honest, he's a difficult pitcher to have succe s against. He was in control during his second career start, giving the Royals a quality outing that they'll be happy with every single time out on the field. Unfortunately, the bats couldn't come alive and the bullpen struggled down the stretch. As the team closes out this season, though, knowing it might have something in Heasley is a definite plus.
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Just five years ago, Noah Syndergaard was considered a foundational piece for the New York Mets. The headlining prospect in the R.A. Dickey trade in 2012 broke in with the Mets in 2015 and helped them win a National League pennant. While he never came close to the ceiling he flashed in the past,
Paul George Jersey Syndergaard was a useful member of the Mets starting rotation from 2015-19 before injuries took their toll. After reaching free agency last winter, he signed a one-year, $21 million contract with the Los Angeles Angels and was later traded to the Philadelphia Phillies, where he helped them win their first pennant since 2009. After a succe sful season, he hits the free agent market for the second year in a row.The Diamondbacks will be looking to add some more certainty to their rotation. After Zach
Los Angeles Clippers Jersey Davies opted out of his mutual option and hit the free agent market, the D-backs may have reasons to go after a veteran starter to solidify the back-end of their rotation and rely le s on their farm system. Drey Jameson, Ryne Nelson, Tommy Henry, and Brandon Pfaadt have the talent and durability to slot into a rotation spot out of spring, but the question remains if the team is comfortable with their Opening Day rotation featuring po sibly two rookies.With the potential need to add some experience to the rotation, Syndergaard could be an interesting fit. Once a pitcher who had the stuff to blow away hitters, injuries have dropped his average fastball velocity from 97.9 MPH in 2019 to 94.5 in 2022. That has also heavily affected his strikeout rate, which dropped from 24.5% to 16.8%. Once a potential budding ace in New York, Syndergaard has more or le s settled into a bottom of the rotation starter that can eat up a fair amount of innings. He pitched 134.2 innings in 24 starts in 2022, showing that he can still be an effective starter without premium stuff.The D-backs already have a solid 1-2 punch at the top of
Patrick Beverley Jersey their rotation with Zac Gallen, who finished 5th in the NL Cy Young vote, and Merrill Kelly. It's also worth noting that Kelly is 34 years old and is coming off a career year in Arizona, accumulating 3.6 of his career 7.8 Wins Above Replacement on .With only two proven starters, there is a lot of variance with how the starting rotation could perform in 2023, which is both good and bad. Relying on multiple rookies to perform in the rotation may simply be too much to ask, even for guys who've already faced big league hitters in 2022.Scroll to ContinueThis is where Syndergaard could come into play, although he himself isn't a sure bet to make 30 starts either due to health concerns. He, Kelly, and Gallen would take the top three spots of
Louis Williams Jersey the rotation while the team sees if Madison Bumgarner is still playable and devote one rotation spot to whichever rookie wins it in camp. As the season progre ses and if Bumgarner is unable to hold a spot, the team can look to the farm for a solution. With four starting pitcher prospects that were able to accumulate at least 155 innings and are a stone's throw from the big leagues, the D-backs may elect to roll the dice instead of spend money to shore up a rotation spot.Given that Syndergaard has already taken the one year pillow deal in 2022, it might not be easy to convince him to take another such deal and he may opt to take the first decent multiyear offer he can find on the market. If the market doesn't offer him such a contract, Arizona could be a nice destination for him to continue to build up his value with a terrific defense behind him and one of the best pitching coaches in the history of the game in
Kawhi Leonard Jersey Brent Strom.
