MLB Player News

Hudson (elbow) continues to throw bullpens off a mound and face live hitters at the Cardinals' extended spring training facility in Florida, and manager Mike Shildt is holding out hope for a possible late-season return, the Cardinals' official site reports.

Hudson has been consistent in his optimism that he could potentially make a 2021 appearance on a big-league mound following the Tommy John surgery he underwent in September of 2020. He appears to be increasingly willing that possibility into existence, although there are no guarantees at this stage. Nevertheless, the fact that Hudson has now been throwing for multiple weeks without setbacks is encouraging, and if all parties ultimately opt to play it safe with respect to this season, Hudson certainly appears to be a proverbial lock to open the 2022 campaign at full strength.

Hartlieb was optioned to Triple-A Syracuse on Tuesday.

He gave up three runs in one inning during his lone appearance during this brief stay with the big club. Miguel Castro was activated from the COVID-19 IL in a corresponding move.

Castro was reinstated from the COVID-19 injured list prior to Tuesday's game against the Marlins.

He was on the IL due to contact tracing but tested negative, so Castro will be available after missing just one game. The veteran righty has a 3.97 ERA, 1.68 WHIP and 11 strikeouts in 11.1 innings since the start of July.

Boxberger picked up his fourth save of the season Monday against the Pirates after tossing a scoreless outing, allowing one walk and striking out one in two-thirds of an inning.

Boxberger entered the game after John Axford allowed two runs on two hits and a walk across one-third of an inning to begin the ninth, and while he walked Wilmer Difo, he closed things out by striking out Phillip Evans. This was Boxberger's fourth save of the season, but he only got the nod since Josh Hader is out due to the COVID-19 protocols.

Suero was optioned to Triple-A Rochester on Tuesday, Dan Kolko of MASN Sports reports.

Suero's month of July was disastrous, as the right-hander allowed 11 earned runs on 13 hits across 10.2 innings. Things didn't get better to begin August, with the 29-year-old allowing five earned runs across his first two appearances of the month. Now holding a subpar 6.29 ERA on the campaign, Suero will look to right the ship in Rochester in hopes of returning to the big leagues before too long.

Wilson (2-4) was tagged with the loss Monday against the Brewers despite allowing one run on two hits and two walks across five innings.

Wilson now owns a 2-4 record with a 5.35 ERA on the season, but this performance wasn't poor by any means; in fact, it could very well be classified as one of the 23-year-old right-hander's strongest performances of the campaign. He certainly made a good impression in his first start with his new club and should remain a fixture in the team's rotation as long as he remains healthy.

Garcia (3-2) allowed a hit over two scoreless innings to earn the extra-inning win over Arizona on Monday.

Both Jake McGee and Tyler Rogers had been leaned on heavily in the last few days, so Garcia took the mound with the game tied at 8-8 in the ninth inning. After he got the job done in his first inning of work, San Francisco pulled ahead in the 10th before the southpaw added another scoreless inning to complete the win. Since the start of July, he's allowed just one run on five hits and a walk with 14 strikeouts in 13.1 innings. Garcia owns a 2.70 ERA, 0.82 WHIP and 46:12 K:BB across 40 innings, which has made him a high-leverage option for manager Gabe Kapler.

Floro gave up one hit over 1.1 scoreless innings Monday to record his third save of the season in a 6-3 win over the Mets.

With Yimi Garcia now in Houston, the saves picture in Miami may have just gotten a bit clearer. Anthony Bender worked a perfect seventh inning Monday while Anthony Bass struggled in the eighth, loading the bases with two outs and forcing Floro to bail him out before finishing the job in the ninth. Marlins manager Don Mattingly could turn to a committee in save situations, but he preferred having one closer earlier in the season when he leaned on Garcia, and it looks like Floro will get the first chance to fill that role over the final two months.

Axford left Monday's game against the Pirates with elbow pain and will undergo an MRI, Adam McCalvy of MLB.com reports.

After being acquired from the Blue Jays earlier in the day for $1, Axford was added to the Milwaukee roster and summoned from the bullpen for his first MLB appearance since 2018. He didn't look quite right during the outing, as he recorded one out and allowed two runs on two hits, a walk and a hit batsman. Axford will be considered day-to-day until the results of his MRI are known. The Brewers can ill afford to lose any more relievers after recently placing all of Josh Hader, Jake Cousins, Hunter Strickland and Jandel Gustave to the COVID-19 injured list.

Axford left Monday's game against the Pirates with an apparent injury, Todd Rosiak of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reports.

Axford had a rough go of it in his first appearance with Milwaukee since 2013, as he hit a batter, gave up two singles and walked in a run before appearing to suffer an arm injury. He left the contest with the team trainer after recording just one out.