MLB Player News

Law allowed one hit over two scoreless innings in Monday's 5-4 extra-inning win over the Royals.

Law served as Arizona's opener in a bullpen game and set the tone by keeping Kansas City off the board for the first two frames. He faced the minimum in the second thanks to Ildemaro Vargas' diving stop and double play, then handed the game to Jose Cabrera. Law threw 19 pitches, 10 for strikes, as the Diamondbacks' pitching staff combined to blank Kansas City through nine innings. Law made his season debut Aug. 29 and has allowed one run on five hits and a walk while striking out three across 6.2 innings through five appearances.

Whitlock struck out two in a perfect ninth inning to earn the save in Monday's 5-2 win over the Angels.

Whitlock was called upon with Boston holding a three-run lead in the top of the ninth and made quick work of the bottom of the Angels' lineup. He tossed nine of his 15 pitches for strikes and retired all three batters he faced en route to earning his third save of the season. Despite the save, Whitlock should continue as the Red Sox's preferred setup option behind star closer Aroldis Chapman, who wasn't available Monday after pitching three times in the previous four days. Whitlock lowered his ERA to 1.88 with Monday's excellent outing and has held the opposition scoreless in eight of his last nine relief appearances dating back to Aug. 15.

Bello (6-7) earned the win Monday against the Angels after allowing four hits and two walks while striking out seven over five scoreless innings.

Bello returned to the rotation for his first start since June 4 and delivered five shutout frames. His biggest test came in the third when Los Angeles loaded the bases with two outs, but Bello retired Moises Ballesteros to escape without damage. The right-hander recorded his seventh career scoreless start, but it remains to be seen whether he'll stay in the rotation since he'd been thriving out of the bullpen as well. Bello owns a 2.03 ERA and 1.03 WHIP over 62 innings as a reliever, yet he's stretched out enough to mix between both roles down the stretch if the Red Sox need him to do so.

Harris (4-2) allowed one run on one hit and one walk while striking out one over 1.1 innings, taking a blown save but earning the win over the Blue Jays on Monday.

Harris served up a game-tying solo shot to Andres Gimenez in the ninth inning, but he was able to get the win when the Athletics answered back in their half of the frame. This outing ended a 6.2-inning scoreless streak for Harris, who earned three saves and two holds in that span. He's at a 3.45 ERA, 1.47 WHIP and 83:39 K:BB with 15 saves in 22 chances and 12 holds over 62.2 innings this season. Harris and Elvis Alvarado have shared the closing duties for the Athletics recently.

Phillips struck out two in a perfect inning to earn the save in Monday's 6-3 win over the Reds.

This was Phillips' first save of the season. Tanner Scott didn't pitch Sunday, so it's at least somewhat notable that Phillips got the call, even though this was in a fairly low-pressure situation with a three-run lead. Phillips is on a seven-inning scoreless streak that began Aug. 21, while Scott has given up four runs over six innings in that same span. On the year, Phillips has pitched to a 3.48 ERA, 1.16 WHIP and 24:5 K:BB while adding six holds and three blown saves over 20.2 innings. The Dodgers' bullpen has been a little unstable over the last month-plus, so there's a chance Phillips will factor into more save chances down the stretch.

O'Brien allowed an unearned run on a hit and two intentional walks while failing to log a strikeout over one inning, taking a blown save in Monday's 5-4 extra-innings loss to the Giants.

O'Brien has blown two of his four save chances in September. It's part of a longer stretch of shaky pitching in which he's allowed 11 runs (nine earned) over his last six innings. The closer now has a 4.03 ERA, 1.28 WHIP and 57:26 K:BB through 58 innings while converting 36 of 43 save chances on the year.

Smith allowed one run on four hits and a walk over 1.2 innings, taking a blown save in Monday's 5-4 extra-innings win over the Cardinals. He didn't record a strikeout.

Smith entered the contest in the eighth inning, but he was unable to slam the door after staying on for the ninth. Since logging a save Aug. 7 versus the Tigers, Smith has allowed seven runs (five earned) with a 17:6 K:BB over 13 innings, converting three of six save chances in that span. Overall, he has a 3.24 ERA, 1.41 WHIP and 41:16 K:BB through 33.1 innings, adding four saves, seven holds and four blown saves.

Miller earned a save against the Nationals on Monday, allowing one hit and striking out two batters over one scoreless inning.

Miller entered with a one-run lead in the ninth inning and put the tying run on base when Dylan Crews tagged him for a one-out single. However, the All-Star closer followed the hit by striking out CJ Abrams before getting Brady House to ground out. Miller finished August in uncharacteristic fashion by allowing three runs while serving up two homers across two innings over his final two appearances, but he's rebounded by beginning September with three scoreless appearances during which he's posted a 9:1 K:BB across four frames. Miller is up to 34 saves on the season, fourth most in the majors.

Megill earned a save against the Cubs on Monday, allowing one run on one hit over one inning.

Megill had a two-run lead to work with when he entered in the ninth inning, which proved important when he served up a solo homer to Pete Crow-Armstrong with two outs. Megill managed to shrug that off and retire Seiya Suzuki to end the frame and collect his 27th save of the season. The right-hander did see the end of a 15-game stretch without allowing an earned run, but he has now logged 19 successful saves since his last blown save. Megill needs three more saves before the end of the campaign to tie the career-high mark of 30 he established last regular season.

Cornelio will start Tuesday's game against the Padres, Kyle Williams of TheBanner.com reports.

Cornelio has pitched in 12 games out of the Nationals bullpen this season, registering a 5.96 ERA, 1.81 WHIP and 23:21 K:BB across 22.2 frames. Given that he hasn't covered more than 2.2 innings in any of his appearance with Washington or Triple-A Rochester since the All-Star break, Cornelio will be limited from a workload standpoint Tuesday and could be operating as more of an opening pitcher in a bullpen game.