CLEVELAND - Led by a bullpen that ate up six innings after a long rain delay and an early barrage of runs, the Tribe moved to 13 games over .500 Tuesday night with an 8-0 win over the Detroit Tigers at Progre sive Field. Zach Plesac only got to go three innings in his return to the hill after coming up earlier in the day from AAA Columbus, and three relievers all went two innings each to close out the win. Tyler Naquin and Oscar
Louis Williams Jersey Mercado each homered in the win, and the team put a five-spot on the board in the second to basically put the Tigers away. The victory combined with the Mets win over the Twins means the lead in the AL Central is down to five games, and the team has gained a half game since the All-Star break despite those first two lo ses to the Twins. Here's a quick three tidbits on a rainy night at Progre
Landry Shamet Jersey sive Field.1. The 'O' Gets Going The team didn't need all eight runs they scored, but will take them, scoring five in the second and two in the third, and then tacking on another in the sixth. The big nights went to Tyler Naquin who went 2-for-3 with a solo homer in the 6th, raising his average now to .285
Los Angeles Clippers Jersey on the season. Oscar Mercado hit his third homer in two games to help out, that coming in the second to make it a 5-0 affair.Scroll to Continue The Indians again showed why when their offense is going, they are a dangerous team, and also made it a long night for Detroit's pitching staff.2. Poor Plesac Zach Plesac deserved a better fate, and the team wanted to get him the win after three scorele s frames, but the long rain delay kept that from happening. Just called up from AAA Columbus, Plesac who started eight games earlier this season looking sharp, and
Jerome Robinson Jersey in his three frames didn't give up a run, not allowing a hit with a walk and a strikeout. It remains to be seen if the team will keep him to stay in the rotation for another round, but Tuesday he looked as good as any game he had pitched in thus far this season.3. The Pen Slams the Door Tyler Clippard came into the game in relief of Plesac, going two scorele s innings, allowing the only Tigers hit of the night on 21 pitches. After that it was Nick Goody who got the win with two scorele s frames not allowing a hit with three strikeouts, and then Tyler Olsen finished with quick work of Detroit with two innings, not allowing a hit with two strikeouts. You could sense that the Tigers already had the bus warmed up and wanted to get out of the park after trailing
Wesley Johnson Jersey 7-0 early, but they never put up much of a fight against a good outing from the Tribe pen.
The Juan Soto rumors are coming fast and furious as the August
Lance Lynn Jersey 2nd MLB trade deadline draws closer. The chatter was sparked by the young superstar declining a ma sive 15-year, $440M extension from the Nationals and rumors that there's been some internal strife in the club.Based on reports from ESPN's Buster Olney and MLB Network's Jon Morosi, it sounds like Washington is willing
Mark McGwire Jersey to explore potential trades for Juan Soto.The reports whipped Dodgers fans into a frenzy as they dreamed of adding one of the best hitters in the game to LA's already talented roster.However, the Nationals will want a king's ransom, as they should, for the 23-year-old Soto who won't become a free agent until 2024.Scroll to Continue put together what he believes a Dodgers
Tyler O'Neill Jersey -Juan Soto trade package could look like in a recent article. Not surprisingly, it involves a lineup regular and a truckload of top prospects.The Dodgers could offer infielder Gavin Lux and put together a package of prospects from their loaded farm system, starting with power right-hander Bobby Miller or righty Ryan Pepiot, along with two more position players from a group of infielder Miguel Vargas, outfielder Andy Pages, shortstop Wilman Diaz or second baseman Michael Busch.Giving up in a potential deal seems like a given,
Michael Wacha Jersey based on his age and impact this year. Bowden's package includes three of the Dodgers top five prospects for e sentially a two-and-a-half year Soto rental.Soto is represented by super agent Scott Boras and Boras always makes sure his high profile clients, whether it's Corey Seager, Bryce Harper, or Gerrit Cole, always hit free agency.Soto is an incredible player and on
Trevor Rosenthal Jersey track to be in the Hall-of-Fame one day, but Dodgers team president Andrew Friedman might be unwilling to gut his farm system to land a generational talent.
CLEVELAND, Ohio- On Friday night, the Cleveland Indians began a three-game series with the Baltimore Orioles. Coming into tonight's game against the Orioles, the Indians have won 15 games in a row which set a franchise record for longest winning streak in franchise history. Heading into Friday night's match up the Indians came
Roger Maris Jersey in with a record of 84-56 on the season. The Indians lead the Minnesota Twins by 11 games for po se sion of first place in the AL Central. The Indians magic number was at 12 to start the game. Baltimore came in with a record of 71-69 and trail the Boston Red Sox by 8 games in the AL East and are currently in 3rd place behind the New York Yankees. Baltimore is only 2 games behind the Twins for the second spot in the American League Wild Card race. Following the Indians 5-0 victory, the team improved to 85-56 on the season. The Baltimore Orioles fell to 71-70 on the year. With the win the Indians knock their magic number down to 11. Here's our three takeaways from the Indians 5-0 victory.1.) Mike Clevinger with 3rd straight Scorele s OutingMike Clevinger earned his 9th victory of the season tonight and improved to 9-5 on the 2017 season. Tonight, Clevinger threw 6 scorele s innings, gave up 3 hits, walked 3, and struck out 7.
