MLB Player News

The Rangers have placed starting pitcher Nick Martinez on the 15-day disabled list with discomfort on his left side. Martinez had been scheduled to start Tuesday night. The move is retroactive to July 2.

The team has promoted fellow right-hander Phil Irwin to take his place on the roster.

Martinez has struggled with the injury-plagued Rangers. Only two of his last six outings were quality starts as he compiled a 1-6 record and 5.10 ERA.

Athletics pitcher Jesse Chavez earned a win Monday, giving up just four hits and two walks in six scoreless innings and striking out nine in his team's 5-0 victory over the Giants.

Chavez (7-5) turned in back-to-back mediocre outings heading into Monday but brought his A-game against the Giants, matching his best strikeout total of the season while shutting out the opposition for the third time. He owns a 3.06 ERA and 101:34 K:BB ratio in 109 innings going into Saturday's matchup with the Mariners.

Mariners closer Fernando Rodney delivered his 26th save Monday, striking out two during a 1-2-3 ninth inning to finish off his team's 2-0 win over the Twins.

Rodney punched out the first two batters he faced before ending the game with a popout to the shortstop. The closer has surrendered just two runs in 14 2/3 innings since the beginning of June while striking out 16 batters and walking just one during that stretch. He owns a 2.04 EAR and 41:11 K:BB ratio in 35 1/3 innings.

White Sox pitcher Scott Carroll earned a win Monday, giving up just one hit and two walks in 6 2/3 scoreless innings and striking out five in his team's 4-0 victory over the Red Sox.

Carroll (3-5) delivered a season-high in strikeouts while tossing at least six scoreless innings for the second time this season. The only hit he allowed Monday was a leadoff single in the third inning, and his two walks came in the sixth and seventh innings. Carroll owns a 4.52 ERA and 31:23 K:BB ratio in 63 2/3 innings. He's scheduled to face the Indians Saturday.

One day after being named to the American League All-Star team, Yankees pitcher Dellin Betances pitched two scoreless innings to pick up his first career save in Monday's 5-3 win over the Indians.

Betances needed just 15 pitches to rack up six outs, giving up one hit in his two innings of action and striking out one. He's been one of the best relievers in baseball this season, posting a 1.55 ERA, 0.75 WHIP and 79:16 K:BB ratio in 52 1/3 innings.

If not for a dominant start June 25 against the Braves in which he recorded nine strikeouts in seven innings, Collin McHugh probably wouldn't be owned in 54 percent of leagues. While his overall numbers still look good, he hasn't had anything else to hang his hat on since early June. Over his last six starts, he has a 4.45 ERA, 1.33 WHIP and -- here's the killer -- 5.3 walks per nine innings.

Still more than a strikeout per inning, but the Braves are partially to credit for that. They strike out against everybody. Plus, the strikeouts work with the walks to drive up McHugh's pitch count, limiting his quality starts and leaving the bullpen to pick up his victories -- that is, when he pitches well enough to put it in position to do so.

Of course, a six-start trend doesn't condemn a pitcher to being a certain way forever and ever, but for a pitcher who came out of nowhere like McHugh did this year, it's reason for suspicion.

The odds are against him making a significant Fantasy impact pitching for the Astros anyway, so you might want to look into other options.

Red Sox pitcher Rubby De La Rosa is a candidate to make Wednesday's start against the White Sox after being pulled from his last start after just one inning, MLB.com reports.

"We took him out so he would be a candidate for sure," manager John Farrell said Monday. "He and [Anthony] Ranaudo have been throwing the ball well there. But Rubby was shortened for the specific purpose of being a candidate for Wednesday."

De La Rosa did an admirable job while plugging a hole in the rotation in late May and early June, posting a 2.51 ERA and 30:8 K:BB ratio in 32 1/3 innings. He could fill a regular role in the major-league rotation in the near future.

Athletics pitcher Drew Pomeranz will attempt to play catch Monday after receiving good news from an MRI earlier in the day, the San Francisco Chronicle reports.

Pomeranz's broken hand is healing, so he'll look to take the next step in his recovery. Pomeranz suffered the injury in mid-June while taking out some frustrations on a clubhouse chair. The team has added two arms to the rotation via a trade with the Cubs since the injury.

After using him much like a team would use its closer in a tie game Wednesday, the White Sox brought in Zach Putnam to pitch the ninth inning of a one-run game Saturday against the Mariners only to watch him blow it. They'd go on to lose in the 14th inning.

So when they had another save opportunity Sunday against those same Mariners, they instead turned to Jake Petricka ... in the eighth inning, that is.

Because Putnam's blown save wasn't the most epic of meltdowns, especially when you consider one of those runs was charged to Eric Surkamp, and because Petricka wasn't used like a traditional closer Sunday, I'm not sure either is a clear front-runner right now. But I do believe one of the two will get the White Sox's next save.

My guess is Putnam so that the White Sox can keep Petricka available for multiple innings, but both deserve to be owned in leagues where saves are scarce.

With pitcher Nick Martinez feeling discomfort in his left side, the Rangers scratched him from Tuesday's start, reports Fox Sports. The team will call up Phil Irwin from Triple-A Round Rock to make the start against Houston, the report said.

Irwin went 4-1 with a 2.41 ERA in seven appearances, six starts, at Round Rock.