MLB Player News

Cubs starter Jason Hammel was dominant Sunday against the Padres, striking out nine batters in five innings of work in what would be an eventual 6-1 win for the Padres.

Hammel allowed just three hits and no runs to lower his spring ERA to 3.86, crediting his work with catcher Miguel Montero for part of his success. 

"Montero and I are starting to develop a little bit of a rhythm so that's nice," Hammel told ESPN.com.

Hammel said his goal for this season is to throw 200 innings, something he has yet to do in his career. 

"That's always my main goal," he said. "If you pitch 200 innings, as you can see with the big dogs in the league, everything else falls in line. You can't pitch 200 innings with a 5.00 era. That's a No. 1 goal."

Pirates pitcher Charlie Morton had a rough outing Sunday, getting rocked for six runs in 4 1/3 innings of work while allowing nine hits and two runs against the Astros, per the Pittsburgh Tribune. 

Morton, who is recovering from offseason hip surgery that required him to tweak his mechanics, is still expected to be a part of the Pirates rotation.

"It's been a challenge for Charlie so far this spring," general manager Neal Huntington said. "The repeating of the mechanics, the consistency and command of the stuff has been a challenge. We've still got some time to go and there are some positive signs."

The Mets will start Bartolo Colon on April 6 in the regular-season opener against the Nationals, ESPNNewYork.com reported Sunday.

The team confirmed the report Monday. Colon is set to become the team's oldest Opening Day starter ever, surpassing Tom Glavine in 2007. He went 15-13 with a 4.09 ERA and 151:30 K:BB ratio in 202 1/3 innings.

Reigning NL Rookie of the Year Jacob deGrom will start the team's second game of the season as well as the home opener against the Phillies. Matt Harvey, who was in the mix to pitch the home opener, will follow deGrom in both of the first two trips through the rotation.

Dodgers pitcher Hyun-Jin Ryu will resume throwing Sunday, MLB.com reports.

Ryu had been shut down due to shoulder inflammation, and he dealt with soreness in his shoulder after making his spring debut March 12. Manager Don Mattingly said recently that the pitcher could be held back until the fifth game of the regular season or possibly open the season on the disabled list.

Nationals pitcher Stephen Strasburg (ankle) threw a light bullpen Sunday without issue, the team announced.

"He's going to be just fine," manager Matt Williams said.

Strasburg was scratched from Sunday's scheduled start after spraining his left ankle in conditioning drills Friday. He has surrendered two earned runs in 5 2/3 innings while striking out seven and walking two in two spring outings.

Padres manager Bud Black has yet to name the fifth starter in the team's rotation at this point of the spring, per UT San Diego.

The battle for the role boils down to two right-handers, Brandon Morrow and Odrisamer Despaigne.

"Still close," Black said of the race to round out the rotation. "They're both very good pitches. We'll continue to evaluate and watch them, but those guys are competing hard. It's probably a better question to answer late in March. They're doing great. It's a good competition."

Morrow struggled on Saturday in 3 2/3 innings, giving up five runs. Despaigne came in after him and yielded one earned run in 3 1/3 innings pitched.

Black liked Morrow's velocity but thought he struggled with placement.

"I thought his overall stuff is what you're looking for -- you look for velocity, you look for sharpness of pitches, you look for the secondary (pitches)," Black said. "He just left too many pitches up out over the plate. They got some balls in the gap, and we couldn't track them down."

Despaigne threw 30 strikes on the day against 24 balls.

"Despaigne got to a pitch count, showed the assortment of his pitches," Black said. "They nicked him for a couple of runs, but again, what you're looking for, we saw some things that were positive."

Cardinals pitcher Carlos Martinez was able to throw three scoreless innings Saturday. It was a bounce back performance for Martinez, who struggled in his last appearance, giving up five runs. Martinez is in wait-and-see mode as the final roster cut downs get closer and closer, reports MLB.com.

"They haven't talked to me about it. My goal is to help the team. But my mentality right now is as a starter," Martinez said through an interpreter. "It's up to them, the manager and the front office, to decide that. My idea is to help the team in any position they put me. But, as I mentioned, my mentality is to be a starter."

Matheny understands the difficult position Martinez is in.

"I'll say that for any of these guys that don't achieve what they're trying to achieve and what they work all winter for, what they're dreaming about and their aspirations in this game, I think they all have a sense of disappointment about not being where they want to be," Matheny said. "But I don't think it lasts very long for guys who go about it the right way. And I think he understands, if we get specifically to Carlos, where we are right now. We've been very honest with him. Just go out and pitch and we're going to try to do what's best for the team. Don't get too distracted by all the scenarios, even though we know they need to be talked about."

Cardinals pitcher Michael Wacha was pleased with his latest performance despite getting scored on for the first time this spring.

"I felt really good," he said after being charged with three runs in 4 2/3 innings. "I was real happy with the way the ball was coming out of the hand and the command on my pitches. I was able to throw it pretty much where I wanted to for most of the day. Each time out, [I] just continue to work on the command and control of all my pitches and continue to work down in the zone."

After spending two months on the disabled list, Cardinals manager Mike Matheny is encouraged by his progress.

"I don't look at him as anything but a healthy pitcher trying to get ready for the season," the manager said. "Last year ended exactly how we planned it, in that at midseason, he had something come up and we had to back off. That was just being extra precautionary so we could have him ready for spring this year.

"It was a very smart move on the organization's part. The medical staff and the front office wanted to be extra cautious. That was all in preparation for now and apparently it's proven that that was a good thing."

Prior to being scored on Saturday in a 5-4 loss to the Mets, Wacha had allowed just two hits in five innings.

Phillies pitcher Cole Hamels gave up two first-inning home runs before settling down in his start on Saturday. 

Jose Reyes hit Hamels' first pitch of the game for a home run to left. Two batters later, Jose Bautista hit a 3-1 pitch to straightaway center. 

Those were the only two runs Hamels would allow in 3 and two thirds innings of work. He allowed a total of five hits, walked none and struck out five. 

The outing was an improvement over Hamels' last start, when he gave up five runs in two innings. 

Hamels had his largest pitch count of the spring, throwing 72 pitches before leaving in the fourth. 

"Just being able to go out there and feel fresh even with that increase, I didn't even notice it," Hamels said, per MLB.com's Adam Berry. "I guess that's a good thing."

Hamels has a 7.59 ERA this spring. 

Cardinals pitcher Adam Wainwright returned to the mound after missing more than a month with an abdominal strain. Wainwright went four scoreless innings in his spring debut. 

Wainwright gave up four hits and walked a batter while striking out three of the 16 batters he faced.