Soto blasted a solo homer in the first inning to put the Yankees on the board, his tenth of the season. He drove in another run with a single in the second, then went yard once again to lead off the fifth. A base hit in the eighth would make it a perfect day at the plate. It was the first multi-homer game for Soto as a member of the Yankees. The 25-year-old star outfielder is slashing .317/.414/.561 with 11 homers, 32 runs scored, 37 RBI, and four steals across 215 plate appearances.

Buxton returns to Minnesota’s lineup for Saturday’s showdown against the division-rival Guardians following a two-week absence due to right knee inflammation. The 30-year-old center fielder has managed to avoid serious injury so far, but has gotten off to an icy start at the plate, batting .250/.300/.391 with one homer and one steal in 100 plate appearances over 28 contests.

Rodriguez will take the ball on Saturday against the Mariners at Camden Yards following a nearly three-week stint on the injured list due to right shoulder inflammation. The 24-year-old burgeoning fantasy ace might have some workload limitations right out of the gate, but it’s a nice matchup for fantasy purposes against a Seattle lineup that has scored the fifth-fewest runs in baseball so far.

ESPN.com’s Tisha Thompson first reported on Friday night that Fletcher bet on sports, but not baseball, with the same California bookmaker — Mathew Bowyer — that took wagers from Shohei Ohtani’s former interpreter, Ippei Mizuhara. The 29-year-old infielder played for the Angels from 2018-2023 and could wind up facing league discipline. It’s legal for players to bet on sports other than baseball, but not with an illegal bookmaker.

He’s ready. The plan all along had been for Snell to rejoin the Giants’ rotation next week as long as this start went well, and he was nearly perfect, allowing just one walk over five frames. The 31-year-old reigning NL Cy Young Award winner should slot back into San Francisco’s rotation against the Pirates in Pittsburgh next week. Prior to landing on the injured list, Snell had gone 0-3 with a bloated 11.57 ERA, 1.97 WHIP and 12/5 K/BB ratio across 11 2/3 innings (three starts).

Henderson got the home half of the first inning started with a bang, clobbering the second pitch thrown by Bryce Miller for a 402-foot (101.3 mph EV) solo shot — his league-leading 13th of the season. The 22-year-old superstar also drove in Jorge Mateo with a run-scoring triple in the seventh inning, then scored on an RBI double off the bat of Adley Rutschman. With his two-hit attack, Henderson is now slashing .263/.339/.569 with 13 homers, 29 RBI and six stolen bases.

Skenes was overwhelming in striking out the first seven batters he faced, and he didn’t let up much after that. He allowed only one hard-hit ball, a 107-mph groundout from Miguel Amaya. In fact, six of his seven non-strikeout outs came on grounders. It was a clear step forward from his debut last week and even a little extra impressive because it came against a lineup that had just seen him.

De La Cruz might break the century mark in the stolen base department, if he sustains this surreal pace. He was thrown out attempting a fifth steal in the seventh inning of Thursday’s showdown at Dodger Stadium in Los Angeles. The 22-year-old burgeoning fantasy superstar is still striking out 30 percent of the time, but some improved plate discipline has enabled him to reach base more frequently this season and show off his field-tilting speed. He’s batting .277/.378/.516 with 35 runs scored, nine homers, 22 RBI and 30 steals following the first four-steal performance of his career out in Los Angeles. There’s still some room for improvement, but De La Cruz is rapidly evolving into one of the premier five-category impact contributors in the entire fantasy landscape.

Walker was struck on the left foot by a 99.7-mph line drive from Starling Marte in the fourth inning and will most likely head for further imaging to determine whether he suffered any fractures. He finished with one strikeout and was charged with two runs over 3 1/3 innings of work. Any potential extended absence would presumably lead to Spencer Turnbull returning to Philadelphia’s starting rotation mix, but it sounds like there’s a chance he managed to avoid serious injury. There should be some clarity on his status at some point soon.

The writing was seemingly on the wall after Sheehan was shut down from throwing indefinitely a couple weeks ago due to right forearm inflammation. The 24-year-old right-hander showed some immense promise last year as a rookie before landing on the shelf back in spring training with an ominous arm injury. There should be some clarity on his return timetable at some point in the near future, but it’s obviously a significant development for his fantasy appeal in dynasty leagues.