MLB Player News

Fairbanks picked up the save Thursday against the Athletics, pitching a scoreless inning while not allowing any hits or walks. He struck out one.

Fairbanks (hip) returned from the 15-day injured list Thursday and wasted no time in nailing down his sixth save of the season. The right-hander went 1-2-3 through the A's lineup and was especially effective with his slider, throwing it on eight of his 10 pitches in the inning. Fairbanks has now converted his last three save opportunities dating back to May 19 against the Brewers and has still allowed only two earned runs on the year.

Blanco is scheduled to start Sunday's game against the Reds at Minute Maid Park, Chandler Rome of The Athletic reports.

After the Astros' recent stretch of 17 games in 17 days came to an end Monday, Blanco was moved to the bullpen while Houston condensed its rotation from six men to five. The Astros still plan on running a five-man rotation for the most part, but Blanco will make a spot start this weekend since manager Dusty Baker wants to give rookie Hunter Brown an extra day to recover from the seven-inning, 99-pitch workload he handled in Tuesday's win over the Nationals. Blanco will presumably transition back to a relief role following Sunday's start.

Clase earned a save against the Padres on Thursday, issuing one walk and striking out one batter in 1.1 scoreless innings.

Clase didn't record more than three outs in any of his first 33 appearances this season, but manager Terry Francona opted to go to him in a big eighth-inning spot Thursday. Clase needed four pitches to retire Manny Machado with a runner on second base, then came back out for the ninth and tossed a scoreless frame to notch his first save in nine days. Despite the mild drought in opportunities, Clase continues to lead the majors with 21 saves on the season.

Webb picked up the save Thursday against the Rangers. He allowed one walk while striking out one over a scoreless inning.

The 29-year-old stepped into a high-leverage situation after Carlos Estevez walked the first three batters of the ninth to load the bases with no outs. However, Webb managed to escape the jam allowing just one inherited runner to score and pick up his first save of 2023 and the fourth of his career. In 11 appearances (13.1 innings) this season, Webb sports a 2.03 ERA and a 0.90 WHIP to pair with a 14:5 K:BB, as he's emerged as one of the Angels' top bullpen arms.

Bautista picked up the save Thursday against Toronto, striking out two over 1.1 scoreless innings while not allowing any hits or walks.

Bautista entered the contest with two outs in the eighth and went to work with his four-seamer, striking out Matt Chapman to end the inning. It was more of the same in the ninth as the right-hander struck out Kevin Kiermaier on five straight four-seamers to open the inning before retiring the next two batters to secure his 18th save. Bautista has converted each of his last seven save attempts and has at least two strikeouts in all five of his June appearances.

The Angels optioned Herget to Triple-A Salt Lake on Thursday.

After allowing three runs over the course of one inning in his appearance Wednesday against Texas, Herget will head back to Triple-A. Herget has a 2.25 ERA and 1.17 WHIP in the minors this season, so it's possible he returns to Los Angeles later this year if he produces similar numbers in Salt Lake. Kolton Ingram was promoted from Double-A Rocket City in a corresponding move to take Herget's spot in the Angels' bullpen.

The Angels recalled Ingram from Double-A Rocket City on Thursday.

Ingram has fared well in Double-A this season, putting up a 2.63 ERA and 1.33 WHIP through 27.1 frames and has two saves on the season. However, he's yet to play beyond the Double-A level, so the Angels will likely use him out of the bullpen sparingly early on. He'll replace Jimmy Herget on the roster, who was optioned to Triple-A Salt Lake in a corresponding move.

Lovelady was removed from Thursday's game against the Rays with an apparent left arm injury, Martin Gallegos of MLB.com reports.

Lovelady was grabbing his left forearm after throwing a pitch and was instantly removed by trainers. The A's will take a look at him and should provide an official update relatively soon.

Henriquez was placed on the 7-day injured list in Triple-A St. Paul due to a left oblique strain Thursday, Brandon Warne of Access Twins reports.

Henriquez missed over a month at the start of the year due to elbow soreness and will now miss even more time because of an unrelated injury. The 22-year-old reliever holds an 8.15 ERA and 2.21 WHIP through 17.2 innings in Triple-A.

Dubin (elbow) has surrendered 10 earned runs on 14 hits and three walks while striking out seven across 7.1 innings in three appearances for Triple-A Sugar Land since being reinstated from the 7-day injured list May 31.

Dubin was on the shelf for about a month with a right elbow strain, but he appears to be getting stretched back out again now that he's healthy again. Over his 26 innings with Sugar Land this season, the 27-year-old right-hander has pitched to a 7.96 ERA and 1.69 WHIP.