MLB Player News

Sale allowed five runs on 11 hits in six innings Friday, but he still earned his 10th win of the season.

Sale allowed three home runs for just the sixth time in his career, and he allowed a home run to a left-handed batter for just the third time in his career. However, the White Sox offense did enough to give him his 10th win of the season. There has been much written this year about how Sale has succeeded in pitching to contact, so it is worth noting a few recent downgrades behind him (Austin Jackson will be out of center for a while and Tim Anderson is now at short).

Darvish (neck/shoulder) threw in the bullpen Friday as scheduled and remains on track to start Monday in Oakland, TR Sullivan of MLB.com reports.

He'll likely be officially cleared to start if he reports to the park Saturday with no residual soreness.

Gausman didn't factor into the decision against the Blue Jays on Friday, surrendering eight hits, three runs (two earned) and two walks over 6.1 innings. He struck out four.

The 25-year-old failed to notch a victory for the second straight quality start, continuing to leave him winless on the season. Gausman threw 72 of 106 pitches for strikes and kept a potent Blue Jays lineup largely at bay during his time on the mound. The southpaw had given up three homers in back-to-back outings to close out May, but has only given up a single round-tripper over his last 12.1 innings, which encompasses his last pair of starts. He'll face another tough group of bats in his next attempt at a win, as he'll take on the Red Sox in Fenway next Thursday.

Gray (3-6) surrendered five hits, two earned runs and a walk over 7.2 innings in Friday's 2-1 loss to the Reds. He struck out four.

The 26-year-old put together his best outing since April 22, helping to silence the rumors of his season's demise, for at least one night. Gray was highly efficient in turning in his fifth quality start of the season, needing only 92 pitches to get through almost eight innings. Despite the loss, it was a highly encouraging effort for Gray, particularly against a dangerous offense in a hitter's ballpark. The right-hander now has given up only three earned runs over his last 12.2 innings, and will try to secure his first victory since that April 22 outing when he faces the Rangers next Wednesday.

Hill will be shut down for a week in an effort to give him ample time to recover from his groin injury, John Hickey of the Bay Area News Group reports.

Hill has apparently not shown much progress since landing on the disabled list with his groin injury, so the A's will try and see if rest helps him get healthy again. Hill will be eligible to come off the disabled list in just a few days, but with him being shut down, he is now looking at a target return date sometime later this month at the earliest.

Manager Robin Ventura said Rodon (neck) will likely start Sunday against the Royals.

Rodon was in flux after having his last start skipped due to neck soreness, but it appears he will be ready to get back on the mound before the weekend comes to a close. Rodon has started twice against the Royals this season and has allowed just three earned runs over 11.2 innings.

Gibson (shoulder) was reinstated from the 15-day DL.

He's set to start Saturday against the Red Sox. The original plan was for Gibson to return last week, but the club decided to exercise caution and have the righty make a rehab start at the Triple-A level before returning.

Bundy threw 2.1 scoreless innings Thursday, allowing a hit and a walk with three strikeouts to earn the win over the Blue Jays.

Bundy appears to be the primary long relief arm for the Orioles, throwing 51 and 47 pitches in his last two appearances. These appearances represent his two highest pitch counts of the season. The Orioles are on record with the plan to keep him in the bullpen this season and attempt to return him to the rotation in 2017. Expect him to get multiple days off after his long outing.

Stroman continued struggling Thursday, giving up four runs on eight hits over 5.1 innings against Baltimore. He struck out just two and walked one.

The third-year man has now given up a brutal 17 runs (all earned) on 28 hits with an 11:7 K:BB in 16.1 innings spanning his last three starts. That's not the full extent of his struggles, either -- he's given up four or more runs in six of his last nine outings. The good news is that Stroman continues to do a great job keeping the ball on the ground and his poor strand-rate luck won't persist, but he needs to help his own cause by finding a way to fool more hitters. His fastball, cutter and change have all graded out negatively this year, and no pitcher can get by on breaking balls alone. That said, Stroman's a terrific talent who has the ability to adjust and pull out of this tailspin. His next start comes against the light-hitting Phillies on Tuesday, which should help.

Perez (5-4) earned the win Thursday afternoon against the Astros. He tossed six innings, allowing two runs on four hits while walking four and striking out two.

The lefty pushed his record north of .500 with his fourth consecutive win Thursday. He dropped his ERA a hair to 3.22 and, despite a slow start, is well on his way to the best season of his career. All of Perez's wins this year have come at home, but he'll hit the road in his next start Tuesday against Oakland.