MLB Player News

Severino will take the hill against the Red Sox on Sunday, Meredith Marakovits of YES Network reports.

This decision takes Severino out of the running for the Yankees' Wild Card Game versus Oakland next Wednesday but certainly benefits fantasy owners as the right-hander will make one last start in the regular season. Over his past three starts, Severino has logged a 2.04 ERA and 1.02 WHIP with 18 strikeouts in 17.2 innings.

Rodriguez will not start during the Red Sox's three-game set against the Yankees this weekend, Chad Jennings of The Athletic reports.

As expected, Rodriguez will not take the hill for one last start in 2018 after coming on to pitch out of the bullpen during Wednesday's game versus Baltimore. In that outing, Rodriguez struck out three batters across 1.1 innings in his second relief appearance of the season. Manager Alex Cora said before the game that Rodriguez was expected to pitch an inning of relief within the next couple games, or else he would make a "short start" this weekend. Looking ahead, Cora appears to be gearing Rodriguez up for a relief role during the postseason, so don't expect him to make another start in October. During this weekend's series, Brian Johnson, Nathan Eovaldi and Rick Porcello will start for Boston.

Heaney tossed seven innings of two-run ball Wednesday, giving up seven hits and two walks while racking up 10 strikeouts in a no-decision against Texas.

Heaney rebounded in fine fashion from his rough start against the Astros last time out (six runs over three innings). It was the 27-year-old's fifth outing in which he went at least seven frames while recording double-digit strikeouts. The southpaw did surrender a pair of round trippers for the third consecutive start, bumping his rate up to 1.4 HR/9 on the year. Outside of a pedestrian home-run rate, Heaney's other averages (4.15 ERA, 9.0 K/9 and 2.2 BB/9) have been solid through 180 healthy innings this season.

Sale, who was named Boston's starter for Game 1 of the playoffs, per Jason Mastrodonato of the Boston Herald, experienced a drop in four-seam fastball velocity in Wednesday's start, per BrooksBaseball.net. The left-hander averaged 90.3 mph, down from a season average of 96 mph over the entire season.

It's notable that Sale's fastball velocity has diminished in each start since coming off the disabled list earlier this month, as his workload increased from one inning to three to 3.1 to 4.2 on Wednesday. Sale downplayed the drop, telling Mastrodonato, "I saw some things last week and even tonight, just not really driving off my lower half and really create that torque I have in the past. We've got extended time now to kind of figure out what we need to do and we'll go from there." The good news is that the shoulder is not bothering Sale, and there's time to get his mechanics right before the start of the postseason.

Sale didn't factor into the decision in the second game of Wednesday's doubleheader against the Orioles, giving up three runs on four hits and a walk over 4.2 innings while striking out eight as the Red Sox fell 10-3.

While the southpaw wasn't at his best, he did get stretched out to 92 pitches (58 strikes) and shouldn't have any limitations when Boston begins its playoff run. Sale wraps up the regular season with a 2.11 ERA, 0.86 WHIP and 237:34 K:BB in 158 innings.

McCullers threw a scoreless inning, striking out one batter, in Wednesday's 3-1 loss to the Blue Jays.

McCullers, who was activated from the disabled list earlier this week, made his first appearance since Aug. 4, when he left a start against the Dodgers with a strained right forearm muscle. He needed just 11 pitches to navigate the second, third and fourth hitters in Toronto's lineup. He threw his signature curveball five times, eliciting two swinging strikes, and another called strike. The right-hander will pitch one more time this weekend against Baltimore, after which the organization will evaluate McCullers for a spot on the postseason roster.

Chirinos (5-5) was credited with the win in Wednesday's 8-7 victory over the Yankees, allowing three hits and two walks over four scoreless innings of relief while striking out three.

After Ryne Stanek was tagged for three runs in the first inning as the Rays' opener, Chirinos came on and quieted the Yankees' bats in what's likely to be his final appearance of the season. The 24-year-old has a 3.51 ERA and 75:25 K:BB over 89.2 innings in his first season in the majors. His role on the staff in 2019 has yet to be determined.

Boyd (9-13) took the loss Wednesday, allowing six runs on eight hits and two walks while striking out three over 3.2 innings against the Twins.

Boyd was done in by the long ball, allowing a trio of home runs that accounted for five of the six runs. The southpaw got off to a solid start to September, but he'll finish the season with back-to-back rough outings to leave his ERA at 4.39 -- his highest mark since July.

Bieber (11-5) got the win Wednesday, firing six shutout innings with nine strikeouts against two hits and two walks versus the White Sox.

Bieber was sharp in this one, not allowing his first hit -- an infield single -- until two outs into the fifth inning. With the nine punchouts, the 23-year-old improved his K:BB to an impressive 118:23 over 114.2 innings of work to go along with a 4.55 ERA. Cleveland may elect to shift the rookie to the bullpen for the playoffs, but he will very much be in the mix for a rotation spot come spring training.

Odorizzi allowed four runs on six hits and five walks while striking out three over three innings in Wednesday's win over the Tigers. He did not factor into the decision.

Odorizzi struggled with control, walking at least one batter in all four frames in which he appeared en route to matching a season high with the five walks. The Minnesota bats provided enough offense to bail him out of a loss, but it was still a disappointing finish to the 2018 campaign. The 28-year-old ends the seasons with a career-high 4.49 ERA along with 162:70 K:BB across 164.1 innings.