MLB Player News

Odorizzi threw six shutout innings Thursday, allowing just three hits and three walks in a 2-1 win over the White Sox. He struck out eight batters in the no-decision.

After not making it out of the second inning in his last outing, this was a much-needed turnaround for Odorizzi. Minnesota couldn't get the bats going, providing just one run before heading to extras. The 28-year-old right-hander lowered his season ERA to 4.62 in 85.2 innings with 88 strikeouts and 39 walks. He'll take the mound Tuesday in Milwaukee.

Javier tossed seven scoreless innings Wednesday for High-A Buies Creek in its 7-3 win over Myrtle Beach. He gave up four hits and a walk and struck out eight.

Javier swung between the bullpen and rotation for various low-level affiliates through his first three professional seasons, but the Astros have seemingly committed to developing him as a starter in 2018. That plan has paid major dividends thus far, with the 21-year-old running up a 1.47 ERA, 0.94 WHIP and 94:28 K:BB in 67.1 innings while splitting time between Buies Creek and Low-A Quad Cities. Javier leans heavily on his slider as a put-away pitch, but the right-hander is still looking to find more consistency with his changeup. He'll likely need to diversify his arsenal a little more at the higher levels of the minors to find continued success and convince the organization he's capable of starting over the long haul.

Perez (elbow) threw a bullpen session Wednesday in preparation for his next rehabilitation start Saturday for Double-A Frisco, T.R. Sullivan of MLB.com reports.

Following the session, Perez sounded optimistic and feels he's close to returning. The left-hander made his first rehab start for Low-A Hickory on Monday and allowed only two hits while striking out nine over five scoreless innings. The Rangers will likely have him make a couple more rehab starts to build his pitch count up and face more advanced hitters.

Bieber (3-0) allowed one run on six hits and a walk with five strikeouts through six innings in a win Wednesday over the Cardinals.

That marks three wins in a row for Bieber, who has been brilliant in three starts for Cleveland. His offspeed pitches were utterly nasty Wednesday night, as he induced a combined 12 swinging strikes and eight outs in play on 21 sliders and 25 curveballs. His fastball velocity doesn't stand out -- he averaged 92.3 mph on his fastball Wednesday night -- but it plays much faster when he has the threats of those two offspeed pitches in his arsenal. Bieber will take a 2.22 ERA into his next start Tuesday against the Royals.

Snell, who's now 10-4 with a 2.31 ERA through 17 starts, attributes a lot of his improvement to an adjustment he made to his foot placement on the pitching rubber late last season, Bill Chastain of MLB.com reports.

Snell was lining up on the third-base side of the rubber for the first 14 starts of 2017, a stretch during which he generated a 4.98 ERA, 1.58 WHIP and 5.1 BB/9. The young left-hander subsequently adjusted his positioning to the middle of the rubber, and the improvement in his control and overall performance was evident. The aforementioned figures dropped to 2.84, 1.02 and 3.1, respectively, over his last 10 starts of 2017, and he's been similarly impressive throughout the majority of this season. Snell boasts a 28.1 percent strikeout rate and 13.5 percent swinging-strike rate so far in 2018.

Gibson (2-6) allowed five runs on 11 hits and a walk with seven strikeouts through seven innings in a loss Wednesday to the White Sox.

Gibson was at least able to eat some innings for the Twins' bullpen, but the White Sox just kept making solid contact against him. Just two of the 11 hits went for extra bases -- a Leury Garcia double and a Jose Abreu home run -- but the White Sox still managed to chip away for three run-scoring innings. This start broke a three-start quality start streak, but Gibson has still lasted into the seventh inning four times in the last six starts. Gibson has pitched much better than his record this season and will carry a 3.48 ERA into Monday's start against the Brewers.

Cobb didn't factor into the decision in Wednesday's 8-7 extra-innings loss to the Mariners, giving up five runs on eight hits and three walks over 4.2 innings while striking out only one.

The right-hander wasn't fooling anyone Wednesday, managing only four swinging strikes among his 92 pitches, and Cobb exited the game in line for his 10th loss of the season before a Baltimore rally in the eighth inning got him off the hook. He'll carry a bloated 6.75 ERA into his next outing Tuesday in Philadelphia.

Heaney allowed six runs on eight hits and three walks while striking out four over 3.1 innings in Wednesday's loss to the Red Sox. He did not factor into the decision.

Heaney was ultimately bailed out of the loss after the Angels erased a 6-0 deficit, but it was still an ugly outing. The lefty allowed three home runs -- the second time that's happened in four starts -- and failed to make it out of the fourth inning for the second time all year. He's still sporting a solid 3.95 ERA on the year, but he's been struggling of late, working to a 6.33 ERA with seven homers allowed in 21.1 innings over his last four starts. He'll look to right the ship Tuesday in Seattle.

Manning was promoted to High-A Lakeland on Wednesday.

Manning, the No. 9 overall pick in the 2016 draft, has electric stuff but has moved fairly slowly because of how difficult his arsenal can be to command at 6-foot-6. He posted a 3.40 ERA, 1.35 WHIP and 76:28 K:BB in 55.2 innings after finishing 2017 strong for Low-A West Michigan. If Manning is able to hold his own at High-A and limit the free passes, he should continue to climb up prospect lists due to his frontline-caliber stuff, highlighted by a mid-to-high 90s fastball and wipeout slider.

Bassitt (1-3) got the win Wednesday, firing six shutout innings with five strikeouts against the Tigers. He allowed two hits and five walks.

The five walks are an obvious concern, but that's about the only complaint for Bassitt in this one. He allowed a double in the first inning and a one-out single in the second but then didn't allow another hit over his final 4.2 innings of work. The quality start dropped the 29-year-old's ERA over a full run, as it now stands at 2.82 through 22.1 innings in the big leagues. With Daniel Mengden (foot) on the disabled list, Bassitt would line up to take on the Padres on Tuesday should he get another turn through the rotation.