MLB Player News

Kelly allowed five runs on nine hits, walking three and striking out eight, but lasted just 4.2 innings in a no-decision against the Blue Jays on Friday night.

Kelly collected an impressive eight strikeouts, but he also struggled with location, needing 94 pitches (just 54 strikes) to record 13 outs. He also served up a pair of home runs as his ERA ballooned to 6.30 on the season. He has good stuff, but fights to maintain consistency, making him a risky fantasy play when he takes on Baltimore in his next start.

Jimenez was transfered from Single-A Lakeland to Double-A Erie Friday, Chris Iott of MLive.com reports.

As one of the Tigers' best pitching prospects, Jimenez is off to a great start to the season and has received this promotion to Double-A as a result. He has allowed just five hits and has recorded 28 strikeouts through his first 17.1 innings this season.

Boxberger (abdomen) surrendered one hit in an otherwise clean inning in Double-A Montgomery's 5-4 victory over the Jackson Generals on Wednesday night. He also struck out a batter.

The hard-throwing closer was actually credited with the hold as well, coming in to the game in the eighth inning and successfully preserving a 3-2 lead. While the outing was certainly another step in the right direction, it remains to be seen if it will be sufficient to warrant Boxberger's return to the major league club without an additional rehab appearance.

Giles picked up his first save as an Astro on Thursday, though not without some misadventure, as he allowed a run on two hits against the Orioles.

With Luke Gregerson having pitched on consecutive days, the Astros turned to Giles for the ninth, finally (if briefly) fulfilling the dreams of fantasy owners who picked him up on draft day. Of course, it was a mixed bag, as he snapped a streak of nine consecutive scoreless appearances while recording the save. Gregerson's given no reason to take his job away and Giles still owns a painful 5.75 ERA, so there's no change currently in the works here.

Santiago lasted just 2.1 innings, allowing six runs (five earned), five hits and two walks while striking out two in Wednesday's loss to the Rangers.

Santiago's ERA has jumped from 3.42 to 4.58 over his last two starts. Through his first 10 starts of the season, Santiago has posted a career-worst 7.04 K/9 and 1.80 HR/9. Pinpointing the cause for his early-season struggles is tough considering his fastball is up a tick, and his control is basically the same as it has always been. He'll look to rebound in his next start Tuesday against the Tigers.

Neal (0-1) was tagged for seven runs on eight hits over just four innings against the Mariners on Wednesday in his first career start.

While the ratios were nice at Triple-A, Neal gives up a ton of contact, and it's often hard contact. He let Adam Lind hit a pair of homers, including a three-run job that capped off a six-run third inning to put the game out of reach. It's hard to imagine the A's rolling him out again in the near future unless they really get desperate in the rotation -- Neal has posted nice ratios in Triple-A, but hardly strikes out anyone, a profile that doesn't generally play in the majors.

McHugh struck out a season-high 10 batters Wednesday, but lasted just 5.1 innings against Baltimore, allowing three runs on eight hits and a walk.

Despite this falling short even of the low standard for a quality start, it's promising to see the 28-year-old righty walk just one while missing plenty of bats for the second straight outing. Unfortunately, McHugh will probably be left remembering the painful ending more than anything else, as he gave up three hits and a wild pitch before being lifted. Fortunately, the Astros went on to win anyway.

Andriese tossed six innings against Miami on Wednesday, allowing three runs on eight hits and a walk while striking out six.

He received no decision in the eventual loss after leaving with the game tied. The six strikeouts marked Andriese's best performance in that category among his four starts in the majors this year -- he'd whiffed just 11 in 21.1 innings coming in. He's missed bats in the minors quite consistently over the last two seasons, so there's some promise here, but expectations should be tempered despite his sparkling 2.63 ERA. His unsustainably excellent BABIP and HR/FB rate in this small sample are sure to see some painful course correction.

Harvey (groin) played catch Wednesday for the first time since undergoing sports hernia surgery on May 2, Jon Meoli of the Baltimore Sun reports.

The oft-injured young pitching prospect entered spring training having just recovered from an elbow issue and a fractured leg before starting to deal with groin issues. He underwent sports hernia surgery to repair the issues, but the amount of downtime he's had since early in spring training led Orioles manager Buck Showalter to suggest that Harvey's arm strength and conditioning is nowhere near game-ready. Harvey will likely continue on a gradual throwing program in order to build up arm strength in hopes of a potential return to the mound in the second half of the season.

Duffey (2-3) allowed five runs on nine hits over 6.2 innings but still managed to capture the victory Wednesday against the Royals. He also struck out five and walked two.

Kansas City scored all five runs versus Duffey in the fourth inning, but Minnesota answered with one in the bottom half of the frame and two more in the fifth to give Duffey a 6-5 lead. After throwing seven shutout innings versus Cleveland on May 15, Duffey has allowed 11 runs in the last 12.1 innings. He owns a 3.93 ERA and .272 batting average against in 36.2 frames this season. His next start will be Tuesday versus Oakland.