MLB Player News

Sale (14-4) gave up two runs on six hits and three walks with just four strikeouts over six innings in Thursday's loss to the Cubs.

Aside from the unusual lack of whiffs -- his second-lowest total of the year -- Sale was effective in his return from his jersey-destruction suspension, but he got narrowly outpitched by John Lackey. His relationship with the White Sox is clearly frayed; with the MLB trade deadline coming up and the team under .500, it's entirely possible that this could end up being Sale's last start with the team that drafted him 13th overall in 2010.

Mejia was traded to the Twins on Thursday in a move that sent Eduardo Nunez to the Giants.

The 23-year-old lefty was one of the Giants' top overall prospects and their third-best pitching prospect prior to being sent to Minnesota. He struggled a bit after being promoted to Triple-A Sacramento, posting a 4.20 ERA and a 1.32 WHIP over seven starts, but that's not entirely uncommon in the hitter-friendly Pacific Coast League. Mejia flashed dominant stuff at Double-A earlier this season with a 1.94 ERA, 0.98 WHIP, 58 strikeouts, and just 16 walks. He will be assigned to the Twins' Triple-A affiliate at Rochester.

Gibson (3-6) pitched six innings, allowing two runs on nine hits while striking out six in a no-decision Thursday against the Orioles.

Gibson's quality start was ruined by the throw-back performance put on by Orioles' starter Ubaldo Jimenez (five innings, one run and eight K's). For the first time all season, Gibson did not issue a free pass. The 28-year-old struck out six-plus for the fifth time in his last six starts, something the righty hadn't done in any of his first seven starts in 2016. Although he's having a down season compared to the last two, Gibson has pitched better of late and has the potential to make a significant impact as we near the fantasy playoff season.

Sale was officially reinstated from the suspended list Thursday.

As expected, Sale will return to the active roster after serving his team-imposed five-game suspension. Sale will start Thursday's series finale against the Cubs, while the club opted to send Wednesday's starter, Anthony Ranaudo, to Triple-A Charlotte.

Rodriguez has been using his slider more often and getting good results with the pitch, Mark C. Volain of MassLive.com reports. "It's become a much more defined pitch so it's a much more usable pitch. He's been able to mix it in with the two other pitches that he has," manager John Farrell said. "I can't say there's a prescribed number to go out there and throw, but it's a good pitch and he's using it."

Since his return from the minors, Rodriguez has thrown his slider a bit more than 30 percent of the time, according to BrooksBaseball.net. Rodriguez threw the slider 32 times during Wednesday's loss, matching the number he threw in his previous start, but saw an uptick in strikes with the pitch, with 21 called strikes Wednesday compared to 19 last Friday. There are still issues he needs to overcome -- we'd like to see Rodriguez get deeper into games with more consistency -- but there are hopeful signs of improvement.

Darvish allowed two runs, four hits and no walks over six frames, but didn't factor into the decision in Wednesday's 6-4 loss against the Athletics.

After struggling with his command and surrendering a leadoff triple and solo shot in a rocky first inning, the right-hander settled in nicely as he allowed just two other batters to reach base before departing in the sixth with a one-run lead. The 29-year-old was in line to collect his first win since June 3, until the bullpen imploded and surrendered four runs in the eighth inning. Darvish will get another shot to add to the win column this Tuesday when he takes the mound in Baltimore.

Bundy allowed three runs on just two hits and walk over 5.2 innings while striking out eight and taking a loss Wednesday against the Rockies.

What initially looks like a pedestrian line was anything but for Bundy, who carried a perfect game into the sixth inning with one out. But Bundy was yanked with two outs in the sixth after giving up a walk and a pair of home runs on hanging change-ups, finishing the start with a season-high 89 pitches. The start was just Bundy's third of the season, and Baltimore appears to have him on a tight pitch count, as well they should given Bundy's long injury history. Bundy said after the game that he was actually disappointed with his season-high eight strikeouts, citing it as something that raised his pitch count, rendering him unable to pitch deeper into the game. Bundy owners shouldn't expect too many innings from him going forward, but Wednesdays start was certainly an encouraging one overall.

McCullers (6-4) struck out 10 while holding the Yankees to a single run on five hits and two walks over six sharp innings in Wednesday's 4-1 win.

That's three consecutive one-run outings and five in six starts for McCullers, who also notched his third double-digit-strikeout game in that span. He did so while snapping a streak of three consecutive four-walk games. That said, we've seen the second-year fireballer show good control in spots before, only to regress, which is half of why he still owns a gargantuan 1.53 WHIP that's in strong disagreement with his shiny 3.18 ERA. The other half is that he's been victimized be a .378 BABIP, which seems overwhelmingly likely to drop toward normality down the stretch. All in all, things are clearly trending up for the 22-year-old righty, whose next start will come Tuesday against Toronto.

Paxton (3-5) threw five innings of three-run ball while allowing six hits and a walk and striking out six, but took the loss as opposing starter Gerrit Cole threw a CG.

Although the final score was Pirates 10, Mariners 1, Paxton did his best to keep the game close, and it wasn't until Paxton was yanked that the Pirates broke the game wide open. Paxton continued to flash his newfound velocity, his fastball averaging a blazing 97 mph this season, best of any left-handed starter. But the six strikeouts in five innings were actually better than his season-long rate of 8.4 K:9. He also continued to pound the strike zone, issuing just his 17th free pass of the season in 11 starts. With only 5 home runs allowed, the only explanation for his mediocre 4.27 ERA is his opponent's batting average on balls in play, which sits at .374, the fifth highest in the MLB among pitchers with at least 60 innings pitched.

Carrasco (7-4) was tagged with the loss despite giving up just three runs on three hits over six innings Wednesday versus the Nationals. He walked three and struck out five.

Unfortunately for Carrasco, his third straight quality start didn't stand a chance against Stephen Strasburg's gem in this one. However, the 29-year-old did enough to win on most other days, including retiring 10 consecutive batters at one point. Although it's not what many owners had bought in expecting for, Carrasco has put together a fine season in his seventh MLB go-round that includes a career-best 2.45 ERA and 10 quality outings in 15 starts. He has a friendly matchup with the Twins in his next turn on Tuesday, a team he limited to four hits in a victory just two starts ago.