Andrew Miller Jersey Clevinger has limited his opponents to four hits or le s in 20 out of 29 career starts.Scroll to Continue Clevinger became the first Indians pitcher on Friday night to work 6 or more scorele s innings in three consecutive starts since John Denny did it in three straight starts from August 28-September 6, 1981. Clevinger also continued the trend that Cleveland pitching has maintained during their 16 game win streak. Indians pitchers are 14-0 with a 1.80 ERA (20ER/100.0 IP). The rotation since the All-Star break has the lowest ERA in major league baseball with a 2.91 ERA.2.) Edwin Ignites the Offense for Second Straight Night For the second straight night, Cleveland Indians clean up hitterEdwin Encarnacion, hit a 3-run homer to help ignite the teams' offense. With Encarnacion's homer in the first inning, it allowed the team to jump to an early 3-0 lead up until the 6th inning when they scored once again. Encarnacion's homer in the first inning marked his 34th on the 2017 campaign. Edwin has hit safely in nine consecutive games and is batting .318 (14-34) with 4 home runs, and 12 RBIs during this stretch of time.
Chris Beck Jersey He has also reached base safely in 31 straight games, which is the longest active streak in the Majors and is tied fourth-longest in MLB this year. Encarnacion's 31 straight games of reaching base safely is the second longest streak in his career, behind a 44-game stretch that was set from July 21-September 17,2015. The Indians scored only 2 more times following the Encarnacion long ball in the first inning. Carlos Santanahit a ground rule double down the right field line with two outs that allowed Yandy Diaz to score. In the seventh inning, Encarnacion was up with the bases loaded and one out. Following a wild pitch by Orioles pitcher Richard Bleier, Francisco Lindor scored off of the wild pitch and that would mark the 5th and final run for the Indians in the ball game. 3.) Indians Sizzling Following tonight's 5-0 win over the Baltimore Orioles,
Albert Pujols Jersey the Indians extended their current win streak to 16 games. Tonight was Cleveland's 17th shutout of the year, which leads the MLB, and is the most in a single-season since 1976 (also 17). The Indians are now 29 games above the .500 mark which is the highest mark above .500 since 2008 when the team was 96-66. Cleveland is 9-0 to start the month of September and is the best start to any month since September of 1911. The first place Tribe has scored first in all 16 games of the win streak and has outscored their opponents 56-11 through the first to third innings. The team combined for 11
Michael Wacha Jersey strikeouts tonight which makes 79 games this season that extends their Major League record to 79 games with double-digit strikeouts this season. Tomorrow the Indians will be looking to add another game to their win streak when they send Josh Tomlin to the hill and will be opposed by Gabriel Ynoa. First pitch is expected to be at 1:05 PM EST and will be broadcasted on FOX.
The Miami
Sheldrick Redwine Jersey Marlins reportedly made a move to kick off day Tuesday.Miami reportedly inked a minor league contract with former Boston Red Sox minor leaguer Geoff Hartlieb, Ely Su sman of SB Nation's
Chris Hubbard Jersey Fish Stripes.Hartlieb spent the with the Worcester Red Sox and compiled a 3-6 record acro s 40 appearances, including three starts. The right-handed pitcher put together a 5.16 ERA acro s 61 innings pitched to go along with 64 strikeouts.The 28-year
Ozzie Newsome Jersey -old has bounced around teams throughout his profe sional career to date. Hartlieb was drafted by the Pittsburgh Pirates in the 29th round of the 2016 MLB June Amateur Draft and moved his way up their farm system before making his Major League Baseball debut in
Terrance Mitchell Jersey 2019.Scroll to ContinueHartlieb was a part
Morgan Burnett Jersey of the Pittsburgh bullpen until 2021 when he joined the New York Mets. The hurler then spent time in the minors for New York before moving over to Worcester.
