MLB Player News

The Royals reinstated Yarbrough (head) from the 60-day injured list ahead of his scheduled start Sunday in Cleveland.

Kansas City designated reliever Amir Garrett for assignment to clear room on the 40-man roster and 26-man active roster for Yarbrough, who was on the shelf for close to the 60-day minimum after exiting a May 7 start versus the Athletics when he was struck on the head by a line drive. Yarbrough suffered multiple fractures to his head but demonstrated rapid progress in his recovery and was cleared to begin a rehab assignment June 19. After running up a 2.55 ERA, 0.91 WHIP and 20:2 K:BB in 17.2 innings over the course of four starts in the rookie-level Arizona Complex League and at Triple-A Omaha, Yarbrough will take back his spot as the Royals' No. 5 starter.

Doval struck out two in a perfect ninth inning Saturday to record his 26th save of the season in a 5-3 win over the Rockies.

The right-hander needed only 10 pitches (eight strikes) to wrap things up, striking out pinch-hitters Nolan Jones and Harold Castro en route to his eighth straight successful save conversion. The save allowed Doval to keep pace with Alexis Diaz for the major-league lead, and the Giants' closer is already one short of tying the 27 he recorded in 2022 in his first full season in the majors.

Lange picked up the save Saturday against the Blue Jays, striking out one over one scoreless inning.

Lange entered the game in the ninth inning with a no-hit bid still intact for Detroit and went 1-2-3 through the top of Toronto's lineup. He whiffed the current hits leader in the American League, Bo Bichette, on three straight curveballs before forcing a flyout and a groundout in the next two at-bats and securing perhaps the biggest save of his career. Lange has now converted his last three save attempts, and he didn't issue a walk Saturday for the first time in his last five appearances.

The Royals will reinstate Yarbrough (head) from the 60-day injured list to start Sunday's game in Cleveland, Jaylon T. Thompson of The Kansas City Star reports.

Yarbrough will be returning to the Kansas City rotation for his first start since May 7, when he exited an outing against Oakland midway through the sixth inning after being struck on the head by a line drive. The veteran southpaw suffered multiple head fractures and was eventually moved to the 60-day IL, but he'll be cleared to return in close to the minimum amount of time on the heels of a successful rehab assignment. Between stops in the rookie-level Arizona Complex League and at Triple-A Omaha, Yarbrough submitted a 2.55 ERA, 0.91 WHIP and 20:2 K:BB in 17.2 innings. He built up to six innings and 81 pitches in his most recent outing for Omaha on Tuesday and shouldn't face any major workload restrictions in his return to the big leagues.

Mlodzinski will serve as the Pirates' opening pitcher for Sunday's game in Arizona, Andrew Destin of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette reports.

Rather than breaking in a new fifth starter for the final game before the All-Star break, the Pirates appear set to treat the series finale with the Diamondbacks as a bullpen day. Expect Mlodzinski to work an inning or two before turning the game over to the bullpen, with the Pirates likely to deploy a number of relievers the rest of the way. Over nine appearances with Pittsburgh spanning 10.1 innings, Mlodzinski owns a 2.61 ERA, 1.06 WHIP and 8:3 K:BB.

Sims (3-1) picked up the win over Milwaukee on Saturday. He allowed one walk and struck out two over 1.1 scoreless innings.

It was a wild affair in Milwaukee, as the Reds came back twice to earn the victory. Sims is a trusted late-inning arm out of the bullpen for manager David Bell. Since June 1, the right-hander has a 2.04 ERA with 23 strikeouts and five walks over 17.2 innings. Most of the damage during that stretch came in one disastrous game when he ceded three home runs in one inning to Atlanta.

King picked up the save Saturday against the Cubs. striking out one over 1.2 scoreless innings.

King took over for Gerrit Cole with one out in the top of the eighth and needed just five pitches to retire the next two batters and end the inning. He would later hit Christopher Morel with a pitch in the ninth, but the right-hander was solid outside of that one hiccup en route to earning his sixth save of the season. King has now converted three of his last four save attempts and lowered his season ERA to 2.77 with Saturday's scoreless outing.

Anderson allowed three hits and struck out three over four scoreless relief innings in Saturday's 8-3 loss to the Nationals.

Anderson entered after a 77-minute rain delay prior to the fourth inning and gave the Rangers what they needed. Texas was down 8-0 at the time, as starter Andrew Heaney left the team in a hole before the rain fell. Anderson, who threw a season-high four innings and the most since his college days, gave the Rangers a chance to claw their way back. Anderson has a 3.86 ERA over 23.1 innings (16 appearances) this season but had entered the contest with an 8.59 ERA over his previous 7.1 innings.

Jameson will get second opinions this week on his elbow injury, Theo Mackie of the Arizona Republic reports.

Jameson, who was moved from the 15-day to 60-day injured list Saturday, sustained the injury during a pitch in Thursday's game. At the time, he reported it to manager Torey Lovullo, pitching coach Brett Strom and trainer Max Esposito as a cramping in his hand and mentioned nothing about the elbow. The right-hander remained in the game to throw another 17 pitches. Lovullo was told the extra pitches did not impact the injury and that "the damage had already been done." The manager acknowledged that doctors are looking at the area of the ulnar collateral ligament, which suggests Tommy John surgery is a possibility.

Diaz earned a save against the Brewers on Saturday, allowing one hit and striking out two batters over one inning.

Diaz came on in the ninth inning with Cincinnati holding a three-run lead. He struck out Jesse Winker and Christian Yelich before giving up a single to William Contreras, but that hit proved harmless when Diaz got Willy Adames to ground out to end the game. Surprisingly, the talented closer had gone eight straight outings without picking up multiple strikeouts before Sunday, but he had still gotten the job done with five saves in six chances along with a 2.25 ERA during that span. Diaz has blown only one save opportunity all season and is tied for the MLB lead with 26 saves overall.