MLB Player News

Braves rookie pitcher Williams Perez was outstanding in his start against the Giants on Saturday. Perez twirled seven shutout innings, striking out three batters and allowing just four hits. He did walk four, but was able to avoid any serious damage to pick up his first major-league victory, as the Braves were winners 8-0.

"He's been impressive," manager Fredi Gonzalez said, per MLB.com. "So we'll keep running him out there. If he keeps providing these kinds of outings for us, he'll be fine."

Perez threw 105 pitches with 63 of them being strikes. The impressive outing lowered his ERA to 2.66, as he's now allowed just two earned runs over his last 18 innings.

"He pitches with his eyes and sees what is going on," Gonzalez said. "He's got pretty good stuff. He's got the sinker that gets a lot of ground balls and today we saw that."

Perez (1-0) will look to build on this great start his next time out, which is scheduled to be Friday at home against the Pirates.

Cardinals starter Michael Wacha was dominant, up until the sixth inning in Saturday's start against the Dodgers. Through the first five innings, Wacha was tossing no-hit baseball.

But, Justin Turner led off the sixth with a double and scored on an RBI-single by Howie Kendrick two batters later. Yasmani Grandal capped off the big inning with a three-run home run to put the Dodgers on top 4-1. The Dodgers would go on to win by a score of 5-1.

Overall, Wacha went 5 2/3 innings, allowing four runs on three hits. He walked three and struck out seven, increasing his ERA to 2.27. Wacha did have to warm up on two separate occasions before the game began, as the start of the game was delayed more than two hours due to rain.

He'll look to get back in the win column in his next start, scheduled for Thursday in a re-match with the Dodgers in Los Angeles.

The Nationals have announced that they have placed embattled starting pitcher Stephen Strasburg on the 15-day disabled list with neck tightness, which became an issue in his one-inning outing Friday night.

Taylor Hill has been promoted from Triple-A Syracuse to take his roster spot.

Strasburg, who has also been plagued by shoulder pain this season, has scuffled all year on the mound. He has not pitched more than 5 1/3 innings in any of his last six starts and is 3-5 with a terrible 6.55 ERA. He has allowed 64 hits in 45 1/3 innings. He was removed one batter into the second inning Friday at Cincinnati.

The right-hander has not shown typical signs of injury. His fastball remains consistently at 95 mph, which indicates that there is nothing wrong with his arm. But his mechanics and command have been an issue thoughout.

Nationals starter Stephen Strasburg was removed from Friday's start against the Reds in the bottom of the second inning with neck muscle tightness. Strasburg threw one inning had allowed a solo home run to Joey Votto prior to his departure.

The right-hander, who has experienced back and shoulder pain this season, will be evaluated on Saturday before the team makes any decision, according to MLB.com. His next start, tentatively scheduled for Wednesday, is very much up in the air at this point.

"We'll see how he is tomorrow," said manager Matt Williams, per MLB.com. "We'll see what he shows up with. This [injury] is new, so we have to address it."

"I don't know why. I felt fine the first inning," Strasburg said. "Once I sat down in the second, I felt it kind of tighten up. I put some hot stuff on it, and it just progressed. It's really hard to turn my head to the left. It was something where I couldn't ... be effective. I didn't want to push it too much."

Reds starter Anthony DeSclafani improved is record to 3-4 as he picked up the victory over the Nationals on Friday. The young right-hander tossed six innings, allowing two runs on eight hits while walking two and striking out one. He threw 53 of his 85 pitches for strikes, as he lowered his ERA to 3.41.

He gave up RBI-singles in the fifth and sixth innings accounting for all the damage against him, as he was able to quiet a dangerous Nationals offense. DeSclafani will make his next start on Thursday in Philadelphia.

Phillies starter Cole Hamels wasn't perfect on Friday, but he was still very good in the loss to the Rockies. Hamels went eight brilliant innings, allowing five hits and two runs. Both runs came on a pair of Troy Tulowitzki solo home runs in the first and third innings.

Unfortunately for the Phillies, Hamels was outdueld by Chad Bettis, who came with eight outs of a perfect game. Still, it was an impressive performance by Hamels, who has now pitched at least seven innings in six of his 11 starts this season.

Hamels (5-4) also tied a season-high with nine strikeouts, while walking one on the evening. He lowered his ERA to 2.91 and will take the mound next on Thursday at home against the Reds.

Nationals starter Stephen Strasburg left his start against the Reds in the bottom of the second inning with an apparent injury. Strasburg, who gave up a run and two hits in an inning of work, was seen heading to the clubhouse with the trainer, though no official word has been given by the team.

Strasburg has been dealing with back and shoulder ailments over the last several weeks. Taylor Jordan replaced him in the bottom of the second. 

Strasburg is tenatively scheduled to start Wednesday against the Blue Jays, though there is no indication as to whether or not he will miss that start.

Reds pitcher Michael Lorenzen will start Sunday against the Nationals with Johnny Cueto still sidelined due to an elbow injury, manager Bryan Price said Friday.

Lorenzen is 1-1 with a 2.35 ERA in four starts this season. He has a 9.00 ERA in two relief appearances.

Reds starting pitcher Johnny Cueto (elbow) will not return to the rotation Sunday against the Nationals, manager Bryan Price said Friday. Price added Michael Lorenzen will get the start, as Jason Marquis will move to the bullpen.

Price did sound optimistic about Cueto returning for a three-game series against the Phillies, which starts Tuesday. However, he did not target a specific date for Cueto's return.

"It looks more likely he'll be starting in that Philadelphia series [next week]," manager Bryan Price said on Friday, per MLB.com. "We just want to make sure all of the inflammation is out. He's been more aggressive every time he's thrown. He's felt better every time he's thrown."

Cueto underwent an MRI on Tuesday, which showed no structural damage. He is 3-4 with a 3.03 ERA in nine starts.

The Cubs have flip-flopped starters Tsuyoshi Wada and Jason Hammel in their rotation this weekend against the Royals, per ESPN. The former is now set to start Saturday and the latter Sunday.

The team wants to give more time to Hammel, who is dealing with a fingernail issue. It has certainly not affected him too negatively on the mound - he has six straight quality starts.