MLB 2024 | Cortés allows four runs; Abreu went hitless; Cano grabs second win and Iglesias third save

Cuban Players News for the 2024 Major League Baseball season. A compilation of several sources

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Néstor Cortés pitched four innings and allowed four runs Sunday against the Guardians.

The highlight for Cortés today was a delivery in which he stopped for a second and faked a toss home before finally throwing his pitch, resulting in a four ball from Andrés Giménez. The rest was all less impressive, as he gave up homers to José Ramírez and Gabriel Arías. The lefty was coming off eight scoreless innings his last time out, and Cortés still owns a respectable 4.50 ERA through four starts despite the hiccup Sunday. On the bright side, he forced a season-high 15 swinging strikes, including eight with the fastball. The 29-year-old's next outing is lined up to be at home against the Rays. He’ll face the Rays at home next weekend.

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José Abreu finished 0-for-4 against the Rangers on Sunday, lowering his average to .111.

Three groundouts and a strikeout. For the optimists, we could point out that one the grounders left his bat at 108.6 mph, topping his previous season high for exit velocity by two mph. Still, things seem pretty bleak here. Abreu has come to the plate 50 times this year and hit one line drive. He has one extra-base hit and one RBI. The Astros were very patient when Abreu struggled last year, but that was with Dusty Baker managing and the team as a whole playing well. There will be less patience this time around with Baker gone, the team off to a slow start and Joey Loperfido excelling in Triple-A.

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Rays' Randy Arozarena: Swipes third bag

Arozarena went 1-for-4 with an RBI, a run scored and a stolen base Sunday against the Giants. Arozarena has gotten off to a sluggish start to the season, as he's failed to record a multi-hit performance in any of his last 12 starts with only two extra-base hits in that span. He has found other ways to produce, most notably by being aggressive on the basepaths as he swiped his third bag of the campaign Sunday. There's also reason for optimism that Arozarena can turn the rest of his results around, as he has a 24.6 percent strikeout rate -- in line with his career norm -- paired with only a .231 BABIP.

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Orioles' Yennier Cano: Grabs second win

Cano (2-1) allowed a run on two hits and struck out one over 1.1 innings without walking a batter to earn the win over the Brewers on Sunday. Cano gave up a seventh-inning solo shot to Blake Perkins that briefly put the Brewers ahead. The Orioles rallied for two runs in their half of the frame and held the lead from there to get Cano his second win in seven outings. The setup man has added a hold, a blown save and a loss, but he's generally been solid so far. He's also at a 6:2 K:BB over 6.2 innings this season. Craig Kimbrel remains the Orioles' closer, but Cano is very near the top of the leverage ladder for times when Kimbrel is unavailable.

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Braves' Raisel Iglesias: Secures third save

Iglesias pitched a perfect inning Sunday, striking out a batter on his way to a save in a 9-7 win over the Marlins. Iglesias was called upon to protect the team's two-run lead in the bottom of the ninth inning, setting down Miami in order for his third save of the year. The right-hander rebounded well after he allowed two runs on three hits in his last outing Tuesday, improving to 3-for-3 on save opportunities in 2024. Iglesias has produced a 3.60 ERA and 1.00 WHIP with three strikeouts over five innings in five outings this season.

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