After their pitching staff was decimated by injuries a season ago, the Mets must build depth in this area in order to prevent this from occurring again in 2022.On Jan. 13, reported that the Mets have signed two hurlers to minor league deals, veteran
Jarvis Landry Jersey left-handed side-armer Alex Claudio and righty Stephen Nogosek.Claudio, 29, struggled with the Angels last season, posting a 5.51 ERA, 1.592 WHIP, 5.10 FIP, 82 ERA+, 8.3 K/9 and 4.1 BB/9 acro s 32.2 innings out of the bullpen. The Angels designated Claudio for a signment on July 25 and released him five days later. The Red Sox picked up the southpaw in August and a signed him to Triple-A, but things didn't get much better for him as he produced a 6.17 ERA in eight appearances for Worcester before getting released in late-September.Claudio has lost his way in the past five seasons after putting together back-to-back strong campaigns with the
David Njoku Jersey Rangers earlier in his career in 2016 and 2017. Claudio's best days came in Texas, where he posted a 3.20 ERA, 3.34 FIP and 146 ERA+ acro s 230.2 innings in his first five big-league seasons. The hope is that the Mets' player development staff can help the reliever get back on track after he showed promise from 2014 to 2017.As for Nogosek, he has been with the Mets since the 2017 trade deadline when the Red Sox included him in a package to acquire reliever Addison Reed.Scroll to ContinueNogosek, 27, has only to sed 9.2 innings at the major league level with the Mets, posting a 9.31 ERA, 6.92 FIP and 1.759 WHIP acro s two seasons. Last year, he gave up two solo home runs in three innings of work.Although he has struggled in the Mets' minor league system for the most part since coming over from the Red Sox, Nogosek put together a strong
Nick Chubb Jersey campaign in 2019 between Double-A and Triple-A. Nogosek posted a 1.07 ERA, 195 ERA+, 0.993 WHIP and 8.9 K/9 acro s 50.1 innings during
Greedy Williams Jersey this season. However, after the COVID-19 pandemic cancelled the 2020 minor league season, Nogosek had a rough go of things last year with a 4.85 ERA and 1.436 WHIP in 39 innings.Now, he will get another shot at proving his worth this year, and should factor in as a minor league depth piece in the Mets' bullpen.Speaking of depth pieces, starting pitcher Corey Oswalt will no longer be relied on as a hybrid reliever/starter that the Mets can pluck from the minors when they are in need of an arm in the big-leagues. According to , Oswalt signed a minor league deal with the San Francisco Giants.
Antonio Callaway Jersey Oswalt was selected by the Mets in the seventh-round of the 2012 MLB Draft. He went onto make his major league debut in 2018, and bounced between the minors and big-league roster at various points over the course of the next four seasons.Oswalt was relatively solid in limited action a season ago, making three appearances and one start, while posting a 3.48 ERA, 3.07 FIP, 119 ERA+ and 8.7 K/9 in 10.1 innings. Unfortunately, Oswalt was moved to the 60-day IL due to right knee inflammation on July 19, which ultimately ended his 2021 campaign.
