MLB Player News

Bednar picked up the save in Sunday's 2-0 win over the Reds, striking out a pair in a scoreless ninth inning.

Bednar worked around a two-out Wil Myers single to earn his eighth save on the season and his fourth in Pittsburgh's last six games. Bednar moved past Jordan Romano to claim sole possession of the MLB lead in saves. Bednar has allowed just one run in 11 innings this season, good for a 0.82 ERA. He's 2-0 with 14:1 K:BB.

Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said Sunday that Phillips (personal) will rejoin the team in Pittsburgh in advance of the team's three-game series with the Pirates, David Vassegh of AM 570 LA Sports reports.

Phillips was placed on the paternity list Thursday and has already spent the maximum three games away from the Dodgers. The right-hander should return to a high-leverage role and handle the bulk of the available save chances once he's formally reinstated from the paternity list.

Padres manager Bob Melvin confirmed prior to Saturday's 5-3 win over the Diamondbacks that Martinez will shift to the bullpen following Joe Musgrove's (toe/shoulder) return from the 15-day injured list, Bill Center of MLB.com reports. "We'll have Nick ready in the bullpen pretty quick, too. The very earliest is [Sunday]," Melvin said.

Even though Martinez lowered his ERA and WHIP to 4.01 and 1.22, respectively, after tossing seven scoreless frames and allowing just five baserunners in a win over Atlanta on Wednesday, the return of Musgrove means that the Friars won't have room in the rotation for Martinez or Ryan Weathers, who had also excelled through his first three starts of the campaign. While it's possible the Padres expand their rotation back to six men at some point and look to Martinez to fill the opening, the team will get by with a five-man setup for now with two off days on tap during the upcoming week. Martinez brought some value in a relief role in 2022 -- he accrued a 2.67 ERA, 1.04 WHIP and 15.6 K-BB% while notching eight saves in 54 innings -- but most of those save chances came when the Padres' bullpen situation was more fluid and/or while Josh Hader battled command issues. Hader has righted the ship thus far in 2023 and has re-emerged as one of the game's elite closers, so Martinez doesn't look like he'll offer much more than ratio stabilization in his impending return to the bullpen.

Weathers recorded his first hold of the season after striking out one and allowing one hit over a scoreless seventh inning out of the bullpen in Saturday's 5-3 win over the Diamondbacks.

With Joe Musgrove (toe/shoulder) returning from the 15-day injured list and working five innings in his season debut, Weathers moved into a relief role despite turning in a 2.81 ERA and 1.19 WHIP over his first three starts of the campaign. Though the southpaw is just 23 years old and would be deserving of a spot in nearly any other team's rotation, Weathers will have to settle for bullpen work while the Padres have all of their key starters at full strength. Due to a pair of off days during the upcoming week, the Friars will move from a six-man rotation to a five-man setup, so Nick Martinez is also in line to join Weathers in the bullpen.

The Phillies recalled Marte from Triple-A Lehigh Valley on Sunday.

Marte will provide the Phillies with a fresh arm out of the bullpen for Sunday's series finale with the Rockies while Cristopher Sanchez returns to Lehigh Valley after making a spot start for Philadelphia in Saturday's 4-3 loss. Over 41 career appearances in the big leagues, the 28-year-old Marte owns a 6.43 ERA and 1.59 WHIP across 49 frames.

Nelson allowed one hit and struck out two over one scoreless inning in Saturday's 5-3 loss to San Diego.

Nelson was charged with a blown save, but he was presented with the challenge of getting out of starter Merrill Kelly's none-out, bases loaded jam in the sixth inning. After the first two batters he faced struck out, Ha-Seong Kim's single on a ball hit with a .170 XBA found its way to the outfield to plate two runs. Nelson has pitched well out of the bullpen and earned the high-leverage chance. Even when the left-hander was tagged with Thursday's loss, it was due to two unearned runs thanks to a Nick Ahmed error. Nelson has a 0.93 ERA and 1.24 WHIP with 15 strikeouts and three walks over 9.2 innings.

Puk walked one and struck out one in a scoreless ninth inning Saturday to record his fourth save of the season in the second game of a doubleheader sweep of the Guardians.

After the Marlins took the matinee 6-1. The nightcap proved to be a tighter affair, but Puk was able to preserve a 3-2 victory. Since being scored upon in his Miami debut, the southpaw reliever has reeled off seven straight appearances without allowing an earned run to lock down the closer role, and on the season Puk sports a 1.00 ERA, 0.89 WHIP and 9:2 K:BB through nine innings.

Smeltzer didn't factor into the decision in the first game of Saturday's doubleheader against the Guardians, allowing one run on three hits and a walk over four innings in a 6-1 win. He struck out three.

Making his first start of the season after a couple relief appearances, the former Twin gave the Marlins a solid outing but wasn't able to qualify for the win, exiting after 65 pitches (42 strikes). It was an impressive turnaround for Smeltzer, who served up four homers in his first five innings this year, and with the Miami rotation in tatters right now due to a rash of biceps injuries to Trevor Rogers, Johnny Cueto and Sandy Alcantara, the 27-year-old southpaw could get stretched out further to handle more than just a spot start in a twin bill.

Thompson (1-1) allowed two runs on a hit and a walk while striking out one over two-thirds of an inning, taking the loss Saturday versus the Mariners.

Thompson replaced Miles Mikolas with one out in the sixth inning and finished the frame. In the seventh, Thompson put two batters aboard, and Giovanny Gallegos let them both come around to score. These were the first earned runs on Thompson's line through nine appearances this season. The southpaw owns a 1.80 ERA through 10 innings, but his 1.40 WHIP and 15:5 K:BB aren't all that encouraging. He'll likely continue to serve as a middle-relief option.

Hader earned the save against the Diamondbacks on Saturday with a perfect inning of work.

Hader came on in the bottom of the ninth inning to protect a two-run lead and needed 16 pitches to retire Arizona in order. The left-hander didn't record a strikeout for the first time this season, but he completed his fifth straight scoreless and hitless outing. Hader is tied with David Bednar and Jordan Romano for the MLB lead with seven saves on the campaign.