MLB 2023 | Lourdes Gurriel Jr.’s 4-hit night, Yordan with two homers, Arozarena clubs 11th homer

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

Lourdes Gurriel Jr. (Photo: Rich Schultz/Getty Images)

May 22

Lourdes Gurriel Jr. collected four hits leading the Diamondbacks past the Phillies 6-3 on Monday.

Gurriel Jr. went 4-for-4 with a home run, a double and two RBI in Monday's win over the Phillies. Gurriel opened the game's scoring with a solo shot in the second inning and later added an insurance run with his eighth-inning RBI double. He's been terrific in May, going 25-for-63 (.397) with seven homers and a 9:9 BB:K while hitting safely in 15 of 17 games. On the year, Gurriel is slashing .321/.376/.562 with 22 extra-base hits and 27 RBI through 178 plate appearances.

Yordan Álvarez went 3-for-5 with two homers, including a grand slam, and a walk Monday as the Astros crushed the Brewers 12-2.

Álvarez went 3-for-4 with two home runs, a walk, three total runs and five total RBI in a 12-2 win against the Brewers on Monday. Álvarez smacked a 425-foot solo shot in the fifth inning and followed that with a grand slam in the sixth. The slam off Hoby Milner was Álvarez's fourth in 51 career plate appearances with the bases loaded. He's up to 12 homers on the campaign and has knocked in 46 runs, second-most in the majors. Those marks put Álvarez on pace to easily exceed his career-best marks of 37 long balls and 104 RBI. He's batting .367 with five homers and 19 RBI in his last 16 games, taking his season OPS up to 1.015.

Miguel Vargas: Hitless on Monday.

In the Dodgers' 8-6 win over Atlanta, Vargas went 0-for-3.A walk and two strikeouts were Vargas's only contributions in the game. As of right now, the young infielder is batting seventh in the lineup and is keeping his bat quiet despite a .276/.323/.379 offensive line in his last seven games. Vargas' performance has been somewhat overshadowed by the outstanding performance of Dodger rookie James Outman, who has nine home runs and 28 RBI already this season.

Rays' Randy Arozarena: Clubs 11th homer. Arozarena went 2-for-4 with a double (7) and a solo home run in Monday's 6-4 victory against the Blue Jays. A 391-foot solo home run to right field with an EV of 105.2 mph gave the Rays a 5-2 lead in the sixth inning. He scored twice and also had a strikeout. The 28-year-old is slashing .308/.405/.552 with 11 homers, 33 runs and 37 RBI through 47 games.

Chapman's ERA decreased to 3.06 this season. Ibáñez hitless.

Chapman pitched in his setup role Monday as the Royals lost 8-5 in extra innings to Detroit. A scoreless inning and two strikeouts helped Chapman lower his ERA to 3.06 this season. The Cuban reliever, who has pitched 17.2 innings with 29 strikeouts this year, made his 19th appearance. In this season's trade market, Chapman continues to be valued as a key player for the Royals. In the same Andy Ibáñez went 0-for-4 with two strikeouts, after replacing Nick Maton late in the game, dropping his average to .191.

Adolis García hitless on Monday but still leads MLB in RBI.

In the Rangers' 6-4 loss to the Pirates on Monday night, Adolis Garcia went 0-for-4 with a strikeout. A four-year veteran of the Rangers, Adolis is batting .250/.320/.529 with 14 homeruns and 49 RBI, which lead all MLB.

Luis Robert, Yoán Moncada and Yasmani Grandal: Combined for one hit Monday.

A trio of Cubans for the White Sox combined for only one hit in a 3-0 loss to Cleveland. Luis Robert was the only one to produce a hit, but he also struck out twice. During the game, Moncada and Grandal each went 0-for-3 with one strikeout. Luis Robert is slashing .268/.325/.559 with 13 homeruns and 29 RBI this year while Moncada offensive line is .301/.346/.479 with 2 HR and 9 RBI in only 19 games. Grandal, a veteran of 12 seasons, is hitting .278/.347/.414 with 3 homers and 11 RBI in 40 games this season. Injuries have plagued Moncada and Grandal at the beginning of the season.