MLB Player News

Kittredge will start Friday's game against the Blue Jays, Mark Topkin of The Tampa Bay Times reports.

This will mark the third start of the year for Kittredge as manager Kevin Cash has elected to go with another "bullpen day" during the series opener. During his last start -- which came against Boston on April 8 -- Kittredge allowed one run on two hits while striking out one over two innings of work. Since his longest outing of the year was just 3.1 innings against Boston in late March, it's unlikely that he will be able to last much longer than two or three innings after strictly serving as a reliever the past few weeks.

Yarbrough will no longer take the hill for Friday's game against Toronto, Marc Topkin of The Tampa Bay Times reports.

Manager Kevin Cash elected to go with another "bullpen day" and will give the ball to Andrew Kittredge for the beginning of Friday's contest instead of lining up Yarbrough for his second start of the year. Yarbrough will likely be in line for a few innings during Friday's series opener and could receive the nod to start against the Braves next week, depending on how Cash decides to utilize the left-hander. Over seven appearances this year, Yarbrough has logged a 4.19 ERA and 1.29 WHIP with a 16:10 K:BB in 19.1 innings.

Diaz (0-1) allowed a go-ahead solo home run during his lone inning in Wednesday's loss to the Athletics.

Brought on to preserve a 2-2 tie in the ninth, Diaz had a rare stumble, allowing a leadoff solo home run to Mark Canha that turned out to be the difference in the game. The normally reliable closer had only surrendered a run in one other outing this season prior to Wednesday, and the round tripper was the first he has allowed in 2018. Now having worked a total of three innings over the last four days, Diaz may be unavailable for Thursday's series finale.

Treinen (2-1) fired two scoreless innings in a win over the Mariners on Wednesday, allowing four hits and two walks while recording three strikeouts.

The 29-year-old right-hander was making his first appearance since taking a comebacker to his shin April 24, and he corroborated his health with a 37-pitch outing. Treinen ended up as the pitcher of record following Mark Canha's ninth-inning, go-ahead home run off Mariners closer Edwin Diaz, with Wednesday's outing serving as his sixth multi-inning scoreless effort of the season.

Kittredge fired a scoreless 10th inning in a loss to the Tigers on Wednesday, recording a strikeout.

The right-hander may be settling down after a rocky start to his season, as he's now generated consecutive scoreless outings, and has blanked opposing bats in three of his last four trips to the mound overall. Kittredge's most recent trouble has come in the form of a pair of big innings in relief outings where he's allowed three earned runs apiece. His recent performances provide reason for optimism, even as his ERA (6.23) and WHIP (1.62) still have plenty of room for improvement.

Merritt (arm) will embark on a rehab assignment with Triple-A Columbus on Friday.

Merritt was able to compete in a few extended spring training games but this will be the first time the 26-year-old is back on the mound in a live minor-league game since experiencing a "tired arm" in late March. It seems likely that Merritt will require multiple outings with Columbus before returning to Cleveland, so don't expect to see him back in the majors until mid-May at the earliest.

Andriese (0-1) allowed an earned run on two hits over an inning-plus in an extra-innings loss to the Tigers on Wednesday. He recorded two strikeouts.

Andriese got through the 11th inning without a hitch before immediately running into trouble in the 12th. The right-hander allowed a leadoff triple to JaCoby Jones, which was followed by a John Hicks bunt single that plated the winning run. Andriese had generated three consecutive scoreless outings prior to Wednesday's stumble, but he's now allowed a total of nine earned runs over nine appearances this season.

Mayza was recalled from Triple-A Buffalo and will serve as the Blue Jays' 26th man for the first game of Toronto's doubleheader Thursday in Cleveland, Shi Davidi of Sportsnet.ca reports.

Since both games of the doubleheader were added to the Blue Jays' and Indians' schedules after back-to-back postponements April 14 and 15, the two teams will be allowed to roster 26 players for both the front and back end of the twin bill. Mayza will be available out of the bullpen for Game 1 before likely being optioned back to Buffalo, thereby making room for Triple-A teammate Joe Biagini, who will start Game 2 as the Blue Jays' designated 26th man.

Bukauskas has been placed on the 7-day disabled list with an undisclosed injury, the Quad-City Times reports.

Bukauskas, the Astros' first-round pick in 2017, is 0-2 with a 7.94 ERA in two starts for Low-A Quad Cities.

Pomeranz (1-1) picked up the win Wednesday against the Royals, allowing three runs on eight hits and two walks across six innings while striking out three.

While it wasn't the prettiest performance, Wednesday was a nice step forward for Pomeranz, who notched his first win and quality start of the season after allowing seven runs across 8.2 innings in his first two starts. The southpaw struggled early on in this one, allowing all three runs in the first two innings, but he was able to settle in and blank the Royals over the next four frames. He now owns a 6.14 ERA and 1.70 WHIP through 14.2 innings. Pomeranz will look to build off Wednesday's quality effort in his next start, which is set for Tuesday against the Yankees.