Christopher Morais

Welcome to The Fantasy Fix’s nightly fantasy baseball recap, where you’ll find updates on bullpen usage, lineup construction, injuries, and transactions. Whether you play season-long or daily fantasy, expect to see the best coverage from every team, every night, all season long.

Two of the league’s best pitchers took to the mound tonight hoping to help keep their playoff hopes alive. Max Scherzer and the Nationals were at home to face the Mets, while Zack Greinke and the Dodgers traveled to Anaheim to face the Angels. White Sox ace Chris Sale was also in action tonight as he took on the Cleveland Indians at home.

IF YOU ONLY READ ONE THING…

With their playoff hopes slowly slipping away, the Nationals had a chance to pick up some ground on the division leading New York Mets with their ace on the hill. Even with Scherzer pitching, Washington fell to the Mets 8-5 and now sit five games behind New York. The Mets got to Scherzer early in the second inning thanks to two solo homeruns from Michael Conforto and Kelly Johnson. The Nationals would take the lead in the bottom of the fifth thanks to a grand slam from catcher Wilson Ramos, but the Mets would add runs in the fifth, sixth and seventh to seal the deal and take game one of the series. Centerfielder Yoenis Cespedes continues to destroy the baseball, hitting his 31^st homerun of the year.

JUST AS WE EXPECTED…

Zack Greinke came into tonight’s game with the best ERA in baseball. The 31-year-old is 15-3 so far this season with a crazy 1.59 ERA and a 0.85 WHIP in 186.2 innings. The Dodgers ace wasn’t perfect tonight, giving up three runs in six innings, but he did enough to keep his team in the game and his offense rewarded him with some run support. Greinke has been remarkable all season long, and despite his so-so outing, he still remains one of the best options every time he steps on to the field.

BUT WE DIDN’T SEE THIS COMING…

Dan Haren and the Chicago Cubs handed the St. Louis Cardinals one of their worst losses of the season. The Cubs beat the Cardinals 9-0 and handed starter Lance Lynn his 9^th loss of the season. Lynn was unable to make it out of the third inning, giving up six runs on seven hits in 2.1 innings of work. The 28-year-old has been a consistent pitcher all season long, but tonight he was just unable to get anything going. Shortstop Addison Russell hit his 13^th homerun of the season, his third homerun in the last four games. For Haren, it was his best start in a Cubs uniform. The veteran righty pitched seven innings of scoreless baseball while striking out five. Both teams will go again tomorrow when Jason Hammel and Michael Wacha square off for game two.

The Boston Red Sox don’t have much to play for heading down the stretch, but they refused to sit around and let other teams walk all over them. Rick Porcello continues to find ways to win, picking up his 7^th win of the season against the Toronto blue Jays. Slowing down the Jays offense isn’t easy, but Porcello was able to limit the amount Toronto to just four runs while his team managed to score 11 on the day. With the Yankees beating Baltimore 8-6, the Yankess now move within half a game of the Blue Jays for top spot in the A.L East.

THE REST OF THE DETAILS

SAVE CHANCES

• Andrew Miller (32)
• Jeurys Familia (37)
• Bruce Rondon (4)
• Aroldis chapman (29)
• Cody Allen (29)
• Sean Doolittle (1)
• John Axford (20)
• Shawn Tolleson (30)

LINEUP MOVES

• Royals select Joba Chamberlain from Triple-A Omaha
• Rangers recall Nick Martinez from Triple-A Round Rock
• Giants reinstate Joe Panik from DL

 INJURIES

• Aaron Hill—day-to-day—(hamstring)
• Cameron Maybin—day-to-day—(eye)
• Matt Wieters—day-to-day—(wrist)
• Adam Jones—day-to-day—(shoulder)
• Kyle Schwarber—day-to-day—(ribs)
• Nick Hundley—day-to-day—(neck)
• Nolan Arenado—day-to-day—(chest)
• Victor Martinez—day-to-day—(illness)
• Jose Iglesias—day-to-day—(finger)
• Jimmy Rollins—day-to-day—(finger)
• Yasmani Grandal—day-to-day—(shoulder)
• Adeiny Hechavarria—day-to-day—(hamstring)
• Carlos Torres—day-to-day—(calf)
• Michael Cuddyer—day-to-day—(wrist)
• Nathan Evovaldi—day-to-day—(elbow)
• Sam Fuld—day-to-day—(back)
• Domonic Brown—day-to-day—(concussion)
• Yonder Alonso—day-to-day—(back)
• Matt Cain—15 day DL—(elbow)
• Nori Aoki—day-to-day—(concussion)
• Nelson Cruz—day-to-day—(quad)
• Franklin Gutierrez—day-to-day—(groin)
• Mark Reynolds—day-to-day—(wrist)
• Delino Deshields—day-to-day—(knee)