MLB Player News

Clase picked up the save during Monday's 3-2 win over the Yankees, tossing a perfect ninth inning while striking out one.

The Guardians struck for three runs in the top of the ninth to take a one-run lead, so Clase came on in the bottom half of the frame. The hard-throwing reliever retired Gleyber Torres, DJ LeMahieu and Aaron Hicks in order to secure his 10th save, tying him with Josh Hader for the MLB lead. It was a solid bounce-back effort for the right-hander, who blew his second save chance of the season during Saturday's loss to Boston. Clase currently sports a 1.76 ERA and a 1.04 WHIP, but he has just nine strikeouts through 15.1 innings.

Winckowski (2-0) allowed two runs (one earned) on two hits and one walk while striking out one over two innings to record Monday's win over Toronto.

Winckowski was victimized in the eighth inning by shortstop Enrique Hernandez, whose two throwing errors contributed to the Blue Jays knotting the game at 5-5. The right-hander came back out to throw the ninth and was the pitcher of record when Alex Verdugo walked off Toronto. Boston manager Alex Cora would have had the pitcher come back out for a third inning if Verdugo hadn't ended the game, per Christopher Smith of MassLive.com. Winckowski has been valuable out of the bullpen and gets a lot of chances to pitch in support of a starting staff that ranks 27th with a 6.01 ERA. Monday's outing was the eighth multi-inning relief effort for the 24-year-old starter-turned-reliever, who is 2-0 with a 1.69 ERA, 17 strikeouts and five walks over 21.1 innings (11 appearances).

Guerra will serve as the Rays' opening pitcher for Tuesday's game against the Pirates, Marc Topkin of the Tampa Bay Times reports.

Guerra is beginning his second stint with the Rays after he appeared in 17 games for the big club in 2022 before being dealt to Milwaukee in November. The right-hander turned in an 8.64 ERA and 2.28 WHIP in 8.1 innings over his eight relief outings with the Brewers before Tampa Bay re-acquired him Saturday. Guerra maxed out at two innings and 44 pitches during his time with Milwaukee, so he likely won't be asked to work more than once through the batting order Tuesday before turning the game over to bulk reliever Josh Fleming.

Fleming is slated to work the bulk of the innings in relief behind opening pitcher Javy Guerra in Tuesday's game against the Pirates, Marc Topkin of the Tampa Bay Times reports.

Fleming had followed Calvin Faucher in both of his last two turns as a primary pitcher out of the bullpen, but he'll enter the contest behind a new opener after Faucher was optioned to Triple-A Durham over the weekend. In his most recent outing April 26 against the Astros, Fleming covered a season-high six innings and struck out two while allowing no runs and permitting just five baserunners.

Red Sox manager Alex Cora said prior to Monday's game against the Blue Jays that Jansen (back) will be available out of the bullpen, Alex Speier of The Boston Globe reports.

Jansen wasn't an option out of the bullpen for Sunday's 7-1 win over Cleveland after he experienced back tightness in his appearance one night earlier, but the lone day off was apparently all the right-hander needed to overcome the injury. The 35-year-old right-hander has looked sharp over his first nine appearances out of the Boston bullpen, striking out 12 and allowing just one run over 8.2 innings while converting six of seven save chances.

Yankees manager Aaron Boone said Monday that Effross (elbow) recently began a throwing program, Gary Phillips of the New York Daily News reports.

Since Effross is working his way back from October 2022 Tommy John surgery, he'll likely steadily build up his long-toss distance off flat ground for the next several weeks before potentially advancing to mound work by the summer. Even though Effross seems to be making good progress in the early stages of his recovery from surgery, he's still not expected to be an option for the New York bullpen at any point in 2023.

Trivino flew to Los Angeles on Monday to receive a second opinion on his elbow injury from Dr. Neal ElAttrache, Meredith Marakovits of YES Network reports.

Trivino is receiving an additional evaluation on his strained right elbow after he suffered a setback during a recent throwing session, which prompted the Yankees to move him from the 15-day injured list to the 60-day IL over the weekend. The Yankees haven't revealed the extent of Trivino's setback, but the fact that he was sent to one of the world's top specialists for shoulder and elbow injuries suggests that surgery could be on the table for the 31-year-old right-hander.

Yankees manager Aaron Boone said that Loaisiga will undergo surgery Tuesday to remove a bone spur from his right elbow and be shut down from throwing for 3-to-6 weeks, Bryan Hoch of MLB.com reports.

According to Meredith Marakovits of YES Network, Boone said that Loaisiga won't be ready to return from the 15-day injured list until August at the earliest, which would seem to imply that the right-hander may need more than six weeks to recover from surgery before he starts throwing again. Whatever the case, Loaisiga is headed for an extended absence after he initially appeared headed for a minimum-length stay on the IL when he was deactivated April 8 with right elbow inflammation.

White (elbow) will make a rehab start Wednesday for Triple-A Buffalo, Keegan Matheson of MLB.com reports.

White will make his second rehab appearance after throwing 3.1 shutout innings for Low-A Dunedin last Wednesday. The right-hander is being built up as a starter as he recovers from elbow inflammation that has sidelined him for the entirety of the 2023 campaign. White is scheduled to throw around 50 pitches Wednesday and should be fully stretched out after another rehab start or two, but he may not have a spot in the Toronto rotation waiting for him by the time he's ready to return from the 15-day injured list. The Blue Jays' top five starting pitchers are all healthy at the moment.

Abreu pitched one inning against Texas on Sunday, allowing six runs on two hits and four walks while striking out one batter.

Abreu had pitched well this season prior to Sunday, allowing just two earned runs -- both against Toronto on April 21 -- over 12.1 innings. His ERA took a huge hit Sunday, however, jumping from 1.46 to 5.40. The damage was largely due to his inability to find the zone, as he threw only 20 of 41 pitches for a strike and issued four free passes. In fact, the final three batters he faced all reached via walk and eventually came around to score. Abreu struggled with his control last season, posting a 12.8 percent walk rate across 38.2 frames, and he's already issued 10 free passes over his first 13.1 innings in 2023.