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Closing Time: Adam Duvall continues to clear fences

Closing Time: Adam Duvall continues to clear fences

After Monday's two-homer binge at Coors Field, Adam Duvall now ranks third in the N.L. in slugging percentage (.606), tenth in OPS (.911) and he's tied for fourth in long-balls (13). You would think a guy with those power credentials would be universally owned in fantasy leagues, but, well ... no. Not close. Duvall remains available in more than 60 percent of Yahoo leagues, despite his 40-homer, 90-RBI pace.

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We've endorsed Duvall around here a time or two already, so we shouldn't need to take a deep dive into his professional history. We'll just remind you that the 27-year-old hit for power at every minor league stop, with a pair of 30-bomb seasons included. He's cleared the fence six times in his last eight games, which is insane, and he's playing every day for Cincinnati. He gets three more appearances at Coors this week, too.

If Duvall had opened his season with the sort of surge he's enjoyed lately, of course, then his ownership numbers would be very different. Check his year-to-date power stats alongside those of an inner-circle fantasy legend:

Adam Duvall – 26 XBHs, 13 HR, 29 RBIs, 48 Ks in 155 AB, .271/.305/.606
Trevor Story – 30 XBHs, 14 HR, 36 RBIs, 75 Ks in 200 AB, .265/.321/.575

So let's stop sleeping on Duvall, please. Add aggressively, assuming you can use a power upgrade.

Cincinnati's huge day at the plate (11 R, 5 HR) overshadowed yet another bullpen hiccup from Tony Cingrani, who allowed two hits, two walks, one homer and three runs. Cingrani's struggles created an unexpected rogue save chance for JC Ramirez. It wouldn't be a huge surprise to see the next ninth inning opportunity go to Ross Ohlendorf, who of course cannot be trusted, either. What a flaming mess.

So is Matt Harvey fixed? It sure looked that way on Monday, as the White Sox hacked away with very little success. Harvey allowed just two hits (both singles), one walk and no runs over 7.0 frames, striking out six. He threw 61 of his 87 pitches for strikes, coaxing 10 swings-and-misses. His velocity was back where we like to see it, in the upper-90s. He gets the green light for fantasy purposes in his next start at Miami.

Jed Lowrie went 2-for-4 in Oakland's win over Minnesota, batting second for the A's. His average now sits at .306. Lowrie offers respectable power/speed potential by middle-infield standards, and he's eligible at 2B, 3B and SS.

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Nathan Karns, cruising. (Photo by Otto Greule Jr/Getty Images)
Nathan Karns, cruising. (Photo by Otto Greule Jr/Getty Images)

Nathan Karns earned a layup win over the Padres, striking out six batters over 6.2 innings, allowing just two runs. Karns was an easy streaming/daily call on Monday, in a very low degree-of-difficulty match-up. With 10 starts now in the books, he's pitched 57.2 innings and struck out 57 batters, delivering an ERA of 3.43 for Seattle.

Byron Buxton is back in the majors, but I'm burying the news down here because it's tough to actually recommend him to fantasy owners in mixed leagues. Let's hope he runs. Expect steals and, um ... not much else.

Jason Hammel exited early in Chicago's 2-0 win over the Dodgers at Wrigley, due to a hamstring malfunction. He's expected to be good to go in his next start, however. He was merely dealing with cramping in his hamstring, apparently, not an injury. All clear.

Look, there's no way I'm touching Jhoulys Chacin in fantasy — too much bad history between us — but his Monday performance deserves at least a blurb. Chacin struck out 10 batters in a complete game win over Detroit, allowing one walk, four hits and one run. He had not K'd more than four hitters in any of his previous five starts, so let's not get too excited.

David Freese went 4-for-5 with a pair of doubles, two runs-scored and two RBIs in Pittsburgh's 10-0 win over the Marlins. Freese has eight hits in his last 18 at-bats, raising his season slash to .296/.374/.428. He's still hitting third for the Bucs, in prime position to pile up counting stats.

We have two minor league batting lines worth noting from weekend action: Cubs catching prospect Willson Contreras went 4-for-5 for Triple-A Iowa with a pair of homers and five RBIs on Monday; Colorado's David Dahl went 4-for-4 with a walk and two RBIs on Sunday for Double-A Hartford. For the year, Contreras is slashing .329/.418/.559 with eight homers, while Dahl is hitting .295/.372/.585 with 11 bombs and 29 XBHs. Both players have been on the dynasty radar for a little while, and both could hit the bigs in the second-half of the season.

Huston Street was activated from the DL, you'll note, so it's almost time to kick Joe Smith to the curb. Street is expected to reclaim the ninth immediately, while also returning to the trade block for L.A.