MLB Player News

Winckowski will serve as the Red Sox's opening pitcher for Sunday's game against the Yankees, Jen McCaffrey of The Athletic reports.

After making 14 starts for Boston as a rookie in 2022, Winckowski has worked exclusively as a reliever for the Red Sox thus far in his second season in the majors. Though he'll be serving as a starter for the first time in 45 appearances, Winckowski is unlikely to cover more than 1-to-3 innings before turning the game over to Nick Pivetta, whom manager Alex Cora said will work the bulk of the innings in relief. Winckowski enters Sunday's contest with a 3.20 ERA, 1.41 WHIP and 57:18 K:BB in 64.2 innings to go with three wins, two saves and 15 holds.

Foley pitched a scoreless ninth inning with two strikeouts to record the save in Saturday's 4-3 win over the Guardians.

Foley now has seven saves this season, with three of them coming in his last four appearances as he's taken over as Detroit's primary closer, displacing Alex Lange. Foley has a strong 2.63 ERA overall, though his ERA in August sits at 4.32, in part due to allowing three earned runs in an outing Wednesday. As long as the righty displays better command than Lange and avoids blowups, he should stick as the team's top option for saves.

Alzolay picked up the save Saturday against the Royals, allowing one hit while striking out one batter over a scoreless inning.

Alzolay allowed a one-out single to MJ Melendez after being brought in to protect a two-run lead in the ninth but needed just five pitches to get through the final two batters and secure his 17th save. The 28-year-old right-hander has now converted his last 13 save opportunities, with his lone blown save coming back on July 4. He's also issued only two walks since the start of July.

Sewald recorded his 26th save of the season in the first game of Saturday's doubleheader sweep of the Padres, walking two batters in a scoreless ninth inning.

The outing was very nearly a disaster for the former Mariner. Sewald also hit Garrett Cooper with a pitch, loading the bases with two outs, but Juan Soto's drive to left-center field died on the warning track rather than clearing the fence for a walk-off grand slam. Sewald's converted five straight save chances after blowing his first one for Arizona following his acquisition at the trade deadline, but he's been far from impressive for his new club with a 4.50 ERA, 1.83 WHIP and 8:4 K:BB through six innings. Barring a complete collapse, however, his spot in the ninth inning appears secure.

Lopez earned a save over the Rays in the first game of a twin bill Saturday, allowing one hit and striking out two batters over one scoreless inning.

Angels closer Carlos Estevez has struggled of late, though his lack of usage in a save situation in the matinee of the doubleheader was probably due to him throwing 43 pitches over 1.2 frames while taking the loss Friday. Lopez thus assumed closer duties with Los Angeles up a run in the ninth inning, and he worked around a leadoff single to secure the save. It was his second save in nine games since joining the Angels on July 26, and he's given up only two runs while posting a 16:3 K:BB across 9.2 frames during that stretch. There's no indication that Estevez has lost his closing role, but Lopez has pitched well enough since joining the team to take over ninth-inning duties if manager Phil Nevin does eventually decide to go in a different direction.

Junis will start Sunday's series finale in Atlanta, Susan Slusser of the San Francisco Chronicle reports.

Junis threw 62 pitches over four shutout innings in his last appearance Tuesday. It's unlikely he'll work much deeper into Sunday's game, especially given the challenging opponent. Sean Manaea, Alex Wood and Sean Hjelle could all be candidates to serve as bulk relievers behind Junis.

Silseth allowed five runs on five hits and three walks while striking out four batters over 3.2 innings in a no-decision in the Angels' 7-6 win over the Rays in Game 1 of a doubleheader Saturday.

Though Silseth fell behind by two runs in the first frame, the Angels bounced back to give him a 6-2 lead through three innings. The right-hander couldn't take advantage, however, as he was lifted with two outs in the fourth. Silseth surrendered three runs on four hits and a walk in that frame, with two of the knocks against him leaving the park. The 23-year-old nailed down a spot in the rotation on the strength of a four-start stretch between July 19 and Aug. 13, during which he posted a 1.59 ERA, 0.88 WHIP and 31:5 K:BB across 22.2 innings. Saturday's poor outing probably won't lead to him leaving the rotation, though it's worth noting that Griffin Canning -- who has come out of the bullpen in each of his past two appearances after starting in each of his initial 16 contests this season -- took the win Saturday as a result of giving up just one run over 3.1 frames.

Rogers (4-5) allowed two runs on two hits and struck out three without walking a batter over two innings, taking the loss and a blown save Saturday versus Atlanta.

Rogers did his job with a scoreless seventh inning, but manager Gabe Kapler sent him back out for the eighth. Eddie Rosario took Rogers deep for a two-run home run that flipped the game around, handing the submariner his fifth blown save of the year, four of which have come in his last 11 appearances. In that span, the right-hander has given up seven runs over 11.2 innings. He's at a 2.73 ERA, 1.08 WHIP and 48:15 K:BB with two saves and 24 holds over 59.1 innings this year, but he's been a bit less reliable than usual over recent weeks.

Bautista (8-2) struck out one in a perfect inning to earn the extra-inning win over the Athletics on Saturday.

Bautista needed just nine pitches to set the Athletics down in order in the bottom of the ninth inning, and the Orioles' offense exploded for five runs in the top of the 10th. Aside from his five runs allowed against Houston over two appearances earlier this month, Bautista has been virtually untouchable for much of the last two months. He's 32-for-38 in save chances with a 1.54 ERA, 0.96 WHIP and 109:26 K:BB through 58.1 innings overall. Given that this was his first outing since Monday, Bautista should be available if another save chance arises Sunday.

Herget was optioned to Triple-A Salt Lake following Saturday's doubleheader with Tampa Bay.

Herget will return to Salt Lake after getting called to serve as the team's 27th man Saturday. The right-hander appeared in Game 2 of the doubleheader, allowing two runs on three hits and a walk while striking out two batters over one inning in the team's 18-4 loss.