MLB Player News

Tigers pitcher Drew Smyly snapped out of a two-game losing streak Tuesday, with an 8-2 win over the Rangers.

Smyly tossed six nearly flawless innings in the game, allowing just one unearned run while throwing 102 pitches. He scattered five hits and one walk, while striking out five batters in the win.

Smyly is trying to work his way back to .500, but is just two of his last six decisions. He is 4-6 with a 3.19 ERA heading into his next outing, set for Sunday in Houston. 

White Sox pitcher Jose Quintana ended his four-start winless streak Tuesday, as he helped take down the Orioles, 4-2.

Quintana tossed his second quality start in a row, this time allowing one run on six hits over seven innings of work. He scattered six hits and three walks in the outing, while striking out eight batters on 115 pitches.

Quintana has allowed just three runs over his last two starts, after he was tagged for 10 runs in his previous two. With his ERA down to 3.69, he heads into his start against the Blue Jays Sunday with a 4-7 record.  

The Rangers announced a shuffling of their probably pitches for the next few days, in order to keep some pitchers on regular rest.

According to MLB.com, Nick Tepesch has been pushed back to Friday's series opener against the Twins, allowing Joe Saunders and Nick Martinez to remain on four day's rest. Saunders will pitched Wednesday against the Tigers, with Martinez slotting in behind him Thursday.

The move also allows Yu Darvish to move back to Saturday against the Twins, giving him an extra day of rest. 

Rays pitcher Alex Cobb was hammered in a loss Monday, giving up six earned runs on six hits and three walks in five innings while striking out two in his team's 8-1 defeat against the Pirates.

Cobb (2-6) started the game by surrendering two runs in the first inning, then gave up another four runs in the third, with three coming on a Pedro Alvarez home run. Cobb had given up just one earned run in 13 1/3 innings over his last two starts before Monday's shellacking. He owns a 4.10 ERA and 53:20 K:BB ratio in 59 1/3 innings. Cobb is scheduled to take on the Orioles Saturday.

White Sox pitcher Chris Sale wasn't a factor in the decision Monday after giving up two earned runs on a career-high 11 hits and one walk in six innings while striking out three in his team's 6-4 loss to the Orioles.

Sale surrendered a two-run home run in the first inning, but while the Orioles were able to put plenty of hits on the board afterward, including three straight singles to open the fifth inning, they couldn't come away with any more runs. Sale owns a 2.27 ERA and 78:11 K:BB ratio in 71 1/3 innings. He'll try to keep rolling Saturday against the Blue Jays.

Blue Jays pitcher Marcus Stroman earned a win Monday, giving up just one earned run on three hits and one walk in eight innings while striking out seven in his team's 8-3 victory over the Yankees.

Stroman (4-2) pitched more than six innings for the first time in his career Monday, and the only damage the Yankees managed was a solo home run with the Blue Jays already up 7-0 in the fourth inning. The rookie owns a 4.25 ERA and 30:7 K:BB ratio in 36 innings. Stroman is set to square off with the White Sox Saturday.

Mariners pitcher James Paxton expects to throw a bullpen session Friday, the Tacoma News Tribune reports.

Paxton will likely throw 20 to 25 pitches during the session. He made just two starts this season before suffering a lat injury, and in a best-case scenario he'd be back in early July.

If you have yet to realize just what kind of impact Jake Odorizzi could make for your Fantasy team, time to look beyond the 3-7 record and 4.29 ERA.

Let's start with his year-to-date numbers since a smaller sample size is inherently open to criticism. He's averaging 10.5 stikeouts per nine innings -- third-best among qualifying starting pitchers, behind just Yu Darvish and Stephen Strasburg -- and has a 3.15 FIP. In case you're unfamiliar with FIP, it's an estimate of what a pitcher's ERA would be with luck and defense removed from the equation. Quite simply, he's pitched better than his overall numbers show.

And his more recent numbers bear witness to that. In his last nine starts, he has a 2.88 ERA, 1.00 WHIP and 11.7 strikeouts per nine innings -- numbers without comparison at starting pitcher. The closest would probably be Madison Bumgarner, but even his strikeout rate is a little off.

Which isn't to say Odorizzi is on the verge of becoming a Cy Young contender -- he at times has trouble pitching deep into games, for one thing -- but a nine-start sample is nothing to scoff at. Nathan Eovaldi is still 80 percent owned because of a not-as-impressive eight-start stretch to begin the year. Right now, Odorizzi is looking like the more attractive of the two.

Orioles pitcher Kevin Gausman allowed two earned runs on three hits in one inning Monday at Triple-A Norfolk. However, it was just a side session for Gausman, who will be recalled to start one of Friday's doubleheader games against the Rays, notes MASNSports.com.

Rays pitcher Alex Cobb has put together two strong starts -- 13 1/3 total innings, one earned run and 17 strikeouts -- since identifying several mechanical issues following a June 7 debacle against the Mariners, reports MLB.com. He'll try to keep it going Monday against the Pirates.

Cobb told the website his problems stemmed from going down the mound too quickly. He wants to make his adjustment second nature.

"This will be a pretty telling outing, because the first two, I was still pretty mindful of it and really thinking about making adjustments throughout the course of the game," Cobb said. "But I think [Monday] should be a good sample for me to see where I'm at in that process."