MLB 2023 | Gurriel Jr. continues his struggles, Abreu hits another homer, and Yordan homered as well

Major League Baseball (MLB) and other Cuban Players News for the 2023 season. A compendium from several sources

José Abreu (Photo: Carmen Mandato/Getty Images)

Jul 29

José Abreu went 3-for-3 and hit one of five Astros homers in Saturday’s 17-4 thrashing of the Rays.

For the second straight night Abreu logged a roundtripper, boosting his home run total to 10 this season. Abreu supplied one of the Astros’ two homers before Tampa Bay mailed it in. The other three long balls came off backup catcher Rene Pinto, who pitched the seventh inning even though the Rays had a perfectly well stocked bullpen. Abreu treaded water for most of July after his nice surge in June, but with homers in back-to-back games, his numbers are trending back up. His current .667 OPS is his best mark since Apr. 9. Abreu has been on fire since the All-Star break, batting .315 (17-for-54) with 11 RBI and 11 runs scored across 14 contests. He'll look to continue his power streak Sunday in the series finale against the Rays, who will be having a bullpen day.

Yordan Álvarez hit his first homer since return. Álvarez went 3-for-5 with a solo home run and three runs scored Saturday against the Rays. Álvarez's home run came off backup catcher René Pinto, though he was having a productive game before his 18th long ball of the season. He has at least one hit in all three games since returning from the injured list and is showing no lingering seasons of the oblique issue that cost him 39 games. When healthy, Álvarez has maintained an impressive .418 wOBA and 172 wRC+ across 255 plate appearances on the season.

Andy Ibáñez was not in the starting lineup Saturday. Yuli Gurriel and Jorge Soler, one hit combined. Ibáñez wasn't in the Tigers' lineup Saturday against the Marlins. Ibáñez is 4-for-17 with a homer, two RBI and two runs scored across his last five games and got a day off Saturday. Yuli Gurriel and Jorge Soler combined to go 1-for-5 with 3 strikeouts in the same game. Although Gurriel did not start, he went 0-for-1 as a pinch hitter with a strikeout, while Soler went 1-for-4 with two strikeouts.

On Saturday, Yandy Díaz and Randy Arozarena went hitless

In a painful 17-4 loss to Houston, Díaz and Arozarena combined 0-for-6. In the second half of the season, Tampa has been a disaster, and Arozarena has been one of the players who has frozen offensively. As a result of his 0-for-3 performance on Saturday, Arozarena saw his slash line drop to .260/.366/.437, but he still has 17 HRs and 62 RBIs. Despite those solid numbers, Arozarena is only hitting .167/.258/.278 with 1 HR, 4 RBI, and 12 strikeouts in 54 at-bats since July 8. Yandy Díaz also went 0-for-3 and his offensive line is .312/.395/.498 with a personal mark of 14 HR and 50 RBI, only 14 off his best season mark.

Lourdes Gurriel Jr. was dropped to sixth on Friday and then was gone from the D-backs' lineup on Saturday. Gurriel batted sixth and went 0-for-4 in Friday's 5-2 loss to Seattle, but then was gone for the D-backs lineup on Saturday. It's been rough sledding of late for Gurriel. who normally slots in at third or fifth in the lineup. The 2023 All-Star is 2-for-39 (.051) over the last 10 games and batting .140 since returning from his All-Star experience. The slump actually extends further back; Gurriel is batting just .171 over 43 games since June 1.

Néstor Cortés recorded five strikeouts over four scoreless innings on Friday in a minor league rehab start for Double-A Somerset.

Cortés allowed two hits and one walk, needing just 49 pitches (36 strikes) to navigate four frames. The 28-year-old left-hander is expected to return to New York’s starting rotation at some point in early August.