MLB Player News

Ellington (biceps) signed a minor-league contract with the Diamondbacks on Friday, Zach Buchanan of The Athletic Arizona reports.

Ellington had spent his entire professional career in the Marlins organization before being released in early April. He spent time in the majors in each of the last three seasons, tossing 102.2 innings with a 4.65 ERA. He's still dealing with biceps tendinitis so he won't get into game action right away. When healthy, he'll likely join Triple-A Reno and attempt to pitch his way into a low-leverage role in the Diamondbacks' bullpen.

The Diamondbacks optioned Bracho to Triple-A Reno following the big club's 3-1 victory over the Giants on Thursday, the Associated Press reports.

Bracho's demotion will open up a spot on the active roster for Matt Koch, who will be recalled from Triple-A Reno to start Friday's series opener against the Padres. Though he spent less than a week with the Diamondbacks, Bracho made an impression in his lone appearance, striking out a career-high seven batters over three innings of long relief in a loss Sunday to the Dodgers.

Bowman allowed two earned runs on four hits, a walk and a hit batsman over 1.1 innings in a loss to the Cubs on Thursday. He also recorded two strikeouts.

Bowman got himself into some trouble in the fifth, allowing an infield single to Addison Russell that was immediately followed by Jason Heyward's 423-foot home run to right. The right-hander opened April with five consecutive scoreless appearances, but he's now allowed a combined three earned runs in two of his last three trips to the mound. Bowman's four holds have helped fantasy owners rostering him in formats that factor in the metric, but he's otherwise disappointed with a 6.23 ERA and 2.08 WHIP over his first 8.2 innings.

Law was optioned to Triple-A Sacramento on Thursday, Alex Pavlovic of NBC Sports Bay Area reports.

This move clears a spot on the roster with Jeff Samardzija (chest), who is set to come off the disabled list to make his season debut Friday. Law made two very different appearances during his stint with the Giants as he shut the Padres down with two scoreless innings in his first outing before getting tagged for two earned over 1.2 innings just three days later. He'll likely be one of the top considerations to get called back up the next time the Giants need to make a bullpen swap.

Boxberger got the save against the Giants on Thursday, working around two hits and striking out a batter to close out Arizona's 3-1 victory with a scoreless ninth inning.

After giving up two earned runs and taking the loss in his last appearance, Boxberger bounced back and got his sixth save of the season against San Francisco despite giving up a couple of hits. He's now converted all six save opportunities he's had this season and is firmly entrenched as the go-to option for the closer role in Arizona.

Blach (1-3) took the loss against Arizona on Thursday, giving up two earned runs on six hits with four strikeouts and three walks in San Francisco's 3-1 defeat.

Blach pitched well against the Diamondbacks, but he was ultimately out-dueled by Zack Greinke and dealt his third defeat of the season. Aside from a rough outing in his second start of the season against the Mariners that saw him blown up for six earned runs, Blach has fared reasonably well in his other four starts this season and hasn't given up more than three earned in any of them. He's not posting great strikeout totals, though, and he has 12 walks in 26.1 innings, keeping his WHIP at a bloated 1.59.

Peters (2-2) was tagged with the loss in Miami's 12-3 defeat to Milwaukee on Thursday, giving up four earned runs on three hits in 4.2 innings, with five walks and four strikeouts.

After a strong showing against the Pirates in his last start, Peters struggled with his control in this loss to the Brewers - the second time in four starts this year he's failed to record more strikeouts than walks. He does have two quality starts to his name in his other two outings, but the inconsistent command he's demonstrated to this point make him a risky streaming option, especially on the road.

Yates (ankle) was activated off the 10-day disabled list Thursday, Bob Scanlan of FOX Sports San Diego reports.

The Padres optioned the struggling Luis Perdomo down to Triple-A El Paso to clear a spot for Yates as he returns from an ankle injury. Yates cleared his final hurdle in his rehab Wednesday by throwing a live batting practice session and now stands to reclaim his role as the Padres' setup man. He's been a reliable source of strikeouts in recent years, including having a 14.0 K/9 mark in 2017 and a 12.3 K/9 through five appearances in 2018.

The Reds are planning to send Hernandez (shoulder) to Triple-A Louisville on Friday to begin a rehab assignment, Mark Sheldon of MLB.com reports.

Hernandez completed a 25-pitch bullpen session Tuesday and experienced no apparent issues with his right shoulder, so he'll receive the green light to start facing hitters. Since-fired manager Bryan Price said Wednesday that he expected Hernandez to require 2-to-3 outings in the minors before being ready to return from the 10-day disabled list. If that plan still holds, Hernandez could be activated at some point late next week.

Milner pitched two-thirds of an inning Wednesday against the Braves, allowing three earned runs on three hits, an intentional walk and a hit by pitch.

Milner was brought in for a lefty-on-lefty matchup against Freddie Freeman with one out in the eighth inning in an attempt to keep the deficit at two runs. He promptly hit Freeman and allowed three singles and an intentional walk, adding a balk for good measure. His ERA now stands at 7.71 after 4.2 innings. It's obviously a very small sample, but his 5.54 xFIP in 31.1 innings last season already suggested that he may not belong at the big-league level. There are no obvious threats to his roster spot, but another poor outing or two could see the Phillies turn to Zac Curtis, who lost out to Milner for a job in spring training, to fill their second lefty role.