MLB Player News

Keuchel allowed two runs on six hits and one walk while striking out five over five innings Sunday against the Marlins.

Keuchel closed out a successful Grapefruit League circuit with a 2.35 ERA and 1.17 WHIP over 15.1 innings. The left-hander told Brian McTaggart of MLB.com that he was pleased to get his breaking ball over the plate for strikes and recorded a few punchouts with his secondary pitches. Keuchel deemed himself "ready to go and have some fun" when he makes first start of the regular season Friday, March 30, against the Rangers in Arlington.

Snell, who racked up eight strikeouts and allowed four earned runs on seven hits and a walk over 5.2 innings in his final spring start Saturday against the Pirates, earned high marks from manager Kevin Cash for his overall spring performance, Bill Chastain of MLB.com reports. "He's in a good mindset," Cash said. "He's excited for the season. He could not have had a better spring from a work standpoint, and just an overall effort."

The lefty's spring could be considered an extension of his strong finish to 2017, when he went 5-1 with a 2.84 ERA over his final 10 starts. Snell generated a similarly solid 3.12 ERA over five spring turns, and in addition to having the opportunity to refine mechanical issues like location during the exhibition slate, he feels his improved intangibles place him on the precipice of a stellar campaign as much as anything else. "Last year to this year is completely different," Snell said. "Just mindset wise. And where I stand right now, it's way different. I think everyone can tell. Just focus. Ready to go. Been waiting for this season a long time, so definitely excited that it's here now."

Chirinos was informed Sunday that he earned a spot on the Rays' Opening Day roster, Marc Topkin of the Tampa Bay Times reports.

After delivering stellar numbers while splitting time in a starting role between Double-A Montgomery and Triple-A Durham last season, Chirinos will work as a multi-inning reliever for the Rays, who plan to deploy a four-man rotation at least at the outset of this season. While he won't warrant immediate rostering in most deeper mixed settings, Chirinos could be an appealing pickup for fantasy owners looking for ratio stabilization if the right-hander's four-pitch mix plays up out of the bullpen as the Rays anticipate it will.

The Orioles are expected to keep Cortes, a Rule 5 selection in December, on their Opening Day roster, Jon Meoli of The Baltimore Sun reports.

The 23-year-old had been a competing for a spot as the No. 5 starter in the Orioles' rotation during spring training, but with Mike Wright and Miguel Castro seemingly in better position to capture that role, Cortes will instead head to the bullpen, where he'll give Baltimore a second option from the left side. Cortes is expected to see most of his opportunities early in the season in lower-leverage or mop-up situations.

Sale (hip) doesn't believe his injury will cause him to miss Thursday's Opening Day start against the Rays, Chad Jennings of the Boston Herald reports. "Not at all," Sale told reporters when asked if he thinks he'll miss his scheduled first start.

Sale's initial reaction suggested a more serious injury than a bruise, but he said that's because the ball hit him on a nerve and sent immediate pain all the way to his foot. After a few moments, when that pain subsided, the left-hander tried to convince manager Alex Cora to let him stay in the game, but the manager was having none of that.

Rodriguez (knee) struck out three and walked none over three scoreless innings in a minor-league game Saturday, Chad Jennings of the Boston Herald reports.

Rodriguez was making a final push to get himself ready for the first turn of the rotation in the regular season, but the Red Sox backed off that plan and will have him begin the season on the disabled list. Boston has three off-days over the first nine days in April and can give Rodriguez some extra time to build up his pitch count.

Hamels made his final Cactus League appearance Saturday and tossed three scoreless innings against the Indians, Evan Grant of the Dallas Morning News reports.

Hamels was pleased with the explosion of his fastball, which had been lacking in a minor-league outing last week. He allowed six runs over 13 innings against major-league competition but just two over his last 10.2. He'll take the ball Opening Day (March 29) at home against the Astros. After that, he's scheduled to pitch the sixth game of the season (April 3) at the Athletics.

Luzardo (2-0), who was called up to major-league camp for the third time this spring prior to Friday's Cactus League game against the Angels, fired 2.2 scoreless innings in which he allowed three hits and one walk while striking out three.

It wasn't a lay-down lineup on the part of the Angels by any means, either, as the 20-year-old had to contend with the likes of Ian Kinsler, Mike Trout, Justin Upton, Albert Pujols and Zack Cozart, among others. Luzardo, who's yet to work above the Low-A level in the regular season, set Trout down on strikes before being pulled due to his pitch limit, but he left another lasting impression on manager Bob Melvin, Jane Lee of MLB.com reports. "He was really good," Melvin said. "This lineup's going to get your attention. I don't care who you are, but at [20] years old, throwing breaking balls in off counts, up to 97 [mph] that I saw on the radar gun, very poised, it was very impressive to go out and start against this team and look the way he did."

Rodriguez (knee) will begin the season on the disabled list, Jason Mastrodonato of the Boston Herald reports.

The Red Sox had been hoping to build Rodriguez's pitch count enough over the next week to have him ready for the first week of the season, but abandoned that plan Saturday. With Rodriguez and Drew Pomeranz (forearm) both ticketed for the DL, Brian Johnson joins the rotation and Hector Velasquez is presumed to be the fifth starter. Rodriguez's stay on the DL is not expected to be a long one and he could be ready by mid-April.

X-rays on Sale's hip came back negative and manager Alex Cora said he expects the southpaw to be ready to pitch Opening Day against the Rays on Thursday, Pete Abraham of The Boston Globe reports.

This is certainly welcomed news for both parties after Sale was struck by a liner and exited Saturday's spring game with what was later diagnosed as a hip contusion. The ace was never worried about the injury, however, and further tests confirmed he wasn't dealing with anything overly serious. Look for the southpaw to stay on schedule for his Opening Day start Thursday against the Rays.