MLB Player News

Gray (1-2) allowed seven runs on 10 hits and one walk across five innings while earning the loss Monday against the Padres. He struck out six.

Gray escaped some early trouble with just one run against, but an RBI double and a pair of home runs in the fourth inning took that tally to six. He allowed another run before completing the fifth in what was a disappointing performance against a team he dominated last week. Gray has sandwiched poor starts around one strong outing so far and will take a 5.63 ERA into Saturday's scheduled start against the Nationals.

Urena (0-2) got the loss against the Mets on Monday, giving up three earned runs on five hits in five innings, striking out four and walking one as the Marlins lost 4-2.

Urena was coming off a dominant effort against the Red Sox that saw him allow just one earned run and strike out seven in seven innings and although he came back to earth a little bit against the Mets, he still managed a respectable final stat line in the losing effort. That said, his 5.06 ERA and 1.31 WHIP in his first 16 innings of the year combined with his 4.72 ERA over his 326 career big-league innings mean he's difficult to comfortably trust for fantasy purposes until he shows he can consistently post better ratios over a larger sample size.

Syndergaard moved to 2-0 on Monday, allowing two runs (one earned) on five hits, striking out five and walking two over six innings in the Mets' 4-2 victory over the Marlins.

After lasting just four innings in his last start against the Phillies, Syndergaard managed to navigate deeper into this one and was effective in doing so, limiting Miami to the one earned run in a winning effort. His 3.94 ERA might be a bit higher than fantasy owners may have expected through three starts but that shouldn't be cause for too much concern, as he posted a 2.60 mark in his last full season of work in 2016. Coming off an injury-shortened 2017 that saw him limited to just 30.1 innings, the only question with Syndergaard at this point is health. If he manages to stay on the field all season, he has the talent and upside of a fantasy ace and he's already got 22 strikeouts against just four walks in his first 16 innings of 2018.

Musgrove (shoulder) is not close to returning from the disabled list, the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review reports.

Musgrove was dealing with shoulder discomfort for the entirety of spring training. He appeared close to a return near the end of March, having made appearances in the Grapefruit League and in minor-league spring training. He made the Opening Day roster only to be shut down from throwing entirely right before his first start. He remains shut down and will need multiple rehab appearances before he's back with the big-league club. Steven Brault will stay in the rotation while Musgrove is out.

Keller threw six shutout innings in his season debut for Double-A Altoona on Sunday. He struck out eight batters while allowing two hits and two walks.

The 22-year-old righty threw 49 of 77 pitches for strikes, mixing in plenty of changeups against a lineup stacked with left-handed batters. Keller is expected to spend the bulk of 2018 in Altoona, with a potential midseason promotion to Triple-A. There's a chance he could join the Pirates as a September call-up, but it's doubtful the organization promotes him to the majors any sooner.

Lugo (1-0) tossed three scoreless innings of relief Sunday to collect the win in an extra-inning victory over the Nationals, allowing one hit and three walks while striking out three.

The extended relief outing cost him a chance a start Wednesday's game -- Zack Wheeler will be called up to join the rotation instead -- but fantasy GMs who had Lugo active won't be complaining given Sunday's result. The 28-year-old was headed for a long-relief role anyway once Jason Vargas (hand) is healthy, but with the Mets offense looking good in the early going, Lugo could find himself vulturing more wins as the season progresses -- especially if he maintains the 7:3 K:BB he's posted through his first six innings.

Solis worked two scoreless frames in Sunday's extra-inning loss to the Mets, allowing only one hit while striking out five.

The left-hander has been a strikeout machine to begin 2018, recording nine of his 11 outs through four appearances via the K. He remains buried in the bullpen mix at the moment, but with Brandon Kintzler struggling in the early going, Solis might find his way into a key setup role if he continues dominating -- a role that could potentially afford him an opportunity to rack up some holds.

Flaherty racked up 11 strikeouts and allowed an earned run on five hits over seven innings in Triple-A Memphis' 4-1 victory over Round Rock on Sunday.

Just five days ago, Flaherty was similarly impressive with the big-league club, allowing an earned run over five innings while compiling nine strikeouts against the Brewers. However, with the Cardinals needing a roster spot to accommodate Adam Wainwright's return from a hamstring injury, Flaherty was sent back down to the Redbirds after that outing. The 22-year-old already demonstrated he could dominate Triple-A bats in 2017 over 15 appearances with Memphis, generating a 2.74 ERA, 1.14 WHIP and 85:24 K:BB across 85.1 innings. Therefore, his stellar effort Sunday was hardly surprising and corroborates the notion that the only thing likely keeping Flaherty from a callup is a lack of an open rotation spot.

Walker allowed one run on three hits and two walks while striking out three over six innings Sunday, but he didn't earn the decision in the Diamondbacks' win against St. Louis.

Walker didn't get enough run support to pick up the win, but he was able to keep the Diamondbacks in the game until they eventually pulled away in the eighth inning. He's started the season on a positive note, giving up four runs and striking out seven across 11 innings. The 25-year-old's next start figures to come Saturday against the Dodgers, when he'll look to pick up his first win of the season.

Mahle allowed five earned runs on nine hits while walking one and striking out two across 4.2 innings and took the loss Sunday against the Pirates.

Mahle had a disappointing start Sunday against the Pirates, headlined by allowing two home runs to left-handed batters in the fifth inning. His success against left-handed batters will be worth monitoring as the season wears on, as Mahle acknowledged that he relied heavily on his fastball in his opening start of the season. That may open him up to significant platoon splits and make him an unreliable option depending on the heaviness of left-handed batters in opposing lineups.