MLB Player News

Heaney (shoulder) tossed 2.2 innings in a rehab appearance with Single-A Rancho Cucamonga on Saturday, allowing four runs on six hits and no walks while striking out two batters.

Heaney logged his first game action since June 19 and looked rusty in the minor-league start. He served up a pair of home runs in 2.2 frames after allowing just one long ball across 15.1 innings with the Dodgers this season. The left-hander is working his way back from a shoulder issue and is expected to make at least one more rehab start, per Jack Harris of the Los Angeles Times.

May (elbow) still doesn't have a set date to begin a minor-league rehab assignment, but Dodgers manager Dave Roberts indicated Friday that such a stint will happen "soon," Fabian Ardaya of The Athletic reports.

May has been tossing live batting-practice sessions since late June and has been said to be "really close" to going on a minor-league rehab assignment since early July, but the right-hander remains without a set date for that to happen. Nonetheless, May hasn't suffered any setbacks in his recovery from the Tommy John surgery he underwent last May. He'll likely need a few weeks of game action to ramp back up once the rehab stint begins, so May isn't likely to be back with the Dodgers until at least mid-August.

Sale was removed in the first inning of his start Sunday against the Yankees after he took a comebacker to his left pinkie finger, Brendan Kuty of The Newark Star-Ledger reports. He was charged with three runs (two earned) on two hits while recording just two outs prior to his departure.

The Red Sox likely won't have a firm diagnosis for Sale's injury until later Sunday or Monday, but the southpaw may be dealing with a dislocation or fracture after he was smoked on his pitching hand by an Aaron Hicks line drive that was clocked at 106.7 miles per hour. If a fracture is confirmed, Sale could be in store for his second extended stint on the injured list of the season after he missed the first three months of the campaign while recovering from a stress fracture to the right side of his rib cage.

Matz (shoulder) and the Cardinals won't face the Reds on Sunday after the game was postponed due to inclement weather in St. Louis, John Denton of MLB.com reports.

Matz, who was reinstated from the 15-day injured list Sunday, will thus have to wait until after the All-Star break to make his first start with the big club since May 22. The Cardinals and Reds will make up the postponed game Sept. 17 as part of a split doubleheader.

Ashcraft and the Reds won't face the Cardinals on Sunday after the game was postponed due to inclement weather in St. Louis, Katie Woo of The Athletic reports.

As a result of the postponement, Ashcraft will have to wait until after the All-Star break to make his 11th start of the season. The rookie, who has gone 4-2 with a 4.45 ERA and 1.35 WHIP over 54.2 innings in the big leagues this season, is expected to be part of a six-man rotation coming out of the break with Tyler Mahle (shoulder) trending toward a return from the injured list for the Reds' first series of the second half.

Painter pitched four scoreless innings for High-A Jersey Shore on Saturday, striking out nine and allowing just two hits without a walk. He now has a 2.25 ERA, 1.00 WHIP and 19:3 K:BB through 12 innings in High-A.

Painter certainly hasn't been asked to do too much since being promoted, as the Phillies are presumably looking to monitor his workload in his first full professional campaign. He threw six innings in each of his final two Single-A starts, so we know Painter is capable of going deeper into games. For now, the important thing is that Painter is missing bats just as impressively as he did at the lower level. Collectively, he's struck out 88 batters while allowing just 28 hits in 50.2 minor-league innings this season.

Stone has a 1.53 ERA, 1.15 WHIP and 78:19 K:BB across 53 innings (10 starts) since his promotion to Double-A Tulsa.

Those stats should have dynasty managers on high alert, as Stone -- a fifth-round pick in 2020 -- has been incredibly dominant in the minors this year and is looking like a potential mid-rotation starter in the big leagues. With three plus pitches (fastball, slider, changeup) to his credit, Stone has limited opposing hitters to just a single home run all season. He's also shown excellent control outside of his two most recent starts, in which he's issued nearly half of his Double-A walks. It's worth monitoring him out of the break to see whether his control returns to normal, but there's a lot to like here in general.

The Cardinals reinstated Matz (shoulder) from the 15-day injured list ahead of his scheduled start Sunday against the Reds in St. Louis, John Denton of MLB.com reports.

Matz will make his return to the St. Louis rotation for what will be his first start since May 22 after he needed extended time off to recover from a left shoulder impingement. During his most recent rehab start at Triple-A Memphis on Tuesday, Matz built up to 4.1 innings and 81 pitches, so he should face only a light workload restriction Sunday.

Bieber and the Guardians won't face the Tigers on Sunday after the game was postponed due to inclement weather in Cleveland.

According to Zack Meisel of The Athletic, Bieber will have to wait until after the All-Star break for the Guardians' July 24 game in Chicago to build on his best outing of the season Tuesday, when he struck out seven and allowed just one earned run on three hits and no walks in a complete-game win over the White Sox. The Guardians and Tigers are set to make up Sunday's postponed game as part of a traditional doubleheader Aug. 15.

Gilbert gave up one earned run on four hits and no walks while striking out four over five innings in a 3-2 extra-inning win over the Rangers on Saturday. He did not factor into the decision.

Gilbert continued his positive 2022 campaign with five strong innings of one-run ball against the division-rival Rangers. The hard-throwing right-hander now boasts a 2.76 ERA to go along with 10 wins on the season and narrowly missed being named to the AL All-Star team. Since Gilbert has an xERA of 4.17 through the first half of the year, it will be interesting to see if his numbers regress after the break. His next start is tentatively scheduled for Saturday against the Astros.