MLB Player News

Rays starter Matt Moore won his fifth-consecutive start Saturday night against the White Sox. He allowed a run on three hits over six innings in the 10-4 victory. The left-hander also struck out nine and walked one.

Moore (5-0) surrendered a solo home run to Adam Dunn in the fourth inning and has given up four earned runs through five starts.

His next outing is Friday at the Rockies. Moore has gone 3-0 with a 1.50 ERA in three starts on the road.

Twins pitcher Ryan Pressly entered Saturday's contest against the Rangers sporting a 1.86 ERA through six appearances.

Manager Ron Gardenhire told MLB.com that he is confident, throwing the right-hander into plenty of situations.

"I don't see any problems pitching him anywhere," Gardenhire said. "With that velocity and that breaking ball, I'm not worried about him being afraid or anything like that. He goes right at them."

Gardenhire added that he has liked what he's seen from the 24-year-old thus far.

"He's not afraid," Gardenhire said. "He wings it. He was throwing 94-95 mph last night with a nice breaking ball. Last night, it was great innings. The last hit he gave up I think was an 0-2 count, and he tried to throw it up in the zone but it didn't get there. But other than that, he didn't make too many mistakes."

The Royals will recall pitcher Will Smith to start the second game of Sunday's doubleheader against Cleveland, the Kansas City Star reports. 

Brandon Maurer has righted the ship quickly after a dreadful first couple starts and, in doing so, has validated why the Mariners gave him a rotation spot in the first place. But just because he'll be sticking around doesn't mean you should rush to add him in Fantasy.

He hasn't contributed much in the way of strikeouts, and he has yet to pitch seven innings in a game. As a 22-year-old making the leap from Double-A after pitching only 137 2/3 innings there last year, he probably won't do much of either.

In AL-only leagues, you can live without that stuff, but a competent mixed-league starting pitcher needs to contribute at least one or the other. If given the choice, I'd take Jeremy Guthrie, Bartolo Colon or even a down-the-road option like Drew Smyly or Dan Straily over Maurer.

Mariners starting pitcher Brandon Maurer pitched 6 1/3 scoreless innings against the Angels Thursday to pick up his second win of the season. He allowed seven hits and a walk while striking out six.

It was easily Maurer's best outing to date, giving him three straight quality starts. He takes a 5.61 ERA and 2-3 record into a matchup with the Orioles at home Tuesday.

Royals reliever Tim Collins earned the win during Thursday's 8-3, 10-inning victory against the Tigers. Collins tossed a scoreless ninth inning, striking out two.

Collins (1-0) has allowed a run on two hits and two walks in 7 2/3 innings. He has a 1.17 ERA and nine strikeouts.

Fresh off his manager saying he's keeping the faith in his closer, Rays reliever Fernando Rodney was able to reward that faith against the Yankees Wednesday. 

The closer entered the game with one out and one on in the ninth as Alex Cobb tried to go the distance in a 3-0 game. After allowing a single to Ichiro Suzuki, Rodney got Robinson Cano to ground out and Travis Hafner to pop out to end the game and earn the save. 

Rodney, picking up his third save, went 2/3 of an inning and needed 14 pitches. His ERA is at 4.91. He had allowed four runs over his first seven appearances after giving up just five runs over 76 appearances last year.

Rays manager Joe Maddon has faith that Fernando Rodney, who has allowed four runs in seven appearances this season after giving up just five runs over 76 appearances last year, will figure things out, MLB.com reported Wednesday. 

The skipper said it was unreasonable to believe Rodney would have another year like 2012, which was an historic season for the right-handed closer. 

"But he's going to be really good again," Maddon said. "I mean, he has been. And you're going to see another very productive [season], high end -- he's among the best closers in baseball... It's going to happen."

Orioles reliever Pedro Strop was called on in a tight spot Tuesday against the Blue Jays, asked to pitch the eighth inning in a 4-3 game. After a rough start to the season, Strop came through by throwing a scoreless frame and securing his second hold.

Strop has tossed 2 1/3 scoreless innings in his last two outings after opening the year with an 11.81 ERA through his first seven appearances. He's lowered his ERA to 8.22.

"That was huge because that was the game right there," Strop said, per The Baltimore Sun. "I’ve been struggling lately and that’s good to have some confidence back, and I feel even better because I gave my team the opportunity to win. Who knows? We might be playing still. But I feel pretty good. Like I said before, all those innings that I pitched before, I felt good. … The result was just wasn’t the one we wanted."

Rays closer Fernando Rodney entered the ninth inning on Tuesday at home against the Yankees after David Price allowed a leadoff single to Robinson Cano in a 2-2 ballgame. Rodney couldn't keep the game tied. 

The closer walked two batters and allowed Ichiro Suzuki's two-run single to center as Price ended up the loser. Rodney was not credited with a blown save or the loss, but he allowed his inherited runner to score and that was the difference in the game. 

He gave up a run on two walks and a hit and struck out two batters over 25 pitches. Rodney has allowed four earned runs over 6 2/3 innings with two saves and one blown save with a 5.40 ERA.