MLB Player News

Speier allowed a hit in a scoreless inning during Thursday's 1-0 loss to the Twins.

Thursday's outing was just the second appearance of the year for Speier. He's covered 2.2 scoreless innings, striking out three and allowing only two hits. The 27-year-old southpaw made just 24 major-league appearances across the previous three seasons. He'll likely continue to serve as a middle-innings option while with the Royals, though it's unclear if he'll stay in the big leagues when rosters go from 28 to 26 players May 2.

Clarke allowed a hit and struck out two in two scoreless innings during Thursday's 1-0 loss to the Twins.

Clarke began the season with three straight outings of one-third of an inning. He's been allowed to work longer assignments since then, covering two innings in each of his last two appearances. He's posted a 1.80 ERA, 0.40 WHIP and 4:0 K:BB through five appearances this season, though he'll likely remain in a multi-inning role going forward.

Treinen was placed on the injured list Friday due to right shoulder discomfort, Juan Toribio of MLB.com reports.

Treinen hasn't pitched in over a week, but the transaction can only be backdated by three days, so he'll miss at least one more week. If his injury remains nothing worse than discomfort, it's possible he returns at that point, though a longer absence is certainly possible. Daniel Hudson has already picked up one save this season when Craig Kimbrel was unavailable and will remain Kimbrel's top deputy until Treinen returns.

Cleavinger was recalled by the Dodgers on Friday.

Cleavinger was sent to Triple-A Oklahoma City on Sunday, but he'll rejoin the major-league bullpen after Blake Treinen (shoulder) was placed on the injured list. Cleavinger allowed a run in two-thirds of an inning during his season debut with the Dodgers last week.

The Blue Jays indicated Friday that Pardinho (elbow) is building up ahead of joining High-A Vancouver in a few weeks, Shi Davidi of Sportsnet.ca reports.

Pardinho has had a lengthy rehab process after undergoing Tommy John surgery in February of 2020. The right-hander encountered setbacks after appearing in rookie ball last year, so the Blue Jays figure to exercise caution in the coming weeks to avoid rushing him back to game action too quickly.

Crowe (1-0) allowed one hit and struck out five across 2.1 scoreless innings to earn the win Thursday against the Cubs.

Crowe entered the game in the fourth inning in relief of Bryse Wilson. He struck out five of the eight batters he faced and induced six swinging strikes on a total of 45 pitches. Crowe has yet to allow an earned run across five appearances and 12.1 frames this season while compiling a strong 15:4 K:BB. He has thrown multiple innings in each of his outings, but has been capped at around 50 pitches. As the Pirates search for an optimal combination in their rotation, it's possible Crowe enters the mix if he continues to prove effective in longer stints.

Barlow (1-0) allowed one walk and struck out two over a scoreless 1.1 innings to earn the win over Seattle on Thursday.

Barlow was the pitcher warming in the bullpen when Matt Bush was attempting to protect a one-run lead in the eighth inning, but he was needed earlier than anticipated. After the Mariners tied the game against Bush, Barlow shut down the rally then benefited from Texas' two-run, ninth inning rally to pick up his first win of the season. The takeaway here is that Barlow was in position to pick up the save. The Rangers' closer situation has been unsettled, but it looks like Barlow is now in the mix to close games. This is a positive development after manager Chris Woodward indicated during spring training that he didn't want to put the pressure of closing games on a reliever with limited MLB experience.

Long is scheduled to start Friday's series opener with the Nationals in Washington, Susan Slusser of the San Francisco Chronicle reports.

Since Long will be returning to the mound on two days' rest and hasn't recorded more than four outs in any of his appearances this season or during spring training, he'll likely be on a very limited pitch count in his first start. The southpaw will be slotting in as the fifth starter temporarily after Alex Cobb went on the injured list Wednesday with a right adductor strain. The Giants are hoping Cobb will be ready to go by the time his next turn in the rotation comes up at the end of the month.

Rodriguez retired the only batter he faced to record his first hold of the season in Thursday's win over the Giants.

After Carlos Carrasco gave up a two-out solo shot to Mike Yastrzemski in the eighth inning and got the hook, Rodriguez came in with the Mets ahead 5-2 and got Brandon Belt to pop out to end the frame. Rodriguez has been used in a situational role this season, working less than one full inning in three of his six appearances, and the journeyman southpaw's 9.64 ERA through 4.2 innings seems mostly a product of bad luck considering his 1.07 WHIP and 7:2 K:BB.

Voth allowed one hit and struck out three in a scoreless inning of relief during Thursday's loss to the Diamondbacks.

Entering the game in the seventh inning with the Nationals down 4-2, Voth put together his best outing of the season to date. After stumbling out of the gate and coughing up six runs (five earned) over his first three appearances, the right-hander has turned things around with a 0.00 ERA and 6:0 K:BB over his last four innings. Voth will need to prove his control and command issues are behind him before he'll work his way into a higher-leverage role, however -- between 2020 and 2021, he served up 24 homers in only 107 big-league innings while issuing 46 free passes.