MLB Player News

Valdez will remain in a regimented bullpen role for the next two weeks at Triple-A Round Rock, Chandler Rome of the Houston Chronicle reports.

Valdez was sent down to Round Rock on Thursday after making the Astros' roster as a reliever. There weren't many opportunities in Houston for Valdez, a minor-league starter who is inexperienced as a reliever. Couple that Houston's starters are getting deep into games and Valdez was wasting away in the 'pen. "Most of that is on me, just not wanting to use him as a left-handed reliever until I'm a little more confident that he's going to bounce back," manager AJ Hinch said. "We've played so many close games, and he's been a long guy for us, because we've played so many long games, I've had to keep him out of games in case we had to get to extra innings. He wasn't pitching enough." For now, the Astros have moved Brad Peacock into the long-relief role in the bullpen and called up Reymin Guduan to serve as the lefty reliever capable of getting a couple of outs when needed. That gives the organization space to acclimate Valdez to a more traditional lefty-reliever role in the minors.

Verlander (2-0) picked up the win Saturday, allowing one run on two hits over six innings while striking out 11 in a 3-1 victory over the Mariners.

A Mitch Haniger solo shot in the fourth inning was the only blemish on Verlander's line, as he threw 76 of 105 pitches for strikes, including 16 swinging strikes. The right-hander now sports a 3.52 ERA and eye-popping 30:6 K:BB through 23 innings, and he'll look to keep rolling Friday on the road against the Rangers.

Snell threw six shutout innings, allowing just one hit and one walk with nine strikeouts in a no-decision against the Blue Jays on Saturday.

He left with a one-run lead, but the Rays bullpen couldn't hold this one. While that was disappointing, Snell was outstanding again, and he's allowed just one run in his last 19 frames. He also has 33 strikeouts during that stretch. Overall, he is 2-1 with a 2.16 ERA, 0.76 WHIP and 36 strikeouts in 25 innings. His next scheduled start is home against the Red Sox on Friday.

German (3-0) struck out four in a 4-0 win over the White Sox on Saturday, giving up no hits and no walks over two innings of work.

German was being skipped in the rotation and was therefore available out of the bullpen Saturday. His ERA sits at 1.38 and his WHIP is 0.77 for the season with a 14:7 K:BB over 13 innings, and the 26-year-old will slot back into the rotation Thursday at home against the Royals.

Perez will make his first start of the year Monday against Toronto, Do-Hyoung Park of MLB.com reports.

Perez received a bit of late-round sleeper buzz during draft season due to reports of increased velocity. His velocity has indeed been up two ticks in 8.1 innings of relief work this season, with his fastball averaging 94.7 mph. His strikeout rate has more than doubled (to 26.7 percent), but the same can be said of his walk rate (up to 20.0 percent), leading to an ugly 7.56 ERA. To live up to the modest hype, he'll have to hold onto the velocity gains while showing dramatically better control as a starter.

Miley labored through four innings, allowing three runs on six hits and one walk while striking out two in Friday's 10-6 win over the Mariners.

Miley barely survived the first inning, a 41-pitch odyssey that ended with him ceding one run while stranding the bases loaded. He left the game down 3-0, but Houston's offense took the left-hander off the hook with three home runs, including two grand slams. Miley's next slated to pitch Wednesday on the road in Oakland.

Keller (2-1) picked up the win in Friday's 8-1 victory over Cleveland, giving up one run on three hits and five walks over 6.2 innings while striking out 10.

The right-hander danced in and out of trouble in the third and fifth innings, but both times got Hanley Ramirez to ground into fielder's choices with the bases loaded and two outs after intentionally walking Carlos Santana. Keller is now 4-for-4 in delivering quality starts to begin 2019, and he'll take a 2.45 ERA and 23:13 K:BB through 25.2 innings into his next outing, on the road Wednesday against the White Sox.

Carrasco (1-2) took the loss Friday, coughing up six runs on six hits and a walk while recording only two outs -- one via strikeout -- as Cleveland fell 8-1 to the Royals.

Nothing was working for the right-hander, who didn't even get his first out -- a sacrifice fly by Lucas Duda -- until it was already 4-0. Carrasco allowed the Royals to hit for the cycle in his eight batters, with Alex Gordon's two-run homer being the biggest blow, and the outing sent his ERA soaring to 12.60. Carrasco will start trying to dig himself out of that hole Wednesday in Seattle.

Smyly didn't factor into the decision in Friday's 8-6 loss to the A's, getting charged with four runs on four hits and two walks over five-plus innings while striking out five.

The southpaw looked good through five frames, but Smyly put the first three runners aboard to begin the sixth and had to watch all three come around to score after he got the hook. Even then, he was still in line for his first win of the year, but the Rangers' bullpen continued to implode into the later frames. Smyly will take a 7.15 ERA and 11:7 K:BB through 11.1 innings into his next start, at home against the Angels on Wednesday.

Giolito (2-1) allowed six runs (four earned) on six hits while striking out six and walking four across five-plus innings Friday to pick up the win over the Yankees.

The 24-year-old had allowed five runs and trailed through five innings, but the White Sox offense hit a pair of two-run homers to give Giolito the lead in the sixth. He got the hook after allowing the first two batters to reach in the bottom of the frame, and one inherited runner scored. Giolito now has 18 strikeouts in 16 innings, but he also owns a 6.19 ERA and 1.50 WHIP through three starts. His next outing is expected to come Wednesday against the Royals.