MLB Player News

Mets rookie starting pitcher Jacob deGrom was hit with a tough-luck loss in his first career start Thursday night against the Yankees.

Pitching in place of Dillon Gee, deGrom tossed six scoreless frames before permitting a run-scoring double to Alfonso Soriano in the seventh, which proved to be the difference. He limited the Yankees to one run on four hits and two walks while striking out six in seven innings of a 1-0 defeat. 57 of his 91 pitches were called for strikes.

DeGrom became the first debuting starting pitcher in franchise history to be charged with a loss in a game he logged at least seven innings and limited the opponent to one run, per ESPN. He will make his next start Wednesday at home against the Dodgers.

Marlins starting pitcher Anthony DeSclafani will remain in the starting rotation for time being while newly signed left-hander Randy Wolf will continue working in relief, the Sun Sentinel reports Thursday.

In his season debut, DeSclafani gave up two runs on seven hits while striking out seven in six innings Wednesday against the Dodgers. The 24-year-old will make his next start Tuesday against the Phillies.

Cubs starter Jason Hammel had racked up nothing but quality starts this season - until Thursday.

Hammel suffered through his shortest and worst outing of the year against the Cardinals. He was doomed by a four-run second inning in which he gave up two walks and three hits, including a key two-run single by opposing pitcher Michael Wacha.

The right-hander recovered to pitch three shutout innings before a double and single knocked him out in the sixth. Hammel, whose ERA rose from 2.45 to 3.06, will make his next start Tuesday against the Yankees.

The consistency that has marked the beginning of the 2014 season for Cardinals young right-hander Michael Wacha continued Thursday against the visiting Cubs.

Wacha gave up three runs or less for his eighth straight start. He yielded just two runs on seven hits in seven innings to raise his record to 3-3. Wacha walked none for the first time in five starts and fanned five. His lone hiccup was a two-run homer to Starlin Castro in the fourth.

His next start is scheduled for Tuesday against Arizona.

After another outstanding start Thursday against the Padres, it's time for everybody -- and I do mean everybody -- to jump on the bandwagon of Reds starting pitcher Johnny Cueto. I decided to move up Cueto in my starting pitcher rankings to No. 13, which is right behind Nationals starting pitcher Stephen Strasburg.

Whether or not you buy into Cueto keeping up this pace, he's reached the status of elite Fantasy option, which means you should be able to get a nice haul if you choose to deal him. If I owned Cueto, however, I wouldn't trade him unless you really had a weakness at another position and the rest of your rotation is solid. 

He was limited to 11 starts last season due to injury, but he still went 5-2 with a 2.82 ERA. Don't forget, he was also a 19-game winner in 2012. That season he finished as the ninth-highest scoring Fantasy starting pitcher in Head-to-Head formats. 

Cueto's strikeout rate might be a little higher than normal and he could be facing a regression in that area, but I can definitely buy him as a top 25 Fantasy starting pitcher the rest of the season.

Torrid Reds right-hander Johnny Cueto became the first major league pitcher in 101 years to start the season with nine consecutive games of seven or more innings and two or fewer runs allowed with another brilliant performance Thursday afternoon against visiting San Diego.

Cueto hurled a complete-game shutout, giving up three singles, walking two and fanning eight along the way. He has just four wins in six decisions, but his 1.25 ERA is closing in on the 1.12 mark achieved by Cardinals Hall of Famer Bob Gibson in 1968.

His next potential victim is Washington early next week. He was slated to pitch Monday, but that would put him only on three day's rest.

Marlins starting pitcher Anthony DeSclafani looked more than ready for the majors in his debut Wednesday, a 13-3 win over the Dodgers.

DeSclafani, called up from Double-A Jacksonville to start in place of the injured Jose Fernandez, tossed six strong innings in his first outing. He limited the Dodgers to two runs on seven hits, and the offense provided plenty of support for his first win. The 24-year-old struck out seven and walked just one batter, while throwing 66 of 93 pitches for strikes.

With the signing of Randy Wolf, who piggybacked DeSclafani in relief Wednesday, it is not clear if DeSclafani will get another chance to start for the Marlins. His next turn in the rotation is set for Tuesday against the Phillies.  

Though the Marlins ultimately settled on minor-leaguer Anthony DeSclafani and veteran Randy Wolf, they gave a few other pitchers consideration to join the rotation in the wake of Jose Fernandez's injury.

"[Top prospect Andrew Heaney ] was definitely in consideration, as was Brian Flynn [from Triple-A New Orleans]," president of baseball operations Michael Hill told MLB.com Wednesday. "We looked at all of our upper-level pitching. When we got the news, we really couldn't reshift rotations to make someone available."

Heaney, the team's consensus top prospect is putting together another solid season in Double-A Jacksonville, but his place in the rotation made it so he was unavailable to start Wednesday. Hill expects Heaney, Flynn and left-hander Adam Conley to be potential call-ups if a further need arises down the road. 

Braves starting pitcher Julio Teheran's winless streak reached five games Wednesday against the Giants, and he didn't have his offense to blame this time.

Teheran, who entered the start at .500 despite a sterling 1.71 ERA, was tagged for three-plus runs for the first time all season. He allowed five runs -- four earned -- in just 3 1/3 innings of work, on seven hits and five walks. Teheran also struck out four batters, while throwing 51 of 84 pitches for strikes.

Teheran took the loss as the Braves fell, 10-4, dropping his record to 2-3 on the season. His ERA rose to 2.20 following his briefest outing, and he will try to get back on track in his next outing, set for Tuesday against the Brewers. 

The Reds will shuffle their rotation a bit for Thursday's doubleheader, after Wednesday's game against the Padres was rained out.

Johnny Cueto will start Game 1 of the doubleheader, and the team will call someone up as the 26th man to start the second game, according to the Cincinnati Enquirer. That should allow them to push Alfredo Simon's start to Friday and Homer Bailey to Saturday, removing the need for a fill-in Saturday. 

This chance in schedule would likely cost Tony Cingrani a chance to return from the disabled list, as expected, Saturday.