Zach Plesac takes home spotlight honors with his complete game shutout win over the Angels. He gave up just four hits while striking out five. It was the first shutout of the rookie’s career. He set a new career high in pitches to do it, throwing 114 pitches. It was the bounce back outing that he needed after giving up six runs across five innings pitched his last time out. He was a fantastic DFS value, scoring the second highest amount of points among pitchers at a cheap price of $8400 on DraftKings and $7700 on FanDuel. He will carry an 8-6 record and 3.64 ERA into his next outing.

Strong Outings

  • Walker Buehler was far more dominant than Plesac and could have been in the spotlight spot, but he was facing a far weaker team and we kind of expected this out of him. He fired seven shutout innings in a win over the Orioles. He gave up four hits while striking out 11. It was a nice bounce back outing for Buehler, who gave up six runs his last time out. He will carry a 13-3 record and 3.14 ERA into his next outing.
  • Zack Wheeler tossed seven innings of one-run ball in a win over the Dbacks. He gave up seven hits while striking out seven. It was his third straight strong outing as he has given up just one run in each of his past three outings (18.0 innings pitched). He will carry an 11-7 record and 4.21 ERA into his next outing.
  • José Berríos pitched seven innings of shutout baseball in a win over the Nationals. He gave up just two hits, but also only struck out four. This was the type of outing Berrios needed, as he had been getting rocked since the start of August (giving up at least three runs in six straight starts). He will carry a 12-8 record and 3.63 ERA into his next outing.
  • Trevor Bauer finally had a good game, hurling 6.1 innings of two-run ball in a no-decision against the Mariners. He had given up 17 runs across his last three starts (12.0 innings pitched), so this was a great sight for his fantasy owners. He will carry a 10-12 record and 4.55 ERA into his next outing.

Hitter Highlights

Kris Bryant went 2-4 with a pair of home runs, a walk, four RBI, and three runs scored. He is now hitting .281 with 28 home runs, 100 runs scored, and 68 RBI. It is the third time in his career that he has reached 100 runs scored and the third time that he has reached at least 28 home runs.

Sean Murphy had a big game, going 3-5 with two dingers, four RBI, and three runs scored. The rookie is off to a great start, hitting .357 with three home runs and six RBI through his first 14 at-bats at the big league level. He is a promising young catcher.

George Springer went a perfect 2-2 with a pair of solo dingers. Springer is off to a great start in September, hitting .368 with four home runs, seven RBI, and seven runs scored. He is up to a .298 batting average for the year with 33 home runs, 86 runs scored, and 84 RBI.

Didi Gregorius finished 2-4 with a pair of solo home runs. He now has three home runs, seven RBI, and seven runs scored through seven September games. He is now hitting .252 with 16 home runs and 52 RBI through 69 games this year.

What to Watch for Today

Robbie Ray (12-7, 4.03 ERA) and Steven Matz (9-8, 4.00 ERA) will take to the hill in a battle of left-handers. Ray has struggled in his last two outings, giving up seven runs across 9.1 innings. Matz has given up two or fewer earned runs in six straight starts and has a 2.11 ERA at home this season.

Dakota Hudson (15-6, 3.40 ERA) will look to keep his hot streak going, but will have his hands full pitching at Coors Field. He has only given up four runs across his last five starts (32.1 innings) and those all came in one outing. This will be a tough test though.

Sonny Gray (10-6, 2.75 ERA) will try to keep his dominant run going when he takes on Seattle later tonight. Gray has given up just four earned runs over his last SEVEN starts, a span of 42.2 innings pitched! In that time he has given up just 22 hits. He should be able to keep it going tonight.