MLB Player News

McKenzie (forearm) will be activated from the 7-day disabled list and make his first start for Double-A Akron on Thursday.

Expect the Indians to monitor McKenzie's pitch count carefully as he makes his Eastern League debut following a two-plus-month recovery from forearm soreness. The hard-throwing 21-year-old racked up 186 strikeouts at High-A Lynchburg in 2017 to rank second in all of the minors and should continue to pile up the whiffs at Double-A if he has truly made a full recovery from the forearm injury and shows no notable decline in his velocity.

Civale (shoulder) is scheduled to be activated from the 7-day disabled list and start Wednesday for Double-A Akron.

The 22-year-old has been sidelined for a little over a month due to a sore right shoulder. Civale could face a more limited pitch count than usual in his return to action, but the absence shouldn't affect his status as one of the better pitching prospects in the Cleveland organization. The right-hander maintained a 2.51 ERA and 32:4 K:BB across 32.1 innings prior to landing on the DL.

Perez (elbow) threw his second bullpen session Sunday, T.R. Sullivan of MLB.com reports.

Perez, a left-hander whose injury is to his non-throwing elbow, will have at least two more bullpen sessions before he starts throwing live batting practice. If all goes well, a rehabilitation stint will follow.

Rodon (shoulder) allowed two runs on six hits and three walks while striking out eight over five innings for Triple-A Charlotte on Sunday.

Rodon made his fourth rehab start and ran his pitch count up to 92. Other than not getting up and down six times -- he hasn't thrown more than five innings in any of the four minor-league starts -- there doesn't seem to be any reason for him to continue the assignment. He's posted a 1.53 ERA with 28 strikeouts over 17.2 innings while on rehab. If the White Sox decide to activate Rodon from the 60-day disabled list, he would likely make his season debut with the big club at some point over the weekend in Boston.

Morton (7-1) took his first loss of the season against the Red Sox on Sunday, giving up six earned runs on nine hits over 5.1 innings, striking out seven and walking one as the Astros lost 9-3.

Morton had been absolutely dominant pretty much all season coming into this matchup, but he was finally dealt his first defeat of 2018 as he got touched up for homers by Andrew Benintendi and Mitch Moreland. He's still got phenomenal numbers, as he's posted a 2.84 ERA and a 1.08 WHIP to go along with 92 strikeouts even factoring in this rough outing. For now, this can be considered a bump in the road in what has otherwise been a stellar campaign.

Snell didn't factor into the decision against the Mariners on Sunday, despite a brilliant outing that saw him give up just two hits and strike out 12 without a walk over six innings as the Rays eventually fell 2-1.

Snell was overpowering from the get-go in this contest, as he tied an American League record by striking out the first seven hitters of the game on his way to his second double-digit strikeout effort of the season. This was an especially impressive outing, and he was unfortunate not to get rewarded with a victory. Still, Snell has been brilliant all season, as he's now sporting a 2.36 ERA and a sparkling 0.94 WHIP through 76.1 innings. With 13 starts now under his belt in 2018, and the calendar now flipped to June, it might be time to start fully acknowledging this as Snell's breakout campaign.

Bassitt is a leading candidate to be recalled from Triple-A Nashville in the coming days if Daniel Gossett (elbow) requires a stay on the disabled list, Susan Slusser of the San Francisco Chronicle reports.

Bassitt has already been up twice with the big-league club this season, though he's yet to appear in a game. The right-hander's body of work with the Sounds hasn't exactly been inspiring, as he's generated a 6.10 ERA and 1.65 WHIP over 38.1 innings across 10 appearances (seven starts). Bassitt last saw major-league action with the Athletics in 2016, when he went 0-2 with a 6.11 ERA over five starts.

Cobb will make his next start Tuesday against the Mets, Roch Kubatko of MASN Sports reports.

The Orioles could have reshuffled their rotation after Cobb's start Sunday against the Yankees was postponed due to inclement weather, but manager Buck Showalter has opted to push each starter back a day in the schedule to keep the current pitching order intact. After an off day Monday, Cobb will return to the mound Tuesday on seven days' rest, representing his longest break between starts this season.

German will start the second game of the Yankees' doubleheader Monday against the Tigers, Bryan Hoch of MLB.com reports.

After his scheduled start Sunday against the Orioles was postponed due to inclement weather, German will just be pushed back one day in the pitching schedule to fill the opening the Yankees had for one of the doubleheader games. Had German started as anticipated Sunday, the Yankees likely would have had to turn to long reliever A.J. Cole or one of their minor-league pitchers to make a spot start for Game 2 of the twin bill.

Clevinger allowed four runs on seven hits and three walks across six innings in a no-decision Sunday against the Twins. He struck out three.

Clevinger struggled early in the game, allowing three runs on four his and two walks over the first two innings. He settled down and cruised into the seventh, only to be chased from the game by a leadoff home run from Brian Dozier. Clevinger also continued a trend of increased walks, running his K/BB to 20:12 over the last 24.1 innings. He'd allowed more than three runs just once in his previous six outings and will look to bounce back in his scheduled start next weekend against the Tigers.