MLB Player News

The Athletics placed Blackburn on the 15-day injured list Wednesday with an inflamed right middle finger, Matt Kawahara of the San Francisco Chronicle reports.

Blackburn had been scheduled to start Wednesday's series finale with the Angels, but the finger injury forced the Athletics to scrap those plans. The All-Star right-hander may been dealing with the issue for multiple starts, as he had posted an 8.79 ERA and 1.67 WHIP over 14.1 innings in his three outings since making his first appearance in the Midsummer Classic. JP Sears, one of the players the Athletics acquired in last week's trade that sent Frankie Montas to the Yankees, was called up from Triple-A Las Vegas and will pick up a spot start Wednesday in Blackburn's stead.

Sears was recalled from Triple-A Las Vegas on Wednesday.

Sears was dealt from the Yankees to the Athletics last week, and he allowed a run on four hits and no walks while striking out five in 4.2 innings during his first start at Las Vegas. Sears made seven appearances (two starts) for the Yankees earlier in the year and posted a 2.05 ERA and 0.86 WHIP in 22 innings. The Athletics placed Paul Blackburn (finger) on the injured list Wednesday, so Sears will step in as the starter for Wednesday's game against the Angels.

Ynoa was optioned to Triple-A Gwinnett on Wednesday.

Ynoa will make his way back to Gwinnett after being called up Sunday, failing to appear in a game before being sent down. The move opens a spot in Atlanta's bullpen for Kirby Yates (elbow), who was reinstated from the 60-day injured list Wednesday.

Toussaint is scheduled to start Wednesday's game against the Athletics, Jeff Fletcher of The Orange County Register reports.

The Angels have yet to permanently settle on a sixth starter, but Toussaint will get the latest chance to stake his claim to the role after the Halos optioned Janson Junk to Triple-A Salt Lake over the weekend. Los Angeles also recently deployed a pairing of Jaime Barria and Mike Mayers in a tandem start last weekend, and either of those two pitchers could get a look in the rotation at some point if Toussaint isn't able to capitalize on Wednesday's start. Toussaint has worked in long relief in both of his first two outings with the Angels, covering 8.1 innings in total and striking out nine while allowing four earned runs on four hits and seven walks.

May (elbow) struck out eight over five innings Tuesday in his rehab start for Triple-A Oklahoma City. He allowed one earned run on three hits and one walk.

The 24-year-old built up to 68 pitches (45 strikes) in his fifth rehab start, looking good once again as he makes his return from Tommy John surgery. Through four outings at Triple-A and one in the rookie-level Arizona Complex League, May has turned in a 1.69 ERA, 0.94 WHIP and 26:5 K:BB in 16 innings. While the Dodgers weren't expected to immediately have a rotation spot available for May once he was activated from the 60-day injured list, Clayton Kershaw's (back) recent move to the IL and uncertain timeline to return seemingly sets up May to rejoin Los Angeles in a starting role. May will likely make one final rehab start for Oklahoma City early next week before potentially coming off the IL for his 2022 Dodgers debut during next weekend's series versus the Marlins.

Pepiot will be called up from Triple-A Oklahoma CIty to start Wednesday's game against the Twins, Kirsten Watson of SportsNet LA reports.

Pepiot was initially expected to start Saturday, but the Dodgers elected to use a four-man rotation over the last few days. However, the right-hander will make his first major-league start since early July as a fill-in for Clayton Kershaw (back). Over four big-league starts, Pepiot has posted a 2.76 ERA and 1.35 WHIP in 16.1 innings.

Dodgers manager Dave Roberts confirmed that Pepiot will be called up from Triple-A Oklahoma City to start Wednesday's series finale with the Twins in Los Angeles, Matthew Moreno of DodgerBlue.com reports.

Pepiot will be picking up his fifth start of the season for the Dodgers, stepping into the spot in the rotation that was vacated by Clayton Kershaw's (back) recent move to the injured list. Among the four Dodgers starting pitchers on the injured list, Dustin May (elbow) is probably the closest to returning, but Pepiot should at least get a second turn through the rotation if he's able to deliver a serviceable outing Wednesday. Over his previous four outings with the big club, Pepiot turned in a 2.76 ERA, 1.35 WHIP and 19:12 K:BB in 16.1 innings.

Ober (groin) threw a 20-pitch bullpen on Tuesday in Fort Myers, Fla., with no issues, the St. Paul Pioneer Press reports.

Ober has been out since early June with an aponeurotic plate injury, which he described as a tendon pulling on his pelvic bone. This is his first significant sign of progress since June. The Twins have said Ober is aiming for a return in September.

Cole didn't factor into the decision during Tuesday's 1-0 loss to Seattle, allowing four hits while striking out eight in seven scoreless innings.

Cole went toe-to-toe in a rematch with Seattle starter Luis Castillo but couldn't register the victory as the game went 13 innings. The excellent performance comes on the heels of three straight poor outings, during which the 31-year-old pitched to a 7.00 ERA across 18 innings against inferior competition in Baltimore, Kansas City and Seattle. Cole retook the MLB lead with his 178th strikeout, and he's scheduled to next pitch against Tampa Bay early next week.

Castillo didn't factor into the decision during Tuesday's 1-0 win against the Yankees, allowing three hits and two walks while striking out seven in eight scoreless innings.

Castillo has opposed Gerrit Cole and the Yankees in each of his first two starts with Seattle, coming away with a win in his first turn and a season-high 81 game score Tuesday. The 28-year-old induced an impressive 20 swinging strikes on 110 pitches and faced the minimum 18 batters between the second and seventh innings. In his last seven starts, Castillo has pitched to a 1.68 ERA with 56 strikeouts across 48.2 innings and his 2.71 ERA and 1.04 WHIP this season would both rank top 20 in baseball if he had enough innings to qualify. He is scheduled to pitch again next week against the Angels.