MLB Player News

Kontos officially joined the Pirates' 25-man roster Monday.

Kontos was claimed by the club over the weekend, and he'll now officially join the team after Dovydas Neverauskas was optioned to Triple-A Indianapolis earlier Monday. Kontos, formerly with the Giants, holds a 2.83 ERA and 1.34 WHIP across 51.2 innings this season.

Robles (fatigue) struck out one in a scoreless inning against the Dodgers on Sunday.

Robles, who has been dealing with general fatigue recently, returned to action after a few days off. He registered his first scoreless outing of the month, bringing his ERA down to 5.17 on the season. The righty remains in a setup role for the Mets.

Neris worked around a hit and a walk to nail down his 11th save with a scoreless ninth inning Sunday in Colorado.

Protecting a one-run lead at Coors Field is never easy, as opposing closer Greg Holland found out in this one. Neris had better luck despite allowing a leadoff bunt single, improving to 11-for-14 in save opportunities while preserving his team's 3-2 advantage.

Hoffman was masterful Sunday against the Phillies, allowing just one run on four hits with one walk and eight strikeouts over seven innings in a no-decision.

Hoffman turned in his best Coors Field outing of the season, with his only blemish coming via a Maikel Franco solo homer in the second inning. Alas, a rare Greg Holland blown save cost the right-hander a win. Still, Hoffman has completely turned things around with just three runs allowed in 13 innings over his past two starts after posting a 9.45 ERA in his previous four. He'll be back on the road for his next appearance Saturday in Miami.

Sims (0-2) allowed four runs on six hits and two walks while striking out three batters through six innings during Sunday's loss to Miami.

Sims is proving to be ready for the highest level with back-to-back respectable starts. His fantasy upside is likely capped, and there are probably going to be ups and downs during his first trip through the majors. However, the 2012 first-round selection has pedigree and strikeout upside on his side. Sims sports a career 10.3 K/9 at Triple-A Gwinnett, after all. The 23-year-old righty lines up to face the Cardinals at Busch Stadium in his next start.

Gsellman (hamstring) yielded six runs (three earned) on seven hits and three walks in 2.2 innings during his rehab start for Double-A Binghamton on Sunday. He struck out one batter in the 69-pitch outing.

Though Gsellman tossed 13 more pitches than he had in his initial rehab start with Binghamton, the results were far worse, which will likely pump the brakes on any talk of the right-hander coming off the disabled list to rejoin the Mets rotation this week. Even when healthy earlier this season, Gsellman was disastrous in a rotation role with the big club, turning in a 6.38 ERA and giving up 13 home runs in 14 starts. As a result, the Mets could earmark Gsellman for relief duty once he's ready to return from the DL.

Giants manager Bruce Bochy said that Melancon (elbow) could make his next minor-league rehab appearance Tuesday, Andrew Baggarly of The San Jose Mercury News reports.

Melancon has already made three appearances with High-A San Jose, breezing through the first two before being lit up for four runs on four hits in 0.2 innings his last time out Friday. Fortunately for the 32-year-old, it doesn't sound like the elbow presented any complication in the poor outing, as he was able to throw a side session Sunday without incident. The Giants will likely want to see Melancon return to dominant form in the minors before bringing him off the disabled list, at which point he could take back closing duties from Sam Dyson.

Nelson (9-5) allowed one run on six hits and two walks over eight innings in Sunday's 2-1 loss to the Rays. He struck out nine and did not factor into the decision.

Nelson outdueled Chris Archer on Sunday, but was stuck with a tough no-decision as the Brewers' ice-cold offense could only manufacture one run and ultimately lost the game on a walkoff home run by Steven Souza in the bottom of the ninth. Nelson lowered his season ERA to 3.24 and has positioned himself as one of the most reliable starting pitchers in the National League this season. The ace's next start will come against the Reds on Friday.

Stephenson was placed on the 10-day disabled list Sunday due to a right shoulder contusion.

Although Stephenson managed to navigate 5.2 innings during his previous start in Pittsburgh, he actually injured his shoulder diving for a ball in that contest. However, John Fay of WCPO.com doesn't believe the injury is very serious, meaning that the right-hander likely will only miss one turn of the rotation. To replace him on the active roster, Lisalverto Bonilla was called up from Louisville.

Hand pitched a perfect inning while striking out one to earn his eighth save Saturday against the Pirates.

Hand was protecting a three-run lead and needed just 12 pitches to shut down the Pirates. Since moving to the closer role on July 23, he's converted each of his five save opportunities, and on the season he owns a 1.93 ERA to go along with a 0.93 WHIP.