MLB Player News

Miller (finger) will start Thursday's game against the Giants as previously scheduled.

He suffered a laceration in his last start Saturday against the Padres, which led to his departure after just 1.2 frames. According to the Arizona Republic, Miller sorted out his mechanical flaws during his bullpen session this week, and it should also be noted that his fastball velocity was closer to his pre-2016 levels before his early exit Saturday.

Although Melancon has registered three saves in six outings, he's pitched in only one game since April 11.

After starting the season with four wins, the Pirates have lost eight of 11 games, limiting Melancon's opportunities. The closer has looked strong when called upon, striking out five batters while giving up one run in 5.1 innings.

Coleman was placed on the bereavement list Thursday, Andy McCullough of the LA Times reports.

Coleman will miss a minimum of three games, ruling him out through Saturday's contest in Colorado, at the very least. Luis Avilan was recalled from Triple-A Oklahoma City to take Coleman's spot at the back of the bullpen.

Lazo was reinstated from the DL and optioned to High-A Jupiter on Thursday, Joe Capozzi of the Palm Beach Post reports.

The nature of Lazo's injury remains unclear, but the Marlins will keep Lazo at the High-A level after he split last season between High-A and Double-A before a brief, seven-game cup of coffee with the Marlins. If the 27-year-old fares well, he could be in line for another call up later in the year.

Nelson (3-1) gave up four runs on 10 hits and a walk Wednesday against the Twins, but struck out six over 6.2 innings and came away with his third straight win.

This wasn't Nelson's most inspiring outing, but he did cut down on the walks after issuing four in each of his last two starts. A consistent strikeout-per-inning man in the minors, Nelson hasn't been close to replicating that sort of success in the big leagues, but the 26-year-old is at least a credible lower-end fantasy starter with upside to be much better than that if he can harness his outstanding raw stuff.

Pomeranz (2-1) struck out a career-high 10 batters Wednesday while allowing just an unearned run on four hits and three walks in an 8-2 win against the Pirates.

Three starts into his Padres tenure, Pomeranz is looking like a strikeout machine -- how's 25 in 17.2 innings sound? He's still walking a few too many batters, but has been awfully hard to hit and appears set to benefit from pitching in Petco Park. It looks like there's a legitimate breakout in the offing here, assuming his health holds up.

Maurer gave up two hits and one earned run in the eighth inning of the Padres' 5-4 victory over the Pirates on Tuesday.

Maurer has struggled early on, as he carries a 6.00 ERA and 1.67 WHIP over six innings so far. However, the Padres seem comfortable with him as their eighth inning guy as he's now been used in that role three times in the past five days. The 25-year-old righty will likely continue to work in late-inning situations until outings like Tuesday's become more commonplace.

Iglesias (1-1) allowed two runs on five hits, struck out eight and walked one over 6.2 frames in a no-decision against the Rockies on Wednesday.

He left the game with the tying run on second base, but when reliever Blake Wood recorded the final out of the seventh, Iglesias was in line for the win. Unfortunately, the Reds' bullpen blew up the following inning and left Iglesias with a no-decision. With the weak Cincinnati bullpen, that might happen a lot this summer, but at least Iglesias has looked good while on the mound. He has 22 strikeouts and five walks with a 3.09 ERA in 23.1 innings.

Hoover will not be the sole closer for the Reds after manager Bryan Price decided that the Reds will go with a closer by committee for the time being, Mark Sheldon of MLB.com reports.

Hoover's hold on the closer role was in question after he gave up nine earned runs in just 5.1 innings of work, and this ends his time as the only closer for the Reds for now. There's a chance that he'll get the ball in the ninth inning if he can put together a couple good outings in the near future, but he'll lose some of those opportunities now to Tony Cingrani, Caleb Cotham, and Blake Wood.

Manager Walt Weiss revealed that Castro is dealing with right shoulder inflammation, Thomas Harding of MLB.com reports.

Some people were wondering why Castro wasn't used in the ninth inning of Wednesday's game against the Reds when the game was tied, and it now appears to be injury-related. The Rockies are expected to make a decision on whether or not he'll require a disabled list stint or not within the coming days, so a timetable for his return should become clearer once the team makes that decision.