With the Kansas City Royals coming off a series lo s to the Houston Astros, they were looking to snag a game one win against the Toronto Blue Jays following a rain delay on Monday night. After nine excruciating innings, however, the visitors came out on top by a final score of 8-0
Prince Amukamara Jersey .Kansas City's lineup couldn't produce any runs at the plate, and starting pitcher Daniel Lynch struggled to contain one of the American League's most potent batting orders. In 52/3 innings, the 25-year-old lefty surrendered a trio of home runs and six earned in the proce s. Lynch's season ERA now sits at 5.36, which is a very far cry from the electric start he got off to at the beginning of the season. The Royals' rotation is struggling as a whole, but Lynch's past few weeks have been perhaps the low point for the group considering his early results.On Tuesday, the 17-36 Royals are back at Kauffman Stadium and will host the 32-22 Blue Jays for the middle
Mike Singletary Jersey of their three-game set. Pitching probables for the series finale and the club's four-game series against the Baltimore Orioles are Brady Singer, Kris Bubic, Jonathan Heasley, Lynch and Keller.Here's how the Royals will line up in this evening's game:Kansas City: RHP Brad Keller (1-6, 4.15 ERA)Toronto: RHP Alek Manoah (6-1, 1.98 ERA)Scroll to ContinueWhit Merrifield (R) - RFAndrew Benintendi (L) - LFBobby Witt Jr. (R) - SSSalvador Perez (R) - CMJ Melendez (L) - DHCarlos Santana (S) - 1BKyle Isbel (L) - CFEmmanuel
Anthony Miller Jersey Rivera (R) - 3BNicky Lopez (L) - 2BSince getting off to a terrible start this season, perhaps the worst slump of his career thus far, Whit Merrifield has been one of the Royals' best hitters. In his last 27 games, the 33-year-old is slashing .298/.333/.447 and is striking out just 13.8% of the time. It remains to be seen whether this hot streak can turn out to be the new normal for Merrifield but if it's anything close to that, . His value obviously isn't what it used to be but if Kansas City can net a prospect in return, that may be worth making the move. If not, the Royals could have a solid performer in their lineup for the rest of the season.It's been tough sledding for Brad Keller
Dick Butkus Jersey since he got off to a fantastic
Dan Hampton Jersey start to the 2022 season. In his last five starts, he's allowed respective earned run totals of five, three, four, six and four. Luckily for Keller, he's pitched to the tune of a 2.43 ERA at home this season compared to a 6.26 ERA on the road. Opponents are hitting just .191 against him at Kauffman Stadium and .304 anywhere else. For the Royals' sake, as well as Keller's, both sides will hope for a good outcome as the club hosts Toronto on Tuesday night.First Pitch:7:10 p.m. CSTTV: Bally Sports Kansas CityRadio: KCSP 610 AM
Indians pitcher Trevor Bauer has spent some of his time Saturday fighting back a rash of ridiculous reports thats hes using alternative methods to
Pat O'Donnell Jersey try and get healthy and return to the team as soon as po sible. The original tweet that started the drama came
Walter Payton Jersey from Michael Baumann, who in his bio states hes a writer for The Ringer - the website owned by Bill Simmons and is a part of SB Nation. Heres what Baumann had to
Riley Ridley Jersey say (this pic was directly off coverage on MLB Network from a story about the subject on Deadspin earlier Saturday). Baumann explained that his tweet was made tongue and cheek and should not
Charles Leno Jersey have been taken seriously. Bauer was not amused.Scroll to Continue Bauer then went after both ESPN and MLB Network in a tweet for falling for the obvious fake report that Baumann has admitted was not meant to go that far. So far theres been no response from MLB Network telling
Anthony Miller Jersey fans that the story was false.
The Chicago Cubs were swept and shut out for the second time in their three-game set against the St. Louis Cardinals, ending the season series against St. Louis.The main story came in the eighth inning when 42-year-old Albert Pujols pinch-hit in a
Ebuka Izundu Jersey scorele s game and launched his 695th career home run off of Brandon Hughes to give the Cardinals a 2-
Brad Kaaya Jersey 0 lead.That lead would ultimately hold as the Cubs were shut down by St. Louis closer Ryan Helsley, a theme for the offense the entire game. The Cubs managed just two hits, a Franmil Reyes double in the first, and a Christopher Morel single in the sixth. Cardinals starter Miles Mikolas pitched eight dominant innings and did not allow a runner past second base.Despite the offensive woes, Chicago was still in the game the
Miami Hurricanes Jersey entire way thanks to the efforts of starter Marcus Stroman. This was the righty's fourth start of the year against St. Louis, but it was by far his best. He to sed seven shutout innings with no walks, four hits, and five strikeouts.Scroll to ContinueStroman also kept the ball on the ground on 50% of balls put in play and lowered his ERA to 3.73 on the
Chris Lykes Jersey season. Though there weren't many positives to take away from this game for Chicago, the 31-year-old continuing his resurgent second half is certainly a cause for optimism going forward.The Cubs will have Labor Day off before facing the Cincinnati Reds at 6:40 p.m. on Tuesday at Wrigley Field. Chicago will send Wade Miley to the bump for his first major league start since June 10 against Reds starter Justin
Braxton Berrios Jersey Dunn. Miley has been out with a shoulder strain and has made just four starts this season.More From SI's Inside The Cubs
