darick-hall-1400-us.jpg
USATSI

A typically light Thursday slate was made more exciting if you're a Pirates fan. Michael Perez clocked three homers on Thursday for Pittsburgh and they became the first team to have three players collect a three-homer game in a single month (June). This came just one day after Bryan Reynolds had a three-homer game himself. Jack Suwinkski is the third Pirate to have a three-homer game of his own -- on Father's day -- and he capped off his third with a walk-off homer. And just for good measure, phenom SS prospect Oneil Cruz didn't have three homers himself but he did rip a moonshot homer of his own. He's been sensational since his call up.

We'll dive into all of the top action from Thursday, but first, make sure you're all caught up with everything going on from the Fantasy Baseball Today team over at CBSSports.com/Fantasy/Baseball. Scott White broke down why you don't want to wait any longer on scooping up Alex Kirilloff if he's still available plus several other players to consider adding in his latest waiver wire column. You can find that here. Chris Towers looked into the Week 13 trade values in H2H and Roto leagues -- and he called Nick Castellanos as a buy low before the man hit his first homer since May! You can find that here. 

And of course, as always, you can follow to make sure you get the latest episodes of Fantasy Baseball Today right when they drop on Apple and Spotify. 

Hall of what

It was an incredibly exciting night for Phillies prospect Darick Hall in just his second game in the majors. Hall got the call up after Bryce Harper landed on the IL and he delivered in a big way on Thursday night. Hall collected his first two hits of his MLB career and both were home runs (the second came off a position player pitching late in a blow out). Hall sneakily rocked 20 home runs in 72 Triple-A games this season and has legitimate power. If you're in a deeper league, he's worth scooping up even if he may have to platoon -- this makes him a better option in daily lineup leagues. 

Musgrove racks up 10 strikeouts

He didn't get the win, but Joe Musgrove was once again dominant on Thursday night in a loss to the Dodgers. He racked up 10 strikeouts against one of the toughest lineups in baseball even without Mookie Betts. If it wasn't for Justin Turner, who took him deep twice in the game, Musgrove would've pitched a shutout. Instead, he allowed three runs over seven innings. Musgrove now has a 2.25 ERA and 0.95 WHIP on the season with 92 strikeouts and just 19 walks across 92 innings. He has allowed three earned runs or fewer in all but one of his 14 starts this year.

Schwarber stays hot

Kyle Schwarber was a Scott White favorite and a Dan Schneier favorite this preseason. I ended up not rostering him in as many leagues as I had hoped for as the hype got out of control, and as we're learning now in June, rightfully so. Schwarbs hit his 12th home run of June on Thursday (that's 28 homers in his past two Junes combined. The dude loves the month of June).

Week 14 preview

Leftover quick hitters

  • Christopher Morel racked up a 5 -for-5 night at the dish with a pair of RBI and a solo homer. Morel is now batting .283 with seven homers and seven steals in just 185 plate appearances.
  • Patrick Wisdom racked up two more homers, six RBI and even stole a base on Thursday. He's up to 16 homers on the year.
  • Teoscar Hernandez cracked a two-run homer with three hits on Thursday to bring his June totals to .327/.357/.607 with six homers and 20 RBI.
  • Aaron Nola allowed four runs through seven innings but got the win.
  • Ian Anderson matched up against Nola and allowed seven runs to bring his season-long ERA to 5.31. Drop city boy, drop drop city!
  • Kyle Hendricks grabbed a win with six innings of two-run ball and he has now allowed two earned runs or fewer in three of his last four starts.

News and lineup notes

Every night the Fantasy Baseball Today team dives into all of the happenings around the MLB from top performers to injuries, trades and more. The podcast is a must listen for any diehard, if I do say so myself. Tune in to the podcast to hear the FBT crew expand on the news and notes below.

  • Ronald Acuna was available off the bench Thursday and is expected to play Friday. Had been out since Saturday with a bruised foot.
  • Mookie Betts could return from his rib injury to play second base to minimize throwing. Betts could be back "early next week," per Dave Roberts. 
  • Manny Machado returned from a week-plus absence to play DH Thursday. 
  • Yordan Alvarez and Jeremy Pena were out of the lineup Thursday following their collision Wednesday. 
  • Anthony Rizzo played (and homered) after leaving Wednesday's game with an elbow issue.
  • Tyler Stephenson (thumb) could be back in the next 7-10 days. He's been swinging and could go on rehab assignment soon. 
  • Jacob deGrom could begin a rehab assignment Saturday. 
  • Adrian Houser left his start with elbow tightness and will go on the IL. 
  • David Price was placed on the family medical emergency list and will be away from the team for the next three days. 
  • Chris Sale struck out seven over four innings in his latest rehab start.
  • Jed Lowrie was placed on the IL with a shoulder injury.
  • A's also optioned Christian Pache to Triple-AAA.
  • Mitch Haniger (ankle) took part in BP and has been playing catch but still isn't running at full speed.
  • Jake Odorizzi said he feels ready to return to the Astros rotation.
  • Marcus Stroman will throw a bullpen session Friday. He's been out since June 10 with shoulder inflammation. 
  • Jeffrey Springs did not make his scheduled start Thursday after being placed on the family medical emergency list. 
  • Zach Eflin had a cortisone injection in his knee.