MLB Player News

Garcia was recalled from Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre on Thursday.

He's taking the roster spot vacated by Randy Vasquez, who was optioned following Wednesday's spot start. Garcia will provide some length in the bullpen as the Yankees approach the All-Star break.

The Astros are expected to recall Blanco from Triple-A Sugar Land to have him start Thursday against the Mariners, Ari Alexander of KPRC 2 News Houston reports.

Since Blanco had been optioned to Sugar Land on Sunday, the Astros will need to place a player on the injured list to facilitate his return to the big club, with Jose Altuve (oblique) standing out as the most obvious candidate to be deactivated in a corresponding move. The Astros sent Blanco back to the minors with the expectation that he wouldn't be needed to make another start before the All-Star break, but those plans changed when Framber Valdez needed more time to recover from an ankle injury and with manager Dusty Baker opting to skip the struggling Cristian Javier's next turn through the rotation. Over his prior 14 appearances (five starts) with Houston this season, Blanco pitched to a 4.73 ERA, 1.52 WHIP and 39:22 K:BB in 40 innings.

Bradford most recently appeared out of the bullpen for the Rangers' 12-11 loss to the Astros on Monday, covering 2.1 perfect innings while striking out four.

Since being called up from Triple-A Round Rock on June 13, Bradford has made just four appearances, with two coming as a starter and two coming as a reliever. His pair of starts came amid a heavy stretch of games in which the Rangers wanted to build in some extra rest for the other five members of the rotation, but Bradford looks as though he'll stick in the bullpen through the All-Star break. The Rangers may use the upcoming break to send Bradford back to Round Rock, though the rookie southpaw should be the organization's top choice to rejoin the big-league rotation should Texas lose a starter at any point.

Littell did not factor into the decision Wednesday, allowing two runs on four hits over two innings against the Phillies. He struck out two.

Littell served as the Rays' opener Wednesday and got off to a good start with a 1-2-3 first inning. However, he would run into trouble in the second after striking out Bryce Harper to open the frame, allowing four consecutive singles as the Phillies tied the game at 2-2. The right-hander was then relieved by Yonny Chirinos to begin the third after seeing his ERA jump up to 5.71 on the season. On a positive note, Littell has now recorded at least two strikeouts in each of his last five appearances (spanning 8.2 innings).

Jansen worked a perfect ninth inning Wednesday without walking or striking out a batter to record his 18th save of the season in a 4-2 win over the Rangers.

The veteran closer fired eight of 11 pitches for strikes while shutting down the bottom of the Texas batting order. Jansen has converted nine straight save chances dating back to May 20, posting a 2.65 ERA, 1.18 WHIP and 18:5 K:BB in 17 innings over that stretch, and he continues to climb the career saves list -- with 15 more in 2023, he would tie John Franco for fifth all-time.

Bautista picked up the save in Wednesday's 6-3 win over the Yankees. He allowed a walk while striking out two over 1.1 scoreless innings.

Bautista retired Giancarlo Stanton in the eighth inning before working around a one-out walk in the ninth, striking out a pair to earn his 23rd save. The 28-year-old Bautista has allowed just one run in his last 15 appearances, lowering his ERA to a sparkling 1.13 with a 0.95 WHIP and 81:18 K:BB on the season.

Pressly didn't allow a baserunner and struck out two across a scoreless ninth inning to earn the save Wednesday against the Rockies.

Pressly was tasked with protecting a two-run lead and needed only nine pitches to do so. He has now turned in nine consecutive scoreless appearances, racking up 11 strikeouts with three walks across 10 innings in that span. Pressly has 19 saves on the campaign, three of which have come in July.

Logue allowed six runs on six hits across 3.2 innings of relief in Wednesday's loss to the Athletics. He walked one and struck out three.

With Eduardo Rodriguez (finger) making his first start since May 28 and only covering four innings, the Tigers needed some length from Logue, and they let the lefty take some lumps. This was just his second appearance of the season, and he looked better in his debut Saturday when he tossed 3.1 scoreless innings. Logue may get additional chances to impress, but he seems like bullpen depth at this point and not really someone to consider in fantasy.

Armstrong will serve as the Rays' starting pitcher for Thursday's game against the Phillies, Kristie Ackert of the Tampa Bay Times reports.

The Rays haven't officially confirmed that Armstrong will be operating as an opener, but considering that he hasn't covered more than two innings in any of his 19 appearances in the majors or minors this season, he's unlikely to work more than once through the Phillies batting order. Tampa Bay doesn't have an obvious pitcher available to work in bulk relief behind Armstrong, so the Rays could treat Thursday's series finale as more of a bullpen day.

Mushinski was optioned to Triple-A Sugar Land on Wednesday, Kenny Van Doren of Bally Sports Midwest reports.

Mushinski made one scoreless appearance during his latest stint in the majors. The Astros haven't announced a corresponding move, but Van Doren notes that the recently acquired Spenser Watkins isn't listed among St. Paul's upcoming probable pitchers and is on the 40-man roster.