Yordan Alvarez takes home spotlight honors with his big time performance in the Astros 23-2 blowout win over the Orioles. He finished 3-5 with three home runs, a walk, SEVEN RBI, and four runs scored. He led all players in DFS scoring on both DraftKings and FanDuel. This guy is just incredible. He is now hitting .353 with 17 home runs and 51 RBI through his first 45 career games. The previous MLB record for RBI through 45 career games was set by Ted Williams with 47 back in 1939. He is running away with AL ROY and it will probably be a clean sweep of first place votes for him, despite not making his debut until June 9. He is going to be a four-category fantasy monster for many years to come.

Strong Outings

  • Mike Montgomery was the top pitcher of the night, firing seven shutout innings and picking up the win. He gave up four hits while striking out a season-high 12. He has pitched well in back-to-back outings to start July, giving up two runs over 12 innings while striking out 19. He will carry a 2-5 record and 5.19 ERA into his next outing.
  • Adrian Houser pitched very well in a win over the Rangers, holding them to one run over six innings of work. He gave up just three hits while striking out 10. The 10 punch-outs were a new season-high and it was his third straight outing with at least five strikeouts. He will carry a 5-5 record and 4.00 ERA into his next outing.
  • Kenta Maeda was lights-out in a win over the Dbacks, hurling seven shutout innings. He gave up just three hits while striking out six. It was a strong bounce back for Maeda, who got rocked to the tune of five runs across 2.2 innings pitched in his previous outing. He will carry an 8-8 record and 4.12 ERA into his next start.
  • Jeff Samardzija pitcher deeper than anyone last night, tossing eight innings of one-run ball in a win over the Phillies. He gave up only two hits while striking out five. The Shark has somewhat quietly been dominant as of late, pitching to a 1.95 ERA since the start of July (a span of eight starts and 50.2 innings). He will carry a 9-9 record and 3.55 ERA into his next outing.
  • Sonny Gray continues to be an ace for the Reds, firing six shutout innings in a win over the Cubbies. He only surrendered two hits against while striking out seven. He has now pitched 13 shutout innings to begin August and it was his fourth start of the year with at least six innings of shutout baseball. He will carry a 7-6 record and 3.10 ERA into his next outing.
  • Adam Wainwright has pitched well at home all year long and last night was no different, holding the Pirates to one run over six innings in a win. He gave up six hits while striking out eight. Did I mention he’s been good at home? He now has a 2.19 ERA across 11 starts at home, compared to a 6.96 ERA across 11 road starts. He will carry a 5-6 record and 4.46 ERA into his next outing.
  • Mike Soroka continues to be unhittable, tossing seven shutout innings in a no-decision against Miami. He gave up three hits while striking out six. He left with a 3-0 lead but the bullpen imploded. It was his 12th start with at least five innings pitched and one or fewer runs against. He will carry a very impressive 10-2 record and 2.32 ERA into his next outing.
  • Patrick Corbin hurled six innings of two-run ball in a no-decision against the Mets. He gave up three hits while striking out eight. He pitched very well in this one, but surrendered back-to-back home runs in the fourth inning and they cost him. It was his 14th outing with at least six innings pitched and two or fewer runs against. He will carry a 9-5 record and 3.41 ERA into his next outing.
  • Noah Syndergaard locked in a pitcher’s duel with Corbin and Thor fired seven innings of two-run ball in a no-decision. He gave up seven hits while striking out five. It was his sixth straight start with at least seven innings pitched and he has only given up a total of nine earned runs over that span (42.1 innings – 1.91 ERA). He will carry an 8-5 record and 3.89 ERA into his next outing.

Hitter Highlights

Aristides Aquino also bashed out three home runs and normally could have been the spotlight guy, but unfortunately for him, his counting stats fell well short of Alvarez’s as all three of his home runs were solo shots. What a start to his career! He now has seven home runs and 13 RBI across nine games played this season (10 career games, counting the one at-bat he had last year). His seven home runs through 10 career games matched Trevor Story for the most ever.

Hunter Renfroe finished a perfect 3-3 with a home run, two doubles, a walk, two RBI, and four runs scored. The four runs scored matched a season high, which he set on June 14 against the Rockies in a three homer game. He has a .242 average on the year, which isn’t great, but it comes with 31 home runs and 61 RBI.

Alex Bregman also went a perfect 3-3 with a home run, a pair of doubles, three RBI, and three runs scored. He is smoking hot to start August, already piling up six multi-hit games out of eight games and he is hitting .500 in that span with two home runs and 11 RBI. He is now hitting .277 on the year with 28 home runs, 89 runs scored, and 74 RBI.

Carlos Correa also had a big night four Houston, finishing 3-6 with a home run, two RBI, and two runs scored. He is off to nice start in August, hitting .367 with three home runs and nine RBI across eight games. He has been fantastic this season when healthy; he is now hitting .295 with 16 home runs and 50 RBI.

Juan Soto bashed out a pair of dingers in the Nats 4-3 loss to the Mets. He also walked and finished with three RBI. He has three home runs in his last two games and four home runs in August. The 20-year old stud is now hitting .289 with 24 home runs, 77 RBI, and 10 stolen bases. Again, he’s only 20-years old.

Teoscar Hernández continued his home run barrage, going 1-2 with a home run, two walks, and three RBI. The home run was his third in the past two days and he has 11 dingers since the start of July. Since the start of July, he is hitting a solid .283 with those 11 home runs and 22 RBI across 30 games played.

Mike Zunino only had one hit, but he made it count as it was a three-run dinger. He is still struggling to hit for any kind of a decent average, but he has found his power swing, with three home runs in August and five home runs in his last 19 games. He now has eight home runs and 26 RBI in what has been a very disappointing first year with the Rays.

What to Watch for Today

Jacob deGrom (7-7, 2.77 ERA) will take on the Nationals as the Mets go for the sweep. DeGrom has been ridiculously good over his last 14 starts, pitching to a 2.08 ERA with 115 strikeouts across 91.0 innings pitched as he makes a late season push for back-to-back NL Cy Young awards.

Justin Verlander (15-4, 2.68 ERA) will look to dominate the Orioles and continue to improve on his Cy Young resume. He is working on a four-start streak of double-digit strikeouts and he should be able to keep it going today against the lowly Orioles. In that span, he has given up a total of three earned runs across 25.0 innings pitched.

Jordan Lyles (7-7, 4.97 ERA) will look to continue his strong start with the Brew Crew. Since being traded to Milwaukee, Lyles has made two starts and in both outings he went five innings with only one earned run against. He will need to be on top of his game today if he wants to try and pick up a win, as the Brewers will have to deal with Mike Minor (10-6, 3.06 ERA) on the opposing side.