Fantasy Baseball News

Kirby Yates pitched a perfect ninth inning for his first save of the season on Saturday, securing a 5-2 Angels' win over the Rangers.

Fantasy Impact: Yates needed only 11 pitches to retire Brandon Nimmo (strikeout), Michael Helman (groundout), and Andrew McCutchen (popout) for his first save of the season. While he hasn't pitched poorly, it's taken Yates a little bit to work his way back into high-leverage situations since making his first appearance on May 8 after starting the year on the IL. He did blow his first save opportunity on Wednesday against the A's after allowing a game-tying solo home run in the ninth. But, in seven appearances, he has allowed three runs on four hits with a 9:3 K:BB ratio in 6.1 innings. He should be the odds-on favorite to be the closer in Los Angeles moving forward but, the Angels' currently have the worst record in baseball (19-34) so he's not a must-add unless you are in dire need of saves.

Walbert Urena allowed one run on five hits, walked three, and struck out six in five solid innings on Saturday, helping the Angels to a 5-2 win over the Rangers.

Fantasy Impact: Urena picked up his second victory of the season and has now allowed two earned runs or fewer in six of his seven starts this season. His six strikeouts were two shy of his career-high of eight he had back on April 19. Urena is having a very good, under-the-radar month of May, pitching to a 1.67 ERA and a 1.04 WHIP in five starts with a 23:12 K:BB ratio in 27 innings. While he's not a huge strikeout arm and can be a little erratic at times (36:22 K:BB ratio in 38.1 innings), Urena should be owned in far more leagues than he is at the moment. If he's available in your league, you may want to grab him before it's too late. He does, however, have a tough road matchup against the Rays on Friday in his next scheduled start.