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Jackson Merrill hit a three-run homer to camp a nine-run fifth as the Padres bested the Red Sox 9-2 on Friday.

Advice: The Padres were held scoreless until the fifth, when the first nine batters totaled nine runs on eight hits and one walk against Nick Pivetta and Greg Weissert. Merrill concluded the rally with the second homer of the inning. After that, the Padres put their bats back to bed, coming up with just one hit off Chase Anderson in the final four innings. Merrill’s homer was his 11th in 82 games. His current .282/.318/.439 line is a near match for the .277/.326/.444 he came in at least year, only that was compiled in high-A and Double-A. Rotoworld 10 minutes ago

Fraley (calf) is out of the lineup for Friday's game against the Cardinals.

Advice: With no MRI results reported yet for Fraley, he'll remain out of the lineup as Cincinnati opens up its series against St. Louis. Santiago Espinal will again start at designated hitter and bat sixth. Rotowire.com Today, 1:10 pm

De La Cruz went 3-for-5 with an RBI triple, a run scored and a stolen base in Thursday's win over St. Louis.

Advice: The star shortstop kicked things off for Cincinnati with an RBI triple in the first inning to score Jonathan India. De la Cruz would then add another two singles in the contest, giving him his fifth three-hit performance this month and third in his last six games. Over that latter stretch he's batting .464 (13-for-28) with two homers, four RBI and seven runs scored. He also swiped his league-leading 38th bag Thursday after failing to record a steal over his previous eight games. Rotowire.com Today, 4:22 am

Imanaga allowed three runs on five hits across six innings but did not factor into the decision in Thursday's 5-3, 10-inning win over the Giants. He walked two and struck out three.

Advice: This was a nice bounceback effort for Imanaga, who allowed 10 runs in his last outing against the surging Mets. The righty had a sparkling 1.89 ERA before that implosion, but he's still sitting with a solid 3.07 mark across his first 15 starts at the MLB level. While it was unlikely that Imanaga would continue his early season dominance, he should still be a strong fantasy option moving forward. He's tentatively lined up to start again Wednesday against a challenging Philadelphia lineup. Rotowire.com Yesterday, 7:48 pm

Carlos Rodon allowed eight runs in five innings and took the loss against the Blue Jays on Thursday.



Advice: Rodon gave up 10 hits, walked one and struck out eight. That Rodon was able to complete five innings and strike out eight batters were positives, but if fantasy managers weren’t concerned about him before this start, they certainly are now. Rodon has allowed at least five runs in each of his last three starts and seen his ERA rise from 2.93 to 4.42. Rodon isn’t a big time strikeout pitcher like he was in his pre-Yankees career. His strikeout percentage is 23 percent this year compared to his 33 percent strikeout percentage with the Giants in 2022. Rodon had a 3.17 xFIP in 2021 with the White Sox and 2.91 xFIP in 2022 before his disaster 5.30 xFIP in his first year with the Yankees last year. His 4.34 xFIP this year is an improvement, but was also a sign that his ERA wasn’t going to remain below 3.00. This version of Rodon is also easier to hit as his 0.88 HR/9 in 2021 and 0.61 HR/9 in 2022 have turned into a 2.10 HR/9 in 2023 and a 1.54 HR/9 this year with the Yankees. There’s no way around the fact that Rodon’s $162 million pact with New York has become one of the biggest bust signings in the franchise’s long free agent history. The 31-year-old left-hander is set to face the Reds at home next week, but fantasy managers have to think about sending him to the bench if he wasn’t there already.

Rotoworld Yesterday, 6:43 pm