MLB Player News

Williams (6-6) allowed four earned runs on four hits and two walks while striking out four across 4.2 innings to take the loss Saturday against the Padres.

Williams ran into most of his trouble when facing Wil Myers, who drove in three of the Padres' four runs. After a hot start to the season, Williams has now allowed at least four earned runs in six of his past 10 starts. With only 68 strikeouts across 91.2 innings, he presents a lot of risk without much upside, relegating his relevance mostly to deep leagues.

Lucchesi (4-3) allowed only one hit but walked four while striking out five across five scoreless innings to earn the win Saturday against the Pirates.

Lucchesi retired nine Pirates prior to allowing his only hit of Saturday's start, an infield single by David Freese. However, he did struggle controlling his pitches as he walked four and threw only 52 of his 85 pitches for strikes. In his three starts since returning from the disabled list, he has walked eight batters in 10.2 innings, a mark that will have to improve for him to pitch deeper into games moving forward.

Fried (1-2) earned the win Saturday over 6.2 scoreless innings, striking out 11 while working around four hits and three walks against the Cardinals.

The Braves just keep churning young, talented starting pitchers into the back of their rotation. Taking Brandon McCarthy's (knee) turn, Fried delivered, despite some control issues, for his second career win. The 24-year-old southpaw sports a 2.55 ERA in six appearances (two starts) with Atlanta in 2018, also hiding a 9.1 K/9 and 3.4 BB/9 beneath an unlucky 4.29 ERA (3.22 FIP) over nine outings for Triple-A Gwinnett. Remember, prospect growth is rarely linear, and Fried's spotty journey to the bigs has made many forget he was the seventh overall pick in the 2012 draft. Though his performance won't always be this rosy, Fried has season-long potential to help in many mixed fantasy leagues should he hang onto a spot in Atlanta's quintet. He lines up for a road date with the Brewers on Thursday.

Urena (shoulder) could return to the Marlins' rotation Tuesday at the earliest, Joe Frisaro of MLB.com reports.

Though Monday marks the first day Urena is eligible to return, the club plans to give him an extra breather after his scheduled bullpen session Sunday. "He's not pitching Monday," Marlins manager Don Mattingly told the media. "Tuesday would be the first day he would be able to pitch, in our minds." Though the specific day isn't known, the right-hander appears set to have his return come sometime around July 4, making him a safer play for fantasy managers with weekly lineup transactions.

Mahle didn't factor into the decision in Saturday's 12-3 win over the Brewers, allowing three runs (one earned) on six hits and three walks over 5.2 innings while striking out a career-high 12.

The right-hander threw 76 of 113 pitches for strikes while generating a massive 27 swinging strikes, but Mahle was still in line for the loss before the Reds exploded for eight runs in the seventh inning. He'll carry a 3.83 ERA into his next outing Friday on the road against the Cubs.

Maeda (5-5) lost to the Rockies on Saturday despite going seven strong innings. He allowed three runs (two earned) on five hits and two walks while striking out nine.

The Dodgers wasted his quality start as they struggled to solve German Marquez, who was perfect through five innings and kept them guessing throughout his eight. Maeda (5-5, 3.36 ERA, 10.7 K/9, 3.5 BB/9) has fanned nine batters in back-to-back outings, though, and he deserves continued fantasy confidence Friday ahead of his scheduled trip to the Angels for the latest Freeway Series.

Marquez (6-8) struck out nine and earned the win over the Dodgers on Saturday by allowing one run on two hits over eight innings. He started the game with five perfect frames.

An Enrique Hernandez homer to lead off the sixth marked an abrupt end to his bid for a perfect game, but Marquez persevered and, to display how dominant he was, hit 99.9 mph on a fastball in the eighth. Marquez sports a 1.89 ERA in three starts at pitcher-friendly Chavez Ravine and deserves streamer consideration for many mixed fantasy leagues when he ventures away from Coors Field (3.07 road ERA this year, 4.18 career). Unfortunately, his next turn lines up as a home assignment against the Giants on Wednesday.

Lopez (1-0) struck out five and picked up the win in Saturday's 5-2 victory over the Mets, allowing two runs on six hits and a walk over six innings.

The 22-year-old attacked the strike zone in his big-league debut, throwing 71 of 97 pitches for strikes, and while he was hit hard on occasion -- the runs scored on solo shots by Jose Bautista and Todd Frazier -- Lopez still emerged with the win. The Marlins have yet to indicate whether he'll remain in the rotation once Dan Straily (suspension) and Jose Urena (shoulder) have returned to action, but the youngster pitched well enough in this one to earn a second look.

DeGrom (5-4) took the loss Saturday, allowing three runs on six hits and a walk over six innings while striking out eight as the Mets dropped a 5-2 decision to the Marlins.

The right-hander cruised through five scoreless innings before running into trouble in the sixth, serving up a two-run homer to Brian Anderson and then watching Wilmer Flores misplay a JT Riddle tapper that allowed Justin Bour to score and put the Marlins up for good. DeGrom has delivered nine straight quality but has somehow emerged with only a 2-4 record over that stretch. He'll carry a 1.84 ERA into his next outing Friday at home against the Rays.

X-rays performed on Velasquez's right arm were negative, and he'll be reevaluated Sunday, Meghan Montemurro of The Athletic Philadelphia reports.

Montemurro reported on the initial diagnosis of a right forearm contusion after a line drive struck Velasquez's pitching arm during his Saturday start, and the test confirmed the relatively good news. Velasquez may still miss at least one start, but his fantasy shareholders can breathe a sigh of relief for the moment that he avoided more serious damage.