MLB Player News

Kittredge will serve as the opener Thursday at Houston, Marc Topkin of the Tampa Bay Times reports.

It will be the fifth time this season Kittredge has worked as an opener. The 29-year-old has a 4.37 ERA, 1.37 WHIP and 44:9 K:BB through 35 innings. Trevor Richards is scheduled to follow as the primary pitcher.

Treinen (6-5) took the loss against the Royals on Wednesday after allowing two runs on three hits and a walk while failing to record any outs.

Replacing starter Tanner Roark in the seventh inning, Treinen was asked to preserve a 4-4 tie and quickly loaded up the bases on back-to-back singles and a walk. He then gave up an RBI single to Hunter Dozier before getting yanked, leaving it up to Jake Diekman to finish off the inning. Across 51 games this season, Treinen owns a 4.86 ERA and 1.62 WHIP.

Junis did not factor into the decision during Wednesday's win over the A's, allowing four runs on seven hits and a walk while striking out five over six innings.

Junis gave up a leadoff home run to Marcus Semien, then allowed Matt Chapman to score on a fielder's choice during a sloppy first inning. The right-hander was able to keep Oakland's bats quiet until the fifth, when he gave up a two-run homer to Matt Canha. Luckily, the Royals provided a rare display of run support to finish off the win. After posting three consecutive quality starts earlier this month, Junis has has served up eight runs across 10 innings in his last two outings, raising his ERA to 4.93 and WHIP to 1.39.

Hand struck out one in a perfect ninth inning Wednesday to record his 32nd save of the season in a 4-2 win over the Tigers.

The southpaw appears to be righting the ship after blowing three straight save chances in mid-August. Hand has now converted three straight over three scoreless appearances, lowering his ERA back to 3.17 with a 78:16 K:BB in 54 innings on the year.

Barria is not scheduled to start against the Red Sox over the weekend, Maria Torres of the Los Angeles Times reports.

Barria was originally scheduled to start Saturday against Boston, but the Angels are listing Jose Suarez, Dillon Peters and Andrew Heaney as their starters for the three-game series. It's unclear if Barria will slot back into the rotation at this point; with a pair of off days, the Angels won't need a fifth starter until next Saturday against the White Sox.

Johnson will pitch out of the bullpen for the remainder of the season, Pete Abraham of The Boston Globe reports.

Johnson will shift back to a long-relief role for the stretch run with David Price (wrist) slated to come off the injured list to start Sunday against the Angels. The southpaw has made five appearances since returning from the IL at the beginning of August, posting a 7.20 ERA, 2.13 WHIP and 9:9 K:BB across 15 innings.

Lopez will start Saturday against the Orioles, Jeffrey Flanagan of MLB.com reports.

The Royals will need a spot starter with Brad Keller getting shut down for workload reasons and Danny Duffy (hamstring) not returning until Sunday. Lopez has a 7.07 ERA as a starter this season and a 5.79 mark as a reliever.

Betances (lat) completed a live batting practice session with no issues Wednesday, Bryan Hoch of MLB.com reports.

Everything went well in what was Betances' second session against live hitters in the past week. The right-hander will throw another live BP session Saturday, and he could be cleared to head out on a rehab assignment shortly thereafter if everything goes off without a hitch. The hope is that Betances will be ready to rejoin the big-league bullpen in mid-September.

Fulmer (hamstring) will begin a rehab assignment with Triple-A Charlotte on Wednesday.

Fulmer has been out since early August with a hamstring strain. He appears to be on track to return to Chicago in early September.

De Leon was recalled by the Rays on Wednesday, Marc Topkin of the Tampa Bay Times reports.

De Leon has only appeared once for the Rays this season but has a solid 3.65 ERA in 49.1 innings for Triple-A Durham. He's offset a poor 12.5 percent walk rate with a strong 32.9 percent strikeout rate. He'll give the Rays extra bullpen depth for the stretch run. Mike Brosseau was optioned in a corresponding move.