MLB Player News

Colome notched his 31st save in Tuesday's 6-4 win over the Astros, pitching a clean ninth inning.

After a trio of relievers before him kept the Astros at bay, Colome carried out his ninth-inning job to perfection, disposing of Carlos Beltran, Evan Gattis and Alex Bregman on 11 pitches. The hard-throwing closer has back-to-back saves after blowing an opportunity versus the Yankees last Thursday, but he's been more erratic over the last six weeks following a strong start to the campaign. Colome has generated a 6.61 ERA, 1.84 WHIP, .371 wOBA and 5.93 xFIP over 16.1 innings since June 20, a stretch during which he's also logged two of his five blown saves.

Martinez (3-4) was hammered for seven runs on eight hits and two walks over 5.1 innings in Tuesday's 8-7 loss to the Mariners. He failed to strike out a batter.

The right-hander dug a 5-0 hole by the third inning that Rangers hitters couldn't quite climb out of, as Martinez threw only 54 of 90 pitches for strikes and didn't seem to be fooling anyone with his stuff. His 5.07 ERA on the year looks fortunate compared to his 6.00 FIP, and with A.J. Griffin (oblique) and Tyson Ross (finger) both close to returning to action, Martinez will likely return to the bullpen or Triple-A in the near future.

Diaz struck out two in a perfect ninth inning Tuesday to pick up his 21st save of the season in an 8-7 win over the Rangers.

The 23-year-old has looked more like his dominant 2016 self since the All-Star break, posting a 1.80 ERA, 0.90 WHIP and 16:4 K:BB in his last 10 innings. Diaz has the raw stuff to emerge as one of the league's elite closers if he can just add some consistency to his profile.

Kimbrel (3-0) gave up two runs on three hits and a walk in the ninth inning Tuesday to blow his fourth save of the year, but he was bailed out by Christian Vazquez's three-run walk-off home run in the bottom of the ninth during a 12-10 win over Cleveland.

On a terrible night for some excellent pitchers, both Kimbrel and his Cleveland counterpart Cody Allen blew save opportunities, but it was the Boston right-hander who came away victorious. It's a testament to Kimbrel's dominance this season that his current 1.61 ERA and 0.67 WHIP are the highest they've been since late April.

Manaea (8-6) pitched just three innings against the Giants on Tuesday, giving up six runs (two earned) on nine hits and a walk in a 10-4 loss.

Things went wrong for him from the very beginning, with Gorkys Hernandez's leadoff double and Yonder Alonso's error two batters later sparking a rally that saw the Giants bat around in the first inning. Of course, outings like this one have been preciously rare for Manaea, who's been turning in generally fantasy-relevant results in his sophomore campaign. He's had some jitters here and there, as all young pitchers do, but fantasy owners should expect the 25-year-old to get back on track soon, with Sunday's start against the Angels presenting a fine opportunity to do so.

Manaea, who has a career-high eight victories this season, has used his slider to dominate hitters of either handedness, Matt Kelly of MLB.com reports.

The young left-hander's considerably wide and low release point has made it difficult for hitters to discern between his fastball and changeup, but his slider has begun to draw plenty of attention in its own right. Manaea has grown increasingly comfortable throwing the pitch, utilizing it 17.5 percent of the time, per Statcast, after only deploying it at a 12.9 percent clip in 2016. Manaea has gotten swings and misses approximately 43 percent of the time and allowed just a .167 average over 86 at-bats when deploying the slider, typically locating it low and inside to right-handed hitters while placing it low and away to lefty bats.

Smith (elbow) could face hitters by Thursday and head out on a rehab assignment over the weekend, Tim Britton of The Providence Journal reports.

Smith was able to get through a simulated game Monday without any issues, bringing him one step closer to returning to game action. Given he's been sidelined for such an extended period of time, the 27-year-old will likely need a lengthy rehab assignment.

Norris (groin) played catch from 120 feet Tuesday, Jason Beck of MLB.com reports.

This is encouraging news, and if all goes well, Norris is hoping to toss a bullpen sometime during Detroit's current road trip. He'll still need to get a couple rehab appearances under his belt before returning to the rotation, so it doesn't look like he'll be ready to return until the second half of August.

Paredes was recalled from Triple-A Salt Lake on Tuesday.

Paredes will take the place of Brooks Pounders on the roster and in the bullpen. The 22-year-old has impressed at Triple-A (2.45 ERA and 35 strikeouts in 33 innings) and owns a 3.86 ERA and 2:2 K:BB in two appearances (4.2 innings) for the big club this season.

Jankowski was recalled from Triple-A Fresno on Tuesday.

Michael Feliz was forced onto the DL with shoulder discomfort, so Jankowski was summoned back to the big club to take his place in the bullpen. The 28-year-old has allowed six runs in 3.1 innings of work for the Astros this season, so he'll likely only see lower-leverage situations during his time up.