MLB Player News

Naylor went 1-for-3 with a two-run home run, a walk and a second run scored in Tuesday's 8-5 win over the Royals.

Naylor was part of the Guardians' comeback push -- his fourth-inning homer cut the deficit to 5-3. After being one of the team's hottest hitters in April, the first baseman has hit .178 with a .719 OPS since the start of May. Naylor's power is still coming through with 16 homers, a .500 slugging percentage and a .271 ISO. He hasn't had a pronounced issue with strikeouts either, fanning at just a 16.2 percent rate while walking at a career-best 10.3 percent clip. Naylor's .308 batting average last year was likely unsustainable, but he's a better overall hitter than he's been over the last month.

Barlow pitched a perfect inning to earn a hold in Tuesday's 8-5 win over the Royals.

Barlow has given up six runs over his last seven innings, but he's also picked up seven holds over nine appearances in that span. He's been a little shaky all season, as evidenced by a middling 3.91 ERA to go with a 1.34 WHIP and 34:12 K:BB through 25.1 innings, but Barlow still leads the Guardians with 15 holds. He's maintained a setup role while adding one save and a 2-2 record, though Cade Smith and Hunter Gaddis have been more reliable parts of the bridge to closer Emmanuel Clase.

Smith (3-0) allowed one hit over 1.2 scoreless innings to earn the win over the Royals on Tuesday. He did not strike out or walk a batter.

Smith entered the game while the Guardians were down, 5-3, but they put together a rally in the seventh inning to put him in line for the win. During his 10.1-inning scoreless streak, Smith has two wins, one save, four holds and a 14:1 K:BB. That impressive stretch has helped him get into the high-leverage mix. He's been fantastic in his first big-league season with a 1.67 ERA, 0.89 WHIP and 38:7 K:BB over 27 innings, though he's unlikely to be anything more than a setup man with Emmanuel Clase entrenched as the closer.

Springer went 1-for-3 with a solo home run in Tuesday's loss to the Orioles.

He supplied the Blue Jays' only offense in a 10-1 rout by taking Corbin Burnes deep in the seventh inning. Springer appears to be turning things around after his rough start to the season -- he's hit safely in seven of the last eight games, batting .385 (10-for-26) with two of his five homers on the year and an impressive 7:1 BB:K.

Cabrera (2-2) took the loss Tuesday against the Orioles, getting charged with three runs on a hit and a walk over two-thirds of an inning.

Trevor Richards gave Toronto two perfect innings as the opener, but Cabrera hit Colton Cowser with a pitch to begin the third and things went downhill from there. Cabrera has been tagged for runs in three of his last six appearances, and on the season he carries a 5.48 ERA, 1.78 WHIP and 13:15 K:BB through 23 innings as he slips into a low-leverage role.

The Orioles are considering pushing Bradish's next scheduled start back a day to Friday in Tampa Bay, Danielle Allentuck of TheBaltimoreBanner.com reports.

Cade Povich will join Baltimore's taxi squad and looks in line to be called up from Triple-A Norfolk to start against the Blue Jays on Thursday, which had been Bradish's turn. Bradish doesn't seem to be battling any physical issue, but rather the team is simply looking to give him a little extra rest. Bradish is coming off his worst start of the season, having allowed five runs on seven hits and three walks over 2.2 frames against the Rays this past Saturday.

Brannon (knee) was reinstated from Single-A Salem's 60-day injured list and went 2-for-5 with an RBI and a run scored while catching nine innings in Tuesday's 6-5 win over Down East.

Brannon made his 2024 debut for Salem after opening the season on the IL while he completed his recovery from arthroscopic left knee surgery. Before making his return to Salem, Brannon went 4-for-23 at the plate over eight rehab games in the rookie-level Florida Complex League.

Cooper is out of the lineup for Wednesday's game against Atlanta, Mac Cerullo of the Boston Herald reports.

Cooper served as Boston's designated hitter in both of the past two games and went 0-for-8 with four strikeouts. He'll cede DH duties to Rob Refsnyder on Wednesday, and with Tyler O'Neill (knee) returning from the 10-day injured list one day after Wilyer Abreu (ankle) was deactivated, Boston will likely have room in the lineup against right-handed pitching for only one of Refsnyder and Cooper moving forward. Refsnyder has performed far better than Cooper so far this season, so it wouldn't be surprising if Boston opted to make the former a greater priority in the lineup.

Boyle (back) started Triple-A Las Vegas' win over El Paso on Tuesday, firing three scoreless innings during which he allowed a hit and issued two walks while recording three strikeouts.

Boyle worked up to 58 pitches -- 35 of which he located for strikes -- in his second consecutive scoreless multi-inning rehab outing. The right-hander appears to be ready for activation based on his solid body of work over that pair of starts, and an injury-riddled Athletics starting rotation would undoubtedly benefit from his return.

Wong is absent from the lineup for Wednesday's game against Atlanta, Mac Cerullo of the Boston Herald reports.

The Red Sox are playing a day game Wednesday after losing to Atlanta on Tuesday night, so Wong will be getting a maintenance day. Reese McGuire will pick up the start at catcher while Wong rests.