HOUSTON — Heralded outfield prospect Kyle Tucker made his big-league debut Saturday for the Astros http://www.washingtonredskinsteamonline.com/d.j.-swearinger-jersey , a move that not only has implications for Tucker but two other outfielders.
With Tucker, who finished 1-for-4 with a bases-loaded walk and three strikeouts in the Astros’ 12-6 win, in the fold, outfielder Tony Kemp will see a reduction in his playing time despite providing a spark for the Astros (60-31) since his mid-May recall. Kemp has a slash line of .295/.385/.410 over 40 games.
Outfielder Jake Marisnick, meanwhile, was optioned to Triple-A Fresno for a second time on the same night he delivered another sparkling play in center field.
Marisnick was batting .190 with 69 strikeouts in 163 plate appearances.
“It was hard for Jake http://www.buffalobillsteamonline.com/corey-bojorquez-jersey , and it should be,” Astros manager A.J. Hinch said. “He’s had a roller-coaster season going up and down. The first go-round he was really needing to go correct some things. The second go-around he was doing a lot better and things were out of his control a little bit as to him going down to Triple-A. There are still some offensive adjustments we want him to make.
“(Kemp) came up and won the right to stay in the big leagues. When a transaction happens, we talk a lot about the guy we sent down but the guy that we kept earned the right to be here. I’m very proud of what Tony has contributed to this team, and it hasn’t always been fair to him the last couple of years.”
Astros left-hander Dallas Keuchel (5-8, 4.12 ERA) will start the series finale against the White Sox. He has posted three quality starts in his last four outings, going 2-0 with a 2.96 ERA and 21 strikeouts across 24 1/3 innings during that stretch.
Keuchel is 3-4 with a 3.81 ERA over eight career starts against the White Sox including a 10-1 win on April 21 when he worked six innings and allowed one run on four hits and two walks with six strikeouts at Guaranteed Rate Field.
Right-hander Lucas Giolito (5-7 Marshall Newhouse Jersey , 6.93 ERA) gets the starting nod for Chicago (30-59). He is 2-3 with a 7.50 ERA in his last eight starts, allowing five runs or more four times.
Giolito will make his third career start against the Astros, against whom he is 0-2 with an 11.42 ERA. He was charged with nine runs on five hits and seven walks opposite Keuchel on April 21 and suffered the loss in his previous appearance at Minute Maid Park on Sept. 19, 2017, when he allowed two runs on seven hits and one walk with three strikeouts in 6 2/3 innings of a 3-1 loss.
White Sox shortstop Tim Anderson was back in the starting lineup Saturday and finished 0-for-4 with two strikeouts after sitting out the previous game to manage the soreness in his left forearm. Anderson was hit by a pitch in Thursday’s series opener.
Anderson has become a fixture in the eight-hole when Chicago faces a right-handed starter, a move designed to help amplify the depth of the White Sox lineup and provide additional opportunities atop the batting order for fellow infielders Yoan Moncada and Yolmer Sanchez.
“If you look at the lineup it just lengthens out (and) allows us to put him and keep him there http://www.chicagobearsteamonline.com/khalil-mack-jersey ,” White Sox manager Rick Renteria said of Anderson. “As long as he stays comfortable there he helps us there quite a bit. Picks up the back end of the lineup and I think we’ve gotten some benefits out of it.”
The Memphis Grizzlies have signed first-round draft pick Jaren Jackson Jr., a 6-foot-11 forward from Michigan State.
Terms of the deal weren’t disclosed.
Jackson, the fourth overall pick in the draft, averaged 10.9 points, 5.8 rebounds, 1.1 assists and 21.8 minutes in his lone season at Michigan State. His 3.03 blocks per game ranked seventh nationally.
Jackson and former Ohio State center Greg Oden are the only Big Ten players ever to be named the conference’s freshman of the year and defensive player of the year in the same season.
Jackson is the highest-drafted Michigan State player since 1979 Preston Smith Jersey , when Magic Johnson went first and Greg Kelser went fourth. Jackson’s father, Jaren Jackson Sr., had a 12-year NBA career and played on the San Antonio Spurs’ 1999 NBA championship team.
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