Anibal Sanchez (SP-WSH)
Sanchez threw 8 and 1/3 innings of 1-hit ball, striking out 6. Sanchez had a shutout through 8 innings, but a walk an error opened the way to his removal and the Cubs scoring 3 runs in the 9th; only 1 ER was charged to him. Sanchez baffled the Cubs lineup throwing 22 first pitch strikes, inducing 15 swinging strikes and induced 12 groundball outs. The veteran has put together a solid season compiling an 8-6 record, with a 3.81 ERA despite one of the lower K rates (7.69 K/9) and higher walk rates (3.40 BB/9) of his career. His 5.07 xfip indicates he may be a bit lucky in terms of not allowing home runs to leave the yard, but his 1.11 HR/9 is still one of the higher rates of his career. He is a nice compliment to the other power arms in the Nationals rotation and is lined up to take on the Marlins in his next start.
Jordan Lyles (SP-MIL)
Lyles pitched 6 no-hit innings Friday, striking out 5 before the Brewers lost the not hitter in the 7th. Lyles was able to hold the Rockies without a hit for the first 6 frames despite an elevated pitch count (99) and only inducing 7 swinging strikes as Rockies batter made contact (23 foul balls) but could not get anything to land. Lyles was roughed up in his last start (5 ER in 4 IP) but had allowed just 3 ER over his previous 17 innings with the Brewers. Lyle Pitched to a 5.36 ERA with the PirateS prior to the trade but fell off considerably after he posted a 1.97 ERA with 47 strikeouts over his first 45 innings. The longball has gotten him into trouble, as he has a 17% HR/FB rate, but has posted the best strikeout rate (9.41 K/9) of his career. He takes his overall 4.69 mark into his next projected start Wednesday vs the Cardinals.
Juan Soto (OF-WSH)
Soto went 3-4 with 4 runs scored and launched his 29th home run of the season. Soto had been hitless his past 3 games going 0-11 but did still provide a bit of value drawing 3 walks and scoring twice. It's the second time this week he has scored 4 runs in a game, and with 89 runs and 85 RBIs on the season he has a great chance of both scoring and driving in 100+. He drew another walk in one as well to improve his BB:K ratio to 12:4 on the month and his 83 walks are 3rd in the National League and his 20% K rate remains incredibly palatable for someone that racks up counting stats as he does. Continue to deploy him with confidence as his .960 OPS ranks 7th in the NL.
Isan Diaz (2B-MIA)
Diaz has the best game of his young career going 1 for 4 with 2 runs, 3 RBIs and his 2nd home run of the season. Diaz hadn't homered since his big-league debut on August 5th and ended an 0-11 slump with the hit. Diaz has largely struggled (.159/.229/.270) over 17 career games but has a strong showing at AAA hitting .305 with 26 home runs prior to his callup. Like many young players Diaz has struggled with his plate discipline walking at just a 6% clip while striking out in 32% of his plate appearances. He hasn't fared much better when he has put the ball in play as he has a .211 babip. Diaz should still get another full month of games to see if he can turn the corner looking towards next season.
Mitch Keller (SP-PIT)
Keller looked sharp vs the Reds, allowing just 1 ER over 6 innings, while striking out a career high 9. Despite striking out 24 in his first 21 big league innings, Keller had been rocked for 6 ER in 3 of his previous 5 starts to open his career and carried an 8.84 ERA entering his start. This was easily his best career start as he was able to throw first pitch strikes to 20 of the 24 batters he faced and induced 19 swinging strikes. Keller pitched to the tune of a 3.56 ERA in AAA with a 10.68 K/9 to earn the promotion. The 23-year should get a crack at the Pirates rotation the rest of way, with the chance to earn a spot in the 2020 rotation.
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