MLB Player News

Angels starter Andrew Heaney (6-4) closed out his regular season with a dud Thursday, walking a season-high five and allowing five hits and four runs in 4 1/3 innings against Texas.

Frankly, Heaney was fortunate to navigate his way out of a far uglier final line. All in all, this was a solid season for the young lefty, who wraps things up with a decent 3.49 ERA and 1.20 WHIP in 18 starts for the Angels.

However, it's not as pretty when you break it down -- in his first 10 starts, Heaney won five games and delivered a 2.43 ERA with a 44:10 K:BB in 63 innings, but in the final eight, he won just once while putting up a 5.06 ERA and 34:18 K:BB in 42 2/3 innings. Still, the Angels are just a game out of a wild-card spot, and if they earn their way into postseason play, Heaney is a likely candidate for the playoff rotation.

Rays starter Jake Odorizzi outdueled the Marlins' Jose Fernandez and evened his record at 9-9 in Thursday's win over the Marlins, giving up just an unearned run on four hits over seven innings. He struck out seven and walked two.

An oblique injury kind of derailed this season for Odorizzi, as he was less effective in the second half after returning from the DL, but the righty still showed a lot overall and finished the season on a high note. He wasn't expensive in this year's drafts, and he probably won't be terribly high-priced next year either; buy in while the buying's good, as there's legitimate 200-strikeout upside here.

Red Sox starting pitcher Rich Hill (2-1) was effective Thursday against the Yankees, giving up two runs on four hits and three walks with six strikeouts in six innings, but he was stuck with the loss.

Boston's season may be over, but Hill was startlingly good in his four-start sample after five years away from an MLB rotation. He finishes the season having allowed just five runs on 14 hits and five walks while striking out 36 in 29 innings. That leaves Hill with a 1.55 ERA and 0.66 WHIP, numbers that will give him some sleeper luster deep into next year's drafts if he can secure a rotation spot.

White Sox pitcher Frankie Montas is listed as the probable starter for Sunday's game against the Tigers, the Chicago Sun-Times reports.

Rather than turn to Jeff Samardzija for the season finale, the White Sox have decided to give Montas another look in a starting role to close the year. The 22-year-old was knocked around for six runs in three innings against the Tigers last week in his first career start, but Montas will look to achieve better results this time around with his fastball-slider combination. Nothing's definite, but it would make sense if the White Sox sent Montas back to the minors to begin 2016 to work on a third offering.

Twins starting pitcher Tommy Milone will start Saturday's game against Kansas City, the Minneapolis Star Tribune reports.

Milone gets the start over Phil Hughes, who is recovering from an illness. Milone had a strong return to the rotation Monday by allowing two runs on four hits over 5 2/3 innings in a win over Cleveland.

Rays starter Drew Smyly allowed just one run on three hits and three walks while striking out eight over six innings in a win over Miami on Wednesday.

A shoulder injury cost Smyly more than half of the season, but he finishes the year having allowed five or fewer hits in five of his six September starts while posting a 45:13 K:BB over his last 36 innings. He went 5-1 after his mid-August return, and seems destined to be a Fantasy darling again next spring given his age (26) and strikeout upside.

Tigers starting pitcher Matt Boyd was roughed up Wednesday by a strong Texas lineup. He allowed seven hits, including three home runs, and gave up six runs in just 2 2/3 innings of work.

This was the 16th time this season the young hurler has failed to make it to the fourth inning -- that's tied for most in all of major league baseball. Gulp. He's a fly-ball guy and he serves up a lot of taters, especially when his fastball starts to flatten out and he leaves his change-up high in the zone. Maybe he just got hit hard, but there's also a school of thought that his upside as a number three starter might be hard to attain.

Red Sox starting pitcher Wade Miley gave up four runs on nine hits and four walks in five innings against the Yankees on Wednesday. He struck out three.

The lefty was long gone by the time this game was decided in 11 innings. Miley appropriately ended yet another unimpressive campaign by giving up at least four runs for the 13th time in 32 outings. He also failed to reach the 200-inning mark after doing so in the last two seasons despite pitching at least six innings in 10 straight outings prior to Wednesday's game.

Twins pitcher Kyle Gibson (11-11) whiffed nine batters over six shutout innings Wednesday in a win over Cleveland. He allowed four hits and two walks.

He still puts too many men on base and doesn't generally strike out enough, but this has been something of a breakout season for Gibson. The Twins have four games left, so it's not impossible that he draws another start on the season's last day if a playoff berth is on the line, but it seems more likely that Gibson's regular season is over.

If so, he'll wrap it up with a 3.84 ERA, 1.29 WHIP and 145:65 K:BB over 194 2/3 innings -- not spectacular numbers by any stretch, but still those of a relatively stable mid-rotation starter.

Astros pitcher Dallas Keuchel's will have his next scheduled start bumped up to Friday, Evan Drellich of the Houston Chronicle reports.

Keuchel prefers to keep his regular routine, and manager A.J. Hinch will honor his ace's request. As a corresponding result, Colin McHugh will get pushed back to Saturday.