MLB Player News

VerHagen was outrighted to Triple-A Tacoma of Friday after passing through waivers unclaimed.

VerHagen was recently designated for assignment by the Tigers on Monday. Over nine appearances with the big-league club this season, he's posted a 6.30 ERA and 1.30 WHIP with an 11:7 K:BB. The right-hander will continue to serve as organizational bullpen depth.

Gonsalves was promoted to Triple-A Rochester on Friday, Brandon Warne of The Athletic Minnesota reports.

Gonsalves opened the season for Double-A Chattanooga despite finishing last season with Rochester. He dominated over his first four starts for Chattanooga this season and now has a 2.48 ERA at that level over 182 career innings. That bodes well for him faring better at Triple-A this time around, after he recorded a 5.56 ERA in a brief stay at that level last year. If his strong start continues with Rochester, he could push for a spot in the Twins' rotation later this season.

Barnes worked around a pair of walks over 1.1 innings to record his fifth hold of the season in Thursday's 5-4 win over the Blue Jays.

He should pick up some extra duty over the next week while Joe Kelly serves a suspension that will keep him out until May 2. Barnes has been effective against both sides of the plate, limiting all batters to a .184 BABIP, but the right-hander can get into trouble with free passes. Barnes has walked eight over his first 9.1 innings to start the season. He's also struck out 13, however, allowing him to remain relatively effective in the seventh and eighth innings.

Kelly, who began serving a six-game suspension Thursday, has held left-handed batters to one hit over 20 at-bats.

The right-handed Kelly has become manager Alex Cora's sneaky weapon against lefties, but the manager will not have Kelly back until May 2. Without him, Cora will look to a traditional left-hander, Brian Johnson, in key relief situations instead.

Betances (1-1) picked up the win after striking out the side in a scoreless inning Thursday against the Twins.

Betances looked like his old self Thursday, as the big righty needed just 13 pitches -- 11 of which were strikes -- to sit down the heart of the Twins' order (Brian Dozier, Joe Mauer and Miguel Sano). It marked just the second time in 10 appearances this season he kept the bases clear. Hopefully Betances is moving past the early-season struggles, and tough luck, that is responsible for his 5.40 ERA.

Rodney (1-2) blew his third save of the season and took the loss Thursday against the Yankees, allowing a three-run walkoff homer to Gary Sanchez in the bottom of the ninth inning.

The inning started with a throwing error from Miguel Sano, which allowed Didi Gregorius to reach base. Giancarlo Stanton promptly followed with an infield single before Sanchez ended things with one swing of the bat. Rodney has now blown three straight save chances -- all coming in his past four appearances -- after converting his first two opportunities of the season. He owns an unsightly 6.75 ERA and 2.10 WHIP, but the veteran reliever has logged just 6.2 innings, and his 8:2 K:BB over that stretch is otherwise strong. There hasn't been any mention of removing Rodney from the ninth inning at this point, but the team could ultimately opt to turn to Addison Reed if Rodney's struggles continue.

Junis (3-2) took the loss against the White Sox on Thursday, giving up six earned runs on six hits over 5.2 innings while striking out five and walking two in a 6-3 loss for Kansas City.

Junis had been pretty much lights out with a 2.03 ERA and a 0.75 WHIP in his 26.2 innings prior to this start, but he came back down to earth with this dud showing. He's still got a great 0.87 WHIP even factoring in this rough outing, but Junis had a 4.30 ERA and 1.28 WHIP over 98.1 innings last season, so don't be surprised if his ratios start to gravitate back toward those numbers as the season progresses.

Kimbrel got the save in Boston's 5-4 victory over Toronto on Thursday, striking out one without allowing a baserunner in a clean ninth inning.

It was business as usual in this one for the dominant right-hander, who has given up just one earned run and bagged seven saves in as many opportunities over his 10.1 innings so far this season. Kimbrel now has 0.87 ERA and 0.68 WHIP and is firmly entrenched as one of the most reliable closers in the game.

Diaz struck out two and walked one in a scoreless inning of work Thursday to record his 11th save of the season.

Diaz labored a bit in this outing, needing 19 pitches to close out the win for the Mariners. However, he continues to be absolutely dynamic in the final frame as he remains perfect in converting save opportunities and maintains a 0.68 ERA and 0.68 WHIP on the season.

Fulmer tossed six scoreless innings but did not factor into the decision in Thursday's 1-0 loss to the Pirates. He gave up four hits and a walk while striking out nine.

Fulmer has allowed two earned runs or fewer in four of his five starts this year and now has a 2.76 ERA, but he has just one win to show for it, as the Tigers have not been providing him much run support. The young righty has a solid matchup on tap Wednesday against the Rays, and if he keeps pitching like this, he stands a pretty good chance of grabbing some wins along the way.