MLB Player News

Rodriguez allowed five earned runs on four hits and seven walks while striking out four across 3.2 innings Thursday against the Yankees. He did not factor into the decision.

Rodriguez fought with his control throughout the start, with only 53 of his 100 pitches going for strikes. Though he has battled control for extended periods throughout his career, the seven walks on Thursday were unsurprisingly a career-worst. Even after Thursday's start, Rodriguez has only a 3.14 BB/9, his best mark since 2015. That said, this should be considered an isolated problem for Rodriguez, as he had walked only 2.4 batters per nine innings across his last 15 frames.

Chirinos tossed 4.2 scoreless innings and took the no-decision Thursday, allowing just one hit and a walk while striking out five in the 9-8 loss to Toronto.

After the "opener" Ryne Stanek allowed three straight hits to start the second inning, Chirinos came in and shut the Blue Jays down. The 24-year-old now owns a 3.68 ERA and would've earned the victory had it not been for Tampa Bay's bullpen meltdown in the ninth inning. Chirinos should work another long-relief game sometime next week, likely against the Yankees.

Boyd allowed five runs (two earned) on six hits across 1.1 innings Thursday but escaped with a no-decision in an 11-8 win over the Royals.

Boyd struggled Thursday, but Kansas City starter Jorge Lopez was worse, as he allowed seven runs in his lone inning. The lefty entered the night with a solid 3.75 ERA and 0.94 WHIP since the beginning of August, so perhaps this was just a hiccup and he'll be able to rebound in his next (and likely last) start of the season, which is scheduled for Wednesday against the Twins on the road.

Manager Terry Francona said Carrasco will come in for Trevor Bauer (lower leg) on Tuesday against the White Sox after the latter pitches a few innings, Jordan Bastian of MLB.com reports.

With Bauer attempting to build his arm back up to speed before the start of the postseason, he will take the hill Friday and then again Tuesday in the hopes of gradually increasing his workload. In order to assist the club in getting Bauer as much time as possible on the mound, Carrasco agreed to serve out of the bullpen instead of making a start during the three-game set in Chicago. Looking ahead, the Indians are lining Carrasco up to start Game 1 or 2 of the ALDS as long as everything goes according to plan.

Chirinos is slated to serve as the long man for Thursday's "bullpen day" after opener Ryne Stanek exits, Marc Topkin of the Tampa Bay Times reports.

Chirinos will thus fill what's become his full-time role, one in which he's been relatively effective. The 24-year-old has two wins in three September appearances in such a capacity, with both of those outings the equivalent of a quality start. Chirinos has also encouragingly upped his strikeout rate during the month, generating a 16:4 K:BB across his 18.2 September innings after recording just 18 whiffs over 26.0 frames in August.

Eovaldi will start Monday against the Orioles, then will likely follow Rick Porcello out of the bullpen next Friday against the Yankees, Christopher Smith of MassLive.com reports.

Manager Alex Cora wouldn't commit to Eovaldi being a reliever during the postseason, preferring to see which team the Red Sox will be facing. "We don't know who we're going to play," Cora said. "We're getting ahead of ourselves. You guys know I hate to get ahead of myself. If we win the division we don't know who we're going to play. Who matches up better against [the Yankees] or Oakland or the Rays?" That likely means Cora may prefer to have Eovaldi start if the Yankees are the opponent. The right-hander has a 2.11 ERA and 0.78 WHIP over 21.1 innings in three starts against the Bronx Bombers this season.

Keuchel (11-11) took the loss Wednesday, coughing up five runs on six hits and two walks over five innings while striking out three as the Astros were routed 9-0 by the Mariners.

It marked the third time in his last 10 outings that the southpaw was tagged for five runs, but Keuchel's provided Houston with a quality start in the other seven. Barring any last-minute rotation shuffles to prepare for the playoffs, he's lined up for a potentially productive two-start week to close out the regular season, heading to Toronto on Tuesday before wrapping up the campaign in Baltimore on Sunday.

Carrasco didn't factor into the decision in Wednesday's 4-1 win over the White Sox, allowing one run on four hits and a walk over 6.2 innings while striking out 11.

Despite his third double-digit strikeout performance in his last five starts and seventh of the year, Carrasco was on the hook for his 10th loss before Jason Kipnis came through with a walkoff grand slam. The right-hander is now only nine Ks shy of tying his career high of 226, set in 2017, and he's currently set to wrap up the regular season with two juicy matchups next week -- a road rematch against the White Sox on Monday, and another away start against the Royals on Saturday.

Severino (18-8) picked up the win Wednesday against the Red Sox, allowing one run on six hits and one walk across seven innings. He struck out six.

Severino was in control throughout this one, allowing just one extra-base hit -- which resulted in the only run against him -- en route to his first win and quality start of the month. Prior to Wednesday's outing, the young right-hander hadn't completed seven innings since Aug. 8. Severino has now allowed just two runs over his last two starts (12.2 innings) and will look to carry the momentum into his next outing, which will come on the road against the Rays.

Turnbull (0-1) took the loss Wednesday against the Twins, allowing six runs on six hits and a walk across four innings. He struck out two.

Turnbull struggled in his first career big-league start, allowing four runs in the second inning on a trio of singles, a walk and a balk before conceding another two runs in the fourth inning on a pair of RBI doubles. Despite the shaky results, it looks like Turnbull will get at least one more turn through the rotation with Michael Fulmer (knee) set to undergo season-ending knee surgery. He lines up for rematch against the Twins, this time in Minnesota.