MLB Player News

Sale (0-3) took the loss Tuesday against the Blue Jays, allowing five runs on seven hits and no walks across four innings. He struck out three.

Sale breezed through the first two innings, but gave up two runs in the third inning on three singles and a sacrifice fly. The left-hander then ran into more trouble in the fourth as four singles produced three runs. The 30-year-old has permitted 13 earned runs in 13 innings and has just eight strikeouts in his three appearances. Sale will take a 9.00 ERA and 1.54 WHIP into his next start, now scheduled for Monday at home versus the Orioles.

Cobb was placed on the 10-day injured list with a lumbar strain.

This is a lower-back injury and it's the first we've heard of Cobb dealing with the injury. He was supposed to start Wednesday against the A's. Rich Dubroff of BaltimoreBaseball.com noted that it could be Josh Rogers or Yefry Ramirez who gets the call from Triple-A to make that start. The move is retroactive to April 6.

The Orioles are expecting Means to be able to cover 4-to-5 innings in Tuesday's start against the A's, Joe Trezza of MLB.com reports.

Not only is Means not properly stretched out to be able to go deep into Tuesday's game, but he is facing an Oakland lineup that has a 119 wRC+ against lefties this season, so he probably wouldn't get much deeper than a handful of innings even if he were physically able. If Means fails to impress in the outing, he'll likely move back to relief right away, as the newly signed Dan Straily looms as an eventual addition to the rotation.

Kluber (1-2) allowed two runs (one earned) on seven hits and one walk over six innings while recording the win over the Tigers on Tuesday. He struck out eight.

Kluber permitted just one extra-base hit, a fifth-inning RBI double by Miguel Cabrera. He also was nicked for a first-inning unearned run on two singles and an error. The 32-year-old has a 3.86 ERA and 1.47 WHIP this season, and his next scheduled start is Sunday on the road against the Royals.

Chirinos isn't scheduled to start at any point this week and will instead work in relief on a temporary basis, Juan Toribio of MLB.com reports.

Manager Kevin Cash didn't officially clarify his plans for Chirinos, but the right-hander -- who made his first two appearances of the season as a starter -- presumably will be a candidate to cover the bulk of the innings in relief when the Rays deploy an opening pitcher Friday in Toronto. Chirinos would be available for his normal four days' rest after tossing five shutout frames in San Francisco last weekend, but he may not be asked to fill as many innings as he has in a starting role. The de facto fifth member of the rotation, Ryan Yarbrough, will also be available in relief this week, so the Rays could turn to both him and Chirinos for multiple innings once the opener exits Friday.

Morton, who will take the hill for Tuesday's game against the White Sox, is scheduled to make a second start this week in Sunday's series finale in Toronto, Juan Toribio of MLB.com reports.

The Rays will take advantage of off days Thursday and April 15 and temporarily shorten their rotation. Yonny Chirinos has been serving as the team's No. 4 starter this season while Ryan Yarbrough has acted as the primary pitcher when the fifth spot in the rotation comes up, but both may see work in relief Friday, when the Rays plan to deploy an opener before turning the game over to the bullpen. The decision to bypass Chirinos' and Yarbrough's turns allows Blake Snell and Morton to both pick up second starts in the final two games of the weekend.

The Indians fear that Clevinger's (back) absence could span multiple months, Nick Camino of WKYC Channel 3 Cleveland reports.

Shortly after Clevinger was placed on the 10-day injured list Tuesday, manager Terry Francona dropped a bombshell when he said that the right-hander wouldn't be ready to resume a throwing program for 6-to-8 weeks. Francona's estimate now sounds like it may have been overly conservative, with Camino's report intimating that Clevinger might not be ready to return from the IL until the second half of the season. Regardless of the length of Clevinger's absence, it's a costly loss for a Cleveland squad that is already missing arguably its top hitter in Francisco Lindor (calf/ankle). The Tribe has yet to name a replacement in the rotation for Clevinger, whose next turn was set to come Saturday in Kansas City.

Sale was barely able to work between his first two starts of the year due to an illness, potentially explaining his steep velocity drop, Christopher Smith of MassLive.com reports.

Sale's fastball averaged just 92.8 mph in his first start of the season, but it dropped to 89.9 mph for his second outing. For a pitcher who battled shoulder inflammation late last season, it was easy to connect the dots and point to a possible recurrence of the same issue. The illness at least provides an excuse for his second outing and allays some of the worst fears about the lefty, but he still has a long way to go before he's back to his normal, dominant self. On an encouraging note, manager Alex Cora said that Sale had a normal bullpen session over the weekend in advance of his third start Tuesday against the Blue Jays, per Alex Speier of The Boston Globe.

Clevinger's back strain is significant enough that he won't be able to pick up a baseball for 6-to-8 weeks, Ryan Lewis of the Akron Beacon Journal reports.

Clevinger suffered the injury in Sunday's start against the Blue Jays and initially expected to make his next start, but he'll now be out for quite some time. He'll need to get back into game shape following such a long absence, which would likely push his return into early or mid-June. The Indians haven't announced his replacement in the rotation.

The Indians placed Clevinger (back) on the 10-day injured list Tuesday, Zack Meisel of The Athletic reports.

In his second start of the season Sunday versus the Blue Jays, Clevinger was in the midst of another dominant outing before straining his upper back and leaving after completing five innings. While the right-hander was confident the injury wouldn't cost him any starts, the Indians ultimately decided Clevinger would need more time to recuperate. The team hasn't indicated that Clevinger's back issue is a long-term concern, so there still seems to be a decent chance he'll be ready to return in the minimum 10 days. The Indians will first require a replacement in the rotation for Clevinger on Saturday in Kansas City.