MLB Player News

Harris (3-0) earned the win in relief in Wednesday's extra-inning victory over the Cubs. He tossed a perfect ninth inning with two strikeouts.

Harris tossed 11 strikes in a 17-pitch inning, and with the A's grabbing the lead in the 10th, he ended up getting his third win of the season. Harris has been excellent in recent weeks and has 12 scoreless outings over his last 13 appearances, with the lone exception a May 19 outing in which he allowed two runs over an inning against the Angels. Over that 13-appearance stretch, Harris owns a 1.74 ERA, 1.26 WHIP and 12.2 K/9 across 10.1 innings.

Fluharty will serve as the Blue Jays' opening pitcher for Thursday's game in Atlanta, Arden Zwelling of Sportsnet.ca reports.

The southpaw hasn't recorded more than four outs in any of his 32 appearances on the season, so the Blue Jays aren't likely to ask him to work past the first inning Thursday in what will be his third start of the season. Toronto hasn't named a designated bulk reliever to enter the game behind Fluharty, but Chad Dallas was added to the Blue Jays' taxi squad and could be formally called up from Triple-A Buffalo prior to the contest. The Blue Jays also acquired Simeon Woods Richardson from the Twins on Wednesday, and he could be an option to pitch in bulk relief if he's able to join the team in Atlanta ahead of the game's 7:15 p.m. ET start time.

Sterner earned his first save of the season in Wednesday's extra-inning win over the Cubs. He tossed a perfect inning while striking out one.

Scott Barlow pitched two-thirds of an inning in Tuesday's series opener against the Cubs, so the A's turned to Justin Sterner for the save in the bottom of the 10th inning Wednesday. This was Sterner's first save of the season, and he needed just 14 pitches (10 strikes) to get the job done. The 29-year-old has been on a roll of late and hasn't allowed a run in any of his last five outings (5.1 innings). He's now 1-for-2 in save chances, but he's not expected to take the closer role any time soon.

The White Sox optioned Murphy to Triple-A Charlotte on Thursday.

He's being cleared from the roster ahead of Tyler Gilbert's return from the bereavement list prior to Friday's game in Philadelphia. Murphy has made eight appearances out of the White Sox's bullpen this season, permitting seven runs with a 9:8 K:BB over 9.1 frames.

Smith (glute/wrist/illness) took live batting practice Wednesday, MLB.com reports.

This marked the first batting practice session for Smith since landing on the injured list May 3 with the glute issue. Since then, the infielder has been bothered by wrist inflammation and a bout of viral meningitis that kept him away from baseball activity. Smith could begin a rehab assignment next week.

Montgomery (elbow) threw a 20-pitch live batting practice session Wednesday, MLB.com reports.

Montgomery continues to grind away at his rehab from left UCL surgery. He's looking at an early August return.

Hoskins went 2-for-3 with a walk, a home run and three RBI in Wednesday's 5-4 win over the Yankees.

The Guardians got major contributions from the middle of the order with cleanup batter Kyle Manzardo and Hoskins behind him combining to go 5-for-8 with two doubles, two homers and four RBI. The clout was the sixth for Hoskins, who has spent a good portion of the season hovering around a .200 batting average. Hoskins is slashing .203/.349/.414 over 49 games.

Ramirez went 3-for-4 with a stolen base, a solo home run and three total runs scored in Wednesday's 5-4 win over the Yankees.

It's been a minute in terms of leaving the yard for Ramirez, who endured a 13-game stretch without a home run. The blast was his ninth in 63 games. He also extended a hit streak to five games, which is part of a longer stretch in which Ramirez has emerged from a season-opening slump. He was batting just .207 on May 14 but has gone 23-for-69 (.333) with 12 extra-base hits and 16 RBI over 18 games since. The 33-year-old is up to a season high .245 average.

Manzardo went 3-for-4 with two doubles and a solo home run in Wednesday's 5-4 win over the Yankees.

Manzardo clubbed his seventh home run of the season to give Cleveland an early lead in the second inning. It was the second straight game with a home run for Manzardo, who is 5-for-8 with four extra-base hits and three RBI in the first two games of the series. He's feasted on New York pitching during his brief time in the majors, going 8-for-21 (.381) with seven extra-base hits (four HR) and six RBI over seven contests.

Durbin went 2-for-4 with a double, an RBI, a stolen base and two runs scored in Wednesday's 8-1 win over Baltimore.

It's still in the small-sample-size zone, but Durbin appears to be emerging from a season-opening slump. Wednesday's double extended his streak of games with an extra-base hit to six, and the third baseman is 9-for-24 with seven RBI, one steal and three runs scored over that stretch. With Wednesday's production, Durbin raised his average to a season-high .193.