MLB Player News

Pirates starting pitcher Gerrit Cole had great stuff in his team's 5-2 win over the Marlins on Wednesday.

Cole (7-2) tossed seven innings, struck out seven batter and allowed just two earned runs in the win.

"It's a big deal. Free passes tend to hurt you," Cole said to MLB.com. "For the most part, just attacking guys and staying down in the zone and forcing early contact keeps guys uncomfortable. It stops rallies."

Cole's two earned runs came on one-run home runs by Justin Bour and Christian Yelich. In 64 innings this season, Cole has allowed just 15 earned runs.

Once Dillon Gee joins the Mets rotation after his last rehab start Wednesday for Double-A Binghamton, the team plans to go to a six-man rotation through at least early August, pitching coach Dan Warthen said Wednesday.

Warthen said the goal is to have the starters make roughly 30 starts instead of the usual 33 during the regular season. The team also wants to be conservative with some of the younger arms -- Matt Harvey, Jacob deGrom and Noah Syndergaard. The other two pitchers in the rotation are veterans Bartolo Colon and Jonathon Niese.

"It is better for the player. It's better for the organization, at least, until we get to where we feel like we have plenty of innings left in September and still have the possibility of innings left in October," Warthen said, per ESPN.

"Our No. 1 concern is our pitchers, and our pitchers staying healthy. We have some other [young] ones -- [prospect Steven] Matz is coming along. We're going to have Syndergaard here, deGrom here, Harvey here. Those are the guys who are the big concerns. As for the other guys, they have to go along with it. It's going to only prolong their careers. From the organization's standpoint, from my standpoint, I think it's a smart thing to do."

Reds starting pitcher Johnny Cueto played catch for about 20 minutes and up to distances about 100 feet on Wednesday. The right-hander underwent an MRI on Tuesday, which indicated no structural damage in his elbow.

"He felt fine. He threw comfortably," Reds head trainer Paul Lessard said. "He's still a little sore from the MRI injection, but other than that, he felt very good. He wasn't really holding back and was throwing pretty firm."

If all goes well Wednesday, Cueto could throw in the bullpen Friday, per MLB.com. If he has no setbacks by Saturday, then Cueto could rejoin the rotation Sunday against the Nationals, manager Bryan Price said.

"He typically throws [in the bullpen] two days before a start. So if he were to start on Sunday, he would throw a bullpen on Friday," Price said. "He would have to get through the bullpen and see how he felt on Saturday before we consider Sunday as an option."

Cueto was scratched from his start Sunday against the Indians due to right elbow stiffness. He is 1-2 with a 4.45 ERA in four May starts. 

With Thursday's off-day, the Phillies will skip rookie Severino Gonzalez's next turn through the rotation, per The Philadelphia Inquirer. Gonzalez was