MLB Player News

Sears gave up five runs on seven hits and one walk while striking out three batters in a no-decision versus Texas on Wednesday.

Sears made it through a scoreless first inning before giving up four runs in the second and another in the third. The big blow against him was a three-run homer off the bat of Marcus Semien that gave Texas its first lead. Though Sears exited the game down four runs, he avoided a second straight loss thanks to a ninth-inning Oakland comeback. The southpaw has had a rough go of late, allowing 11 earned runs and five homers over six innings across his past two starts.

Javier (9-9) allowed two hits and no walks while striking out eight across six shutout innings to earn the win Wednesday against the Tigers.

Javier dominated the Tigers throughout the start, racking up 14 swinging strikes across 90 total pitches. In 43.1 innings since Aug. 2, Javier has a 2.08 ERA with a 56:11 K:BB. Javier has surpassed his highest workload by over 30 frames, so the Astros could continue to look for a way to limit his pitches prior to the postseason. However, when on the mound, Javier has maintained an excellent 2.87 ERA and 173:46 K:BB across 131.2 innings for the campaign.

Sandoval allowed two earned runs on seven hits and no walks while striking out three across 5.1 innings Wednesday against the Guardians. He did not factor into the decision.

Sandoval induced nine groundball outs and needed only 81 pitches to record his 16 outs. However, he still got the early hook after allowing five hits across his last 1.1 innings. Nevertheless, Sandoval has allowed two earned runs or fewer in eight consecutive starts, during which he's maintained a 1.86 ERA with a 43:14 K:BB across 48.1 frames. For the season, Sandoval maintains a 2.99 ERA with a 134: K:BB in 132.1 innings.

Quantrill allowed three earned runs on eight hits and no walks while striking out six across seven innings Wednesday against the Angels. He did not factor into the decision.

The primary damage against Quantrill came on a two-run homer by Mickey Moniak in the third inning. He pitched well otherwise and got timely outs, highlighted by two double-play groundouts. Quantrill has also seen an uptick in his strikeout rate of late by punching out at least six hitters in four of his last seven starts -- something he did only once across his first 21 outings of the campaign. Across 164 innings on the season, Quantrill has maintained a 3.51 ERA and a 114:43 K:BB.

Castillo (7-5) earned the win after he pitched six scoreless innings, allowing four hits and a walk while hitting a batter and striking out nine against the Padres on Wednesday.

Castillo was in full command Wednesday, limiting the Padres to six total baserunners while punching out at least nine batters for the third time in six starts. The right-hander has now produced six quality starts over eight outings since joining the Mariners at the trade deadline, furnishing a 2.37 ERA and 1.03 WHIP with 60 punchouts over 49.1 innings in his time with the club thus far.

Wells did not factor into the decision Wednesday, allowing two runs on two hits and no walks over four innings against the Nationals. He struck out four.

Wells worked his pitch count up to 50 after tossing 34 in his first start back from the injured list Sept. 7. Luke Voit and Riley Adams each tagged Wells for solo home runs, but he was otherwise effective as those were the only two batters the 28-year-old allowed to reach base on the evening. He will take a 3.93 ERA into his next start, which will likely come against Detroit next week.

Cortes (10-4) earned the win Wednesday, allowing one run on three hits and two walks over five innings in a 5-3 win over Boston. He struck out seven.

Cortes allowed his only run on a double from Connor Wong to cut the Yankees' lead to two in the fifth inning. The lefty has recorded six strikeouts or more in just five of his last 15 starts. On the other hand, the 27-year-old has not allowed a home run in six of his last nine starts, his lowest home-run rate of any nine-game stretch this season.

Cease (14-7) was tagged with the loss after he pitched five innings, giving up three runs on six hits and two walks while striking out eight against the Rockies on Wednesday.

Cease wasn't the best version of himself Wednesday, allowing two runs to score in the second frame before a C.J. Cron single in the fifth inning drove in the final run on his line. The 26-year-old came into the contest having given up just two runs over 23 innings in his last three starts combined, but Wednesday's outing ended his quality-start streak at three. That being said, Cease still owns an awfully impressive 2.16 ERA and 1.08 WHIP with an eye-popping 214 punchouts over 167 innings in 29 starts this season.

Rasmussen (10-5) took the loss Wednesday, allowing four runs on six hits and one walk over four innings in a 5-1 loss against the Blue Jays. He struck out one.

Rasmussen was not at his best Wednesday, allowing as many as four runs for the first time since June 10. The Blue Jays got to him early, as Vladimir Guerrero hit a solo shot in the first inning, and Rasmussen never settled in as he also conceded runs in the third and fourth innings. He'd recorded back-to-back quality starts leading into Wednesday, so he will look to get back to form in his next scheduled start against Houston next week.

Stripling (8-4) earned the win Wednesday, allowing one run on three hits and one walk with four strikeouts over 6.1 innings against the Rays.

The only damage on the night for Stripling came via a solo shot off the bat of Harold Ramirez to lead off the seventh inning. Otherwise, Stripling was effective, as he recorded his sixth straight quality start and got his ERA back under 3.00. With four strikeouts Wednesday, he has 102 on the season through 119 innings. Stripling tentatively lines up to face Philadelphia in his next start.