MLB Player News

Despite suffering his first loss in 16 starts, Stroman (4-1) is not concerned about his performance, or that of the struggling Jays, MLB.com reports.

Known for his ability to induce groundballs -- Stroman's 62.3 percent groundball rate entering the night was tops qualified pitchers in the American League -- it was that same strength which bit the recent Duke University graduate on Tuesday. While Stroman did get nine groundball outs, he also gave up a majority of his hits on hard-hit ground balls and low line drives, and he saw his 11-game unbeaten streak at home come to an end. "That's part of the game, that's baseball," Stroman said about the frustration of the Rays' hitters finding gaps. "You really have to put it in perspective and know that, and do everything you can to wash the start whether it be good or bad, and focus the next four days preparing for the next one. I realize I'm going to have days like that. I never get discouraged regardless of the outing and never take my starts into the next one."

Hamels pitched 6.2 innings, allowing four runs (three earned), nine hits and two walks while striking out six against the Athletics on Tuesday. He gave up three home runs and did not factor in the decision.

After giving up just four home runs over 25 innings in April, the left-hander has now given up five in his last two starts (12.1 innings). Hamels had not given up more than seven hits in a game through his first six starts, but Tuesday was the second consecutive outing in which he allowed nine hits. On a brighter note, Hamels' 9.3 K/9 is the best since his rookie season (2006), he's inducing groundballs at a career-high rate and his 85.7 percent strand rate is well above his career average. He'll toe the rubber next against the Angels on Monday.

Rodon allowed three runs (two earned) on six hits and a walk with seven strikeouts over six innings in a no-decision Tuesday against Houston.

Rodon has three quality starts in his past five appearances and has at least six strikeouts in each of those five starts. The consistency isn't there yet -- he has allowed five runs in three of his eight starts this season. Rodon is racking up the strikeouts, now up to 47 in 45.2 innings, as the 23-year-old is having no trouble missing bats at the MLB level, but his ERA is still an underwhelming 4.73.

Keuchel allowed three runs on six hits and three walks over 6.1 innings with five strikeout in a no-decision Tuesday against the White Sox.

Keuchel picked up a quality start and has two in his past three starts. But still, Keuchel just doesn't have the dominant stuff he featured in last year's Cy Young campaign. Tuesday's start marked the sixth time Keuchel has allowed at least three runs in nine starts; in 33 starts last year, he allowed three runs or more just 11 times. It looks like the league has adjusted, but Keuchel was too good last year not to give him a chance to adjust back in turn.

Stroman (4-1) allowed seven runs on 13 hits and two walks with two strikeouts in 5.2 innings in a loss Tuesday against Tampa Bay.

Stroman's nine-game winning streak finally ended, thanks to five extra-base hits by the Rays (four doubles and a triple). The Rays were hitting an American League worst .228 entering this game and hitters had just a .220 average against Stroman entering this game. The blowup raised Stroman's ERA to 4.23. He has four starts of at least seven innings and two earned runs allowed or fewer in nine appearances this year, but he just hasn't found the consistency yet.

Miley (4-2) threw six shutout innings and allowed just two hits and three walks with a strikeout in Tuesday's win over Baltimore.

Miley now has three quality starts in his past four appearances after allowing 18 runs in 23 innings (7.04 ERA) in his first four. Miley owns a strong 35:12 K:BB and can be forgiven for pitching to contact in Monday's game, as the Mariners gave him 10 runs of support. Miley is nearly recovered from the slow start, as Tuesday's effort lowered his ERA to 4.32.

Rodriguez (knee) is expected to rest a few days and then throw a bullpen session Friday, Mass Live reports.

Rodriguez acknowledged that he's still not feeling fully confident in the stability of the knee, which may have contributed to the reported loss of fastball velocity. Manager John Farrell said the Red Sox "fully expect" Rodriguez will pitch in the majors, but it's unknown how long it will take to get past the soreness or establish stability in the knee. As for his rehab clock, Rodriguez has 11 days left on that. If he's forced to sit out and rest for seven days or longer, they can restart the 30-day rehab clock. Rodriguez's condition allows Farrell to kick the decision about Clay Buchholz's spot in the rotation down the road a bit.

Meyer (shoulder) played catch Monday and is slated to throw again later in the week, LaVelle Neal of the Star Tribune reports.

Meyer was optioned to Triple-A Rochester earlier in May and it has since been reported that he's dealing with some right shoulder fatigue. While it's encouraging that he was able to throw Monday, it's worth noting that he did so off of flat ground and has not yet been cleared to throw off a mound. Meyer is set to throw again later in the week, at which point it should become apparent whether he can progress to throwing bullpen sessions.

Darvish (elbow) is expected to make one more rehab start before rejoining the Rangers' rotation, Fort Worth Star-Telegram reports.

The right-hander made his fourth rehab start for Double-A Frisco on Tuesday, allowing three hits and one walk while striking out six over five innings (68 pitches). He typically sat in the 93-95 mph range with his fastball, but got at high as 97 mph. The tentative target date for his return to the majors is May 27, and he'd have to agree to extend his rehab assignment much beyond that with the 30-day limit expiring on June 1.

Rodriguez (knee) will not make his next scheduled rehab start Thursday, Rob Bradford of WEEI reports.

Rodriguez's lingering knee issues have flared up this week and he will not be able to take the hill for his next scheduled outing. He put together a solid performance in his most recent outing on Saturday, allowing two earned runs over 5.2 innings of work, but his velocity was still reportedly sitting in the low 90s. Manager John Farrell told reporters Tuesday that Rodriguez is still dealing with lingering soreness in his knee, so it's unclear how long he'll be shut down until he can make another rehab appearance.