MLB Player News

Crowe (1-0) allowed one hit and struck out five across 2.1 scoreless innings to earn the win Thursday against the Cubs.

Crowe entered the game in the fourth inning in relief of Bryse Wilson. He struck out five of the eight batters he faced and induced six swinging strikes on a total of 45 pitches. Crowe has yet to allow an earned run across five appearances and 12.1 frames this season while compiling a strong 15:4 K:BB. He has thrown multiple innings in each of his outings, but has been capped at around 50 pitches. As the Pirates search for an optimal combination in their rotation, it's possible Crowe enters the mix if he continues to prove effective in longer stints.

Long is scheduled to start Friday's series opener with the Nationals in Washington, Susan Slusser of the San Francisco Chronicle reports.

Since Long will be returning to the mound on two days' rest and hasn't recorded more than four outs in any of his appearances this season or during spring training, he'll likely be on a very limited pitch count in his first start. The southpaw will be slotting in as the fifth starter temporarily after Alex Cobb went on the injured list Wednesday with a right adductor strain. The Giants are hoping Cobb will be ready to go by the time his next turn in the rotation comes up at the end of the month.

Rodriguez retired the only batter he faced to record his first hold of the season in Thursday's win over the Giants.

After Carlos Carrasco gave up a two-out solo shot to Mike Yastrzemski in the eighth inning and got the hook, Rodriguez came in with the Mets ahead 5-2 and got Brandon Belt to pop out to end the frame. Rodriguez has been used in a situational role this season, working less than one full inning in three of his six appearances, and the journeyman southpaw's 9.64 ERA through 4.2 innings seems mostly a product of bad luck considering his 1.07 WHIP and 7:2 K:BB.

Voth allowed one hit and struck out three in a scoreless inning of relief during Thursday's loss to the Diamondbacks.

Entering the game in the seventh inning with the Nationals down 4-2, Voth put together his best outing of the season to date. After stumbling out of the gate and coughing up six runs (five earned) over his first three appearances, the right-hander has turned things around with a 0.00 ERA and 6:0 K:BB over his last four innings. Voth will need to prove his control and command issues are behind him before he'll work his way into a higher-leverage role, however -- between 2020 and 2021, he served up 24 homers in only 107 big-league innings while issuing 46 free passes.

Bukauskas (shoulder) has resumed throwing, Nick Piecoro of the Arizona Republic reports.

Bukauskas suffered a Grade 2 strain of the teres major muscle in his right shoulder during his lone outing in spring training. The right-hander is playing catch at a distance of 60 feet.

Melancon collected the save, allowing two hits over one scoreless inning in Thursday's 4-3 win over the Nationals.

Melancon got himself into a bit of a jam, loading the bases in the ninth with two outs. Juan Soto swung at Melancon's 0-2 pitched and popped a fly to third base, giving the closer his second save of the season. Despite the shaky inning, Melancon has a firm hold on the closer position for the Diamondbacks.

Wilson did not factor in the decision against the Cubs on Thursday, pitching three innings and allowing three runs on three hits and four walks while striking out two.

The right-hander posted his shortest outing of the campaign in large part due to his lack of control. Wilson issued a season-high four free passes and threw only 35 of 60 pitches for strikes in the brief appearance. The poor outing pushed his season ERA up to 6.35, though he hasn't factored in the decision in any of his three starts. His next trip to the mound is tentatively slated to come at home against Milwaukee on Wednesday.

Hicks (1-1) took the loss against Miami on Thursday, pitching three innings and allowing one run on two hits and two walks while striking out three.

Hicks is working on transitioning from the bullpen to a spot in the rotation, so he was capped at 46 pitches Thursday. The right-hander allowed only a second-inning run and kept the Marlins from registering any extra-base hits, but the Cardinals' offense was shut out, thus handing Hicks his first loss. He'll likely continue to gradually push his pitch count up over his subsequent few starts as he looks to build up to a standard starter's workload. Hicks' next outing is tentatively scheduled to come at home against the Mets early next week.

Leiter allowed two runs on three hits across four innings and did not factor into the decision Thursday against the Pirates. He walked two and struck out three.

This was better than Leiter's first start of the season, when he allowed seven runs across 3.1 innings at Coors Field. A Daniel Vogelbach two-run home run accounted for all of the damage against the righty, who was limited to 72 pitches in his second appearance of the year. Leiter figures to stick in the rotation for now with Wade Miley (elbow) and Alec Mills (back) on the injured list.

VerHagen exited Thursday's game against the Marlins with a hip injury, John Denton of MLB.com reports.

VerHagen entered the game in the fourth inning to relieve Jordan Hicks, but he was only able to complete one frame before the injury flared up. Denton further reported that VerHagen had suffered from the same issue in the middle of spring training, increasing the likelihood of a stint on the injured list.