MLB Player News

Hand struck out a batter in the ninth inning of Thursday's game against the Astros to earn his seventh save of the season.

Hand entered the ninth with a slim one-run lead, but he retired the side in order on 15 pitches. The 29-year-old has unsurprisingly been one of the most reliable closers in the big leagues thus far and owns a 1.54 ERA with 15 punchouts over 11.2 frames in 2019.

Hearn was confirmed as the starting pitcher for Thursday's game against the Mariners.

As expected, Hearn was summoned from Triple-A Nashville ahead of Thursday's start. The 24-year-old southpaw owns a 4.05 ERA, 1.20 WHIP and 26:10 K:BB through four starts (20 innings) with the Sounds this season.

Johnson (elbow) will likely throw a fastball-only bullpen session Sunday or Monday, Chris Cotillo of MassLive.com reports.

Johnson has been sidelined since April 6 with elbow inflammation. While this is a step in the right direction for the southpaw, who resumed throwing earlier in the week, a timetable for his return likely won't emerge until Johnson is further along in his rehab.

The Angels list Barria as their probable starter for Saturday's game against the Royals.

While the Angels' rotation plans are subject to change over the next few days, it appears Barria will get at least one more turn as either a starter or primary pitcher after impressing in the bulk-relief role over the weekend in Seattle. Upon entering the contest in the second inning, Barria limited the Mariners to one run on four hits and no walks while striking out three en route to claiming the win. The Angels are slated to get Tyler Skaggs (ankle) back from the 10-day injured list for Friday's series opener, but the struggling Chris Stratton looks to be more at risk of surrendering his spot to Skaggs than Barria.

Pruitt was recalled from Triple-A Durham on Thursday, Josh Tolentino of The Athletic reports.

Pruitt will take the roster spot of Ryan Yarbrough, who was sent to the minors after tossing 4.1 innings of relief during Wednesday's loss to the Royals. The right-hander has made one appearance for Tampa Bay already this season, allowing two runs on three hits while striking out one in 1.2 innings of relief.

Treinen (1-1) fired a scoreless ninth inning in a win over the Rangers on Wednesday, allowing no hits and two walks while recording a strikeout.

It took him 22 pitches due to some control problems, but Treinen was able to wiggle out of trouble and preserve a 5-5 tie by getting Delino DeShields to ground into an inning-ending double play. Treinen has blown one save this season, but he's otherwise picked up where he left off in 2018 by generating an 0.68 ERA across his first 13.1 innings.

Manager Brad Ausmus named Garcia as one of the relievers who could be included in the team's closer committee, Rhett Bollinger of MLB.com reports.

Ausmus announced prior to Wednesday's game against the Yankees that Cody Allen had been removed as closer, but it didn't take long for the Angels to endure more late-inning turbulence. At least for one game, Garcia did little to justify Ausmus' support, as he failed to retire any of the four batters he faced while the Angels coughed up a 5-2 lead in the seventh inning. Ty Buttrey was able to clean up most of the mess created by Garcia, but he ended up taking the loss after surrendering the go-ahead single to DJ LeMahieu in the top of the ninth. Buttrey's overall body of work this season has still been largely unassailable, so he and Hansel Robles will presumably stick ahead of Garcia in the pecking order for saves for the time being.

The Yankees optioned Loaisiga to Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre on Thursday.

Loaisiga was recalled from Triple-A earlier in the week with the expectation that he would make a spot start at some point during the Yankees' series with the Angels, but manager Aaron Boone instead elected to deploy the right-hander out of the bullpen. He shined in that capacity in Wednesday's 6-5 victory, blanking the Angels over three innings and allowing just three baserunners en route to claiming the win. Though he'll now head back to the International League, Loaisiga looks to be at the top of the list for a move into the big-league rotation should any of the Yankees' current five starters miss time with an injury.

The Yankees plan to call up Harvey from Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre prior to Thursday's series finale with the Angels, Coley Harvey of ESPN.com reports.

Harvey will move up to the majors for the second time this season, this time taking the active roster spot of Clint Frazier (ankle), who will become the 15th Yankees player to land on the injured list. The right-hander is expected to give New York a fresh multi-inning option out of the bullpen Thursday after long men Jonathan Loaisiga and Luis Cessa both saw ample work earlier in the series.

Chapman walked one while striking out one through a scoreless inning to record his fourth save in a win over the Angels on Wednesday.

After allowing a walk with one out in the ninth inning, Chapman shut down the Angels to nail down the save. The left-hander mixed up his pitch usage in this appearance: Though he usually throws his fastball 70 percent of the time, he threw his slider seven out of 17 pitches. The 31-year-old has four saves and a 2.70 ERA through 10 appearances this season.