MLB Player News

White Sox pitcher Jose Quintana took the loss Saturday after giving up three earned runs on seven hits and one walk in six innings while striking out five in his team's 4-3 loss to the Diamondbacks.

Quintana (1-3) has turned in four straight quality starts, but he continues to have trouble finding wins to add to his record. He owns a 3.67 ERA and 40:13 K:BB ratio in 49 innings. Quintana is slated to face the Astros Friday.

Twins starter Kyle Gibson continued his Jekyll-Hyde act Saturday in Detroit.

Gibson has had four excellent outings in which he has given up just two earned runs in 26 1/3 innings. He had hurled two duds in which he yielded 12 runs in 9 2/3 innngs. He added another against the Tigers.

The right-hander gave up six runs in the second, though two errors aided the Detroit cause. The outburst was capped by a three-run homer off the bat of Miguel Cabrera.

Gibson finished just two innings and surrendered six runs on seven hits with one walk and one strikeout in dropping his record to 3-3 and raising his ERA to 4.74. He will seek a better outcome at home Friday against Seattle.

Acting manager Mark Parent said White Sox ace Chris Sale will have two rehab starts scheduled to complete his recovery from a strained flexor tendon. The first might come Thursday, per MLB.com.

Sale has not pitched since April 17. The schedule would allow him to return by late May.

Orioles premier pitching prospect Kevin Gausman will likely be activated from the minor league disabled list Saturday to start for Triple-A Norfolk at Indianapolis, according to MLB.com. He had been shelved with a muscle strain caused by pneumonia.

The 23-year-old right-hander, who has not started since April 26, had performed well in five starts despite a pitch limit of 75 designed to keep him fresh for a possible promotion to Baltimore later in the year. He owns a 2.53 ERA with 20 strikeouts in 21 1/3 innings.

Tigers starting pitcher Justin Verlander took a tough-luck loss Friday, as the offense provided little help in a 2-1 loss to the Twins.  

Verlander tossed seven strong innings in the loss, limiting the Twins to two runs on seven hits and a pair of walks. He struck out five while throwing 114 pitches, his second-highest total of the season.

Verlander lowered his ERA to 2.67 with the outing, though his record also fell to 4-2. He will try to get back on track after seeing his four-decision winning streak come to an end, with his next start set for Wednesday in Baltimore. 

Rays starting pitcher Jake Odorizzi failed to reached the sixth inning for the sixth start in a row Friday against the Indians, but only because he racked up a high pitch count in a 6-3 loss.

It was hard to blame Odorizzi much for the loss, as he left the game with a 2-0 lead. He lasted just five innings largely thanks to a high pitch count racked up en route to a career-high 11 strikeouts. He walked just two batters and scattered five hits in his five shutout innings before being pulled with 101 pitches thrown.

Odorizzi remains 1-3 on the season with a 5.79 ERA, though he does have 37 strikeouts in 32 2/3 innings. He will try to build on his relative success in his next scheduled start, set for Wednesday against the Mariners. 

Indians starting pitcher Corey Kluber evened up his record with another strong performance Friday, in a 6-3 win over the Rays.

Kluber struck out more than a better per inning for the fourth start in a row Frida, this time fanning nine in 6 2/3 innings of work. Despite keeping the ball out of play, the Rays still managed to scatter nine hits off him, though they managed just two runs and no walks in the outing.

Kluber has now struck out 57 batters with just 12 walks in eight starts, with 36 of those strikeouts coming in his last four trips to the mound. He is 3-3 with a 3.48 ERA on the season heading into his next start, Thursday in Toronto.

Rangers starting pitcher Yu Darvish was nearly flawless Friday, but ultimately fell one out short of a no-hitter for the second time in his career in an 8-0 win over the Red Sox.

Darvish opened the game with 6 2/3 perfect innings, though he might have received a bit of home cooking from the scorekeeper in keeping his no-hitter alive in the seventh inning. He allowed his first ball to fall in for what could have been a hit to David Ortiz, but it was ruled an error after falling between two defenders in right field.

Having lost his bid for a perfect game, Darvish finished 8 2/3 innings of no-hit ball before facing Ortiz again for the final out. Ortiz, facing the usual extreme shift on the right side of the infield, pulled the ball through the shift and into right field for the first official hit of the game.

Darvish ultimately allowed one hit and a pair of walks in 8 2/3 innings before being pulled. He tossed a season-high 125 pitches, striking out 12 batters in the win.

Darvish has come close to a no-hitter before, completing eight innings of one-hit ball three times in his career. He previously came within one out of the feat in his season debut in 2013, with the no-hit bid ending in similar fashion.

Darvish has been among the best pitchers in baseball yet again this season, and Friday's performance might have been his signature game. He is 3-1 with a 2.33 ERA with 53 strikeouts in 46 2/3 innings of work over seven starts. He will try to follow up Friday's gem in his next trip to the mound, set for Wednesday at Houston.  

Rays pitcher Alex Cobb made it through his simulated game Friday, a good sign in his recovery from an oblique strain.

Cobb tossed 49 pitches in three simulated innings, and should be able to ramp up his workload in his next outing. That should come Monday, though that schedule could change depending on how he feels Saturday.

"Tomorrow's going to be a huge factor in our next step. Assuming everything goes smoothly, we'll be able to go four innings, live BP sim game on Monday," Cobb told MLB.com.

Cobb might be able to pitch in a minor-league rehab game as soon as next week, if Monday's workout goes well. He continues to aim for a late-May return.

"I think that's a possibility," he said. "Would go probably four simulated innings next time, we went three today, and then a five-inning rehab start. I don't see why that's out of the question."

Mariners pitchers Taijuan Walker (shoulder) and James Paxton (lat) are starting to see their timelines for recovery become clearer, as manager Lloyd McClendon told MLB.com Friday.

McClendon said Paxton and Walker will both need at least a couple of bullpen sessions before they start moving on. Paxton made it through a bullpen session Friday and Walker will go Sunday.

After getting through their bullpen work, both players will throw one or two simulated games before going out on rehab assignments, leaving them unlikely to return before June.