Welcome to the TheFantasyFix.com’s nightly fantasy baseball recap, where you’ll find updates on bullpen usage, lineup construction, injuries, and transactions. No matter the format, we’ve got you covered with everything you need to know to help you win your league.

What’s not mentioned below:

• Kevin Gausman got lit up in his start against the Minnesota Twins tonight, allowing eight runs (seven earned) in just 3.2 innings. Rookie sensation Miguel Sano hit his first career home run in the win.
• Gregory Polanco’s RBI triple in the eighth inning was the difference in the Pittsburgh Pirates 3-2 win over the San Diego Padres, a game which was delayed for over an hour and a half due to rain. If you didn’t see Justin Upton’s catch to rob Andrew McCutchen of a home run, I suggest you look it up now. Catch of the year candidate.
• Jose Quintana struck out eight across eight innings of two-run ball, but the White Sox offense was unable to get anything going, and they fell to the Toronto Blue Jays 2-1. Quintana fell to 4-8 on the season, though the White Sox have scored a combined five runs in those eight losses. Josh Donaldson hit his 21^st home run of the season in the win.
• A.J. Pierzynski went 3-for-4 with a home run in the Atlanta Braves’ 4-3 win over the Milwaukee Brewers. Jonathan Lucroy and Adam Lind both went deep for the Brewers.
• Brett Lawrie’s 10^th inning solo home run off Dellin Betances was enough to lift the Oakland A’s over the New York Yankees, 4-3. Sonny Gray let up three runs across seven innings with five strikeouts, though he did not factor into the decision.
• The Boston Red Sox sit just five games under .500 after beating the Miami marlins tonight, 4-3. Shortstop Xander Bogaerts’ three run single gave the Red Sox the one run lead in the seventh, which proved to be enough as Koji Uehara notched his 20^th save.
• Yovani Gallardo and the Texas Rangers fell to the Arizona Diamondbacks, 4-2. Gallardo walked five and gave up three runs in his 5.2 innings of work. Paul Goldschmidt went 2-3 with an RBI in the win.

IF YOU ONLY READ ONE THING…

Mike Trout and Albert Pujols playing at Coors Field? Yeah, we had a feeling this could be fun. The Los Angeles Angels beat down the Colorado Rockies 10-2 tonight, with all ten Angels’ runs coming in the first three innings of the game. Albert Pujols continued his great season as he hit a three-run home run to open up the scoring in the top of the first, his 26^th on the season. Pujols hasn’t been the same player he was in St. Louis since joining the Halos, but this is hands down his best season to date with the team, as he’s now just four home runs away from tying his season high with the Angels. Mike Trout hit a thre- run shot of his own in the second inning, his 22^nd of the year.

Andrew Heaney held the Rockies to two runs over 7.1 innings of work, striking out five and walking none. Heaney improved to 2-0 on the season to go along with a 1.77 ERA. Rockies’ starter Chad Bettis’ was responsible for all 10 runs, as he lasted just 2.1 innings of eight-hit ball, including four home runs.

JUST AS WE EXPECTED…

Get this. Coming into tonight, Corey Kluber since the start of the 2014 season: 354 IP (2^nd), 2.38 FIP (3^rd), 284 ERA (15^th), 10.7 WAR (2^nd), a Cy Young award, and zero All-Star collections. Talk about someone who got snubbed. Kluber continued his dominance tonight, striking out seven over 6.2 innings of work while walking two against the Houston Astros. Though his record suggests that he has struggled this season, a lot of it has to do with the Indians abysmal defense, and I’m expecting a much better second half for the reigning Cy Young winner.

Michael Brantley went 3-for-4 for the Indians with a solo home run, providing one of the two runs that the Indians plated in the contest. The home run was just Brantley’s fifth of the season, and its starting to seem that Brantley’s 20 home run 2014 season could have been a standout year. Brantley has still provided some value on the base paths (nine steals) and in the batting average category (.293), though barring a stellar second half, it seems like he isn’t going to touch his home run or RBI total from last year.

Tampa Bay Rays’ starter Matt Moore continued to struggle in his second start since coming back from Tommy John, giving up four runs on nine hits over 4.1 innings, with two walks and a strikeout against the Kansas City Royals in the first game of the doubleheader. The former top prospect struggled mightily with his command, throwing just 50 of his 85 pitches for strikes. The lack of command has followed Moore throughout his career, as he’s walked 4.3 batters per nine innings over his career. He has swing and miss stuff, but if he’s ever going to take the next step, he needs to stop giving up the free passes.

Alex Gordon led the Royals’ offense tonight, going 3-for-4 with a home run and two runs batted in. Greg Holland blew his second save of the year, though he picked up the win thanks to Paulo Orlando’s walk off grand slam. Game 2 wasn’t much different for Gordon, as he led the offense again with four hits in the team’s 7-1 win. Gordon drove in four runs in the win, and he brought his average up to .280 in what is his contract year.

BUT WE DIDN’T SEE THIS COMING…

Max Scherzer proved he was human tonight, allowing five runs across 4.2 innings of work in the Washington Nationals’ 5-0 to the Cincinnati Reds. Scherzer gave up seven hits, including a solo home run to Reds’ first baseman Joey Votto in the third inning. Scherzer’s counterpart, Johnny Cueto, spun a gem for the Reds, throwing a complete game shutout with 11 strikeouts. Cueto is one the final vote candidates for the All-Star game, and this start definitely supports his case to pitch for the National League squad in his home park. Cueto limited the Nationals to just two hits, a single to Bryce Harper and a triple to Ian Desmond.

Not only was Cueto pitching to try and get on the All-Star team, he is also showcasing himself every fifth day for any teams that are interested in trading for his services prior to the deadline, though it’s not certain that he will be on the move (though he absolutely should be). I could see Cueto slotting in nicely in the front of the Royals’ rotation at they try to capture another American League pennant.

Billy Hamilton went 1-4 in the win, as his average now sits at .221 on the season, but he did steal his league leading 42^nd base. Unfortunately for Hamilton, however, you cannot steal first base.

THE REST OF THE DETAILS

SAVE CHANCES

Tyler Clippard (16)

Roberto Osuna (4)

Koji Uehara (20)

Bryan Shaw (2)

Jason Grilli (24)

Brad Ziegler (13)

Jason Motte (5)

Mark Melancon (28)

Greg Holland (Blown Save)

Santiago Castilla (21)

LINEUP MOVES

Josh Hamilton (hip) returned to the Rangers’ lineup tonight.

INJURIES

Kolten Wong – Day-to-day – (Head)

Denard Span – Day-to-day – (Back spasms)

RUMORS & TRANSACTIONS

The Baltimore Orioles are looking to add pitchers at the deadline yet again this year, tweets Roch Kubatko of MASNsports.com. Dan Duquette, executive VP of baseball operations for the Orioles, was on record saying that they were looking to upgrade both their bullpen and starting rotation, “for sure”. Though no names have been mentioned yet, a Francisco Rodriguez reunion with the O’s would make sense (though that is total speculation on my part). K-Rod is pitching to a 1.45 ERA so far this season with the Milwaukee Brewers, and he would cost a lot less than last year’s deadline acquisition Andrew Miller did.

As for the rotation, Jeff Samardzija would be a great fit to slot into the front of that rotation, as other members of the pitching staff should expect to see some regression in the second half of the season. Starting pitchers Wei-Yin Chen and Miguel Gonzalez have both pitched better than their peripherals would suggest, as FIP shows that their respective ERA’s should be at least a run higher each. Nonetheless, expect the Orioles to be active within the coming weeks, as the AL East is wide open right now with no team separating themselves from the pack.