MLB 2022 | Arozarena homers, Luis Robert removed from Friday's game, Heredia recalled, and more

Daily Major League Baseball (MLB) Cuban Players News for the 2022 season. A compendium from several MLB sources.

Randy Arozarena. (Photo: Jayne Kamin-Oncea/USA Today)

Aug 12, 2022

Randy Arozarena went 1-for-4 with a two-run home run in Friday's loss to the Orioles.

Facing a seven-run deficit in the bottom of the sixth, Arozarena slapped a 390-foot two-run home run to left field. He's now homered in two straight games. For Arozarena was his 14th home run of the season. He is slashing .256/.315/.428 this year.

White Sox's Luis Robert: Suffers sprained wrist. Robert left Friday's game against the Tigers with a sprained left wrist, Scott Merkin of MLB.com reported. X-rays were negative, so Robert appears to have avoided the worst-case scenario, but it's still possible he misses time. That would be a big blow to the White Sox, who remain in the thick of a playoff race, as Robert increased his slash line to .301/.336/.454 with a pair of hits prior to the injury.

Cionel Pérez pitched a perfect 8th against the Tigers on Thursday.

Cionel pitched a perfect 8th inning against the Tigers with two strikeouts. Cionel threw 15 pitches, 8 of them for strikes for his 10th consecutive scoreless innings. Cionel is 6-1 with a 1.12 ERA this year and 40 strikeouts in 40 1/3 innings.

Braves recalled OF Guillermo Heredia from Triple-A Gwinnett.

With Ehire Adrianza heading to the injured list -- without a designation -- Heredia will add some depth on the Braves bench for at least a couple of days. The 31-year-old has hit just .138/.211/.338 with three homers and six RBI in 71 plate appearances with the Braves this season.

Blue Jays' Yosver Zulueta: Battling knee, shoulder injuries. Zulueta was placed on the 7-day injured list at Double-A New Hampshire on Friday due to right knee inflammation and shoulder soreness, Arden Zwelling of Sportsnet.ca reports. Zulueta hasn't seen the field for the Fisher Cats since Aug. 2, and he'll now be sidelined for at least another week. The 24-year-old was promoted to Double-A in late June and has a 4.35 ERA and 16:10 K:BB across 10.1 innings. It's unclear if he'll spend more than the minimum of seven days on the shelf.

Yankees' Clay Holmes: May lose closer job. Holmes blew his fifth save of the season Friday against the Red Sox, allowing one run on a hit and two walks in a third of an inning, leading the Yankees to consider removing him from the closer role, Chris Kirschner of The Athletic reported. Holmes entered the game in the bottom of the ninth with a 2-1 lead, but he exited it after retiring just one batter, as J.D. Martinez tied the game with an RBI single after a pair of walks. Holmes' last save came back on July 22, and he's now blown two saves since then. His ERA now sits at a far more human 2.39 after it sat at a ridiculous 0.28 as late in the year as June 19. Whether or not he'll get the Yankees' next save chance is unclear. If removed, Aroldis Chapman is expected to return to his original closer role.

Aug 11, 2022

White Sox's Yasmani Grandal: Delivers rare homer. Grandal went 3-for-5 with a two-run home run Thursday against the Royals. Grandal took Jose Cuas yard in the eighth inning to tally his third homer of the season. It was his first long ball since May 16, and he has only four extra-base hits -- including Thursday's effort -- across 123 at-bats in that span. That has led to a disappointing .204/.300/.265 line for Grandal across 263 plate appearances on the season.

Yuli Gurriel went 3-for-4 with a double and two runs scored Thursday against the Rangers.

Gurriel is playing quite a bit more than Trey Mancini at the moment, which makes one wonder just how bad Mancini's situation would be right now if not for Michael Brantley's injury. In spite of the nice game today, Gurriel is still hitting just .247 with no homers and five RBI in 73 at-bats since the All-Star break. He hasn't sported even a .700 OPS since the second game of the season.

Astros' Yordan Álvarez: Sat out Thursday. Álvarez is not in the starting lineup Thursday against the Rangers. Álvarez will get a breather as he's in the middle of a cold stretch at the plate, batting .146 with two extra-base hits over his last 11 games, though he did hit a home run Wednesday. Trey Mancini will take over at designated hitter and bat sixth in the series finale.