MLB Player News

Knack allowed two hits and struck out two without walking a batter over 2.2 scoreless innings to earn the save in Wednesday's 4-2 win over the Royals.

Knack threw 22 of 36 pitches for strikes in this outing. He was recalled from Triple-A Oklahoma City earlier in the day, though the long-relief assignment could lead to him getting optioned out again for a fresh arm as the Dodgers open up a big four-game series against the Brewers on Thursday. With a 5.87 ERA over 7.2 innings across three appearances, Knack is unlikely to see anything more than multi-inning relief assignments when in the majors.

Lynch (4-4) allowed three runs on three hits and struck out three without walking a batter over 2.1 innings, taking the loss Wednesday versus the Dodgers.

Lynch's second turn through the rotation was only marginally better than the first, though he was tagged for home runs by Mookie Betts and Shohei Ohtani. Lynch was able to work his way up to 39 pitches (28 strikes), but he's still got some stretching out to do if the Royals continue to keep him in a starting role. Overall this year, he's at a 2.88 ERA, 1.02 WHIP and 40:14 K:BB through 50 innings across 48 appearances (two starts). Lynch won't be much of a factor in fantasy until he gets to the five-inning mark consistently. His next outing is projected to be at home versus the Athletics.

Mlodzinski (6-5) took the loss Wednesday, giving up four runs on five hits and three walks over 2.1 innings in an 8-2 loss to the Marlins. He struck out one.

Mlodzinski has only pitched 5.1 innings and has given up nine runs in his first two starts since May 25. With Mitch Keller (arm) shut down for the rest of the season, Mlodzinski clearly hasn't been able to capitalize on the recent pair of starting opportunities that development has afforded him. Despite the consecutive rocky outings, the right-hander is likely to remain in the rotation and make his next start next week versus the Tigers.

Perkins (2-9) took the loss Wednesday, surrendering seven runs (six earned) on 12 hits and a walk over five innings as the A's fell 8-4 to the Rays. He struck out two.

A four-run fourth inning, highlighted by a three-run blast from Liam Hicks, put the game out of reach for the A's. Parkins has been tagged for five or more earned runs in three straight starts, and since the beginning of July he's been saddled with a horrific 9.39 ERA, 1.40 WHIP and 32:15 K:BB in 30.2 innings while serving up 10 long balls. With the A's out of the playoff hunt, however, there's little incentive to replace the 26-year-old righty in the rotation, and instead he'll likely be allowed to try and work things out at the big-league level. Perkins is scheduled to make his next start on the road early next week in Kansas City.

Smith struck out three and allowed two hits over 1.1 innings to earn the save in Wednesday's 6-4 win over the Tigers.

Smith allowed Kevin McGonigle to score on a wild pitch in the eighth and then had runners on first and second with one out in the ninth before Brayan Rocchio made an excellent play at short to end the game. This comes a week after Smith's fifth blown save of the year against the Mets. The All-Star notched his first multi-inning save since June 18.

Gomez walked one and gave up a solo home run in the ninth inning Wednesday but still recorded his 17th save of the season in a 7-5 win over the Orioles.

Leody Taveras launched a first-pitch fastball into the right-field seats to open the top of the ninth, but Gomez was able to escape the frame with no further damage. The homer was the first the right-hander had served up since June 29, and since joining the Twins in early May, Gomez has delivered a 2.00 ERA, 1.19 WHIP and 37:18 K:BB through 36 innings while converting all 16 of his save chances.

Varland retired both batters he faced in the ninth inning to earn the save in Wednesday's 6-4 win over the Red Sox.

Varland was summoned with two runners in scoring position and one out after Michael Waldron struggled to open the ninth inning, and the closer quickly slammed the door on just five pitches. Since blowing his first save of the season Thursday, the 28-year-old Varland has picked up a win and two saves over his past three appearances. On the season, he's now converted 26 of 27 save chances while posting a 1.30 ERA, 0.99 WHIP and 76:17 K across 62.1 innings.

Whitlock was unavailable for Wednesday's game against the Blue Jays due to elbow inflammation, Chris Cotillo of MassLive.com reports.

Interim manager Chad Tracy said after the game that Whitlock has been dealing with a nagging elbow issue for a while. The 30-year-old right-hander is scheduled to undergo further evaluation Thursday, at which point the team may know whether he has to spend time on the injured list.

Hader turned in a perfect ninth inning to earn the save in Wednesday's 2-1 win over the Giants.

Hader has been nearly untouchable of late, turning in nine straight hitless appearances (9.2 innings), issuing just two walks while striking out nine in that span. Hader improved to a perfect 17-for-17 in save chances this season while lowering his ERA to 0.96 with a 0.71 WHIP and 38:10 K:BB across 28 innings.

Romano earned the save in Wednesday's 6-4 win over the Diamondbacks, issuing one walk in a scoreless ninth inning.

Romano has now converted six of his last seven save chances, allowing just one run over seven innings in that span. Since joining Colorado, Romano has posted a 3.09 ERA across 11.2 innings with a 1.54 WHIP and 14:7 K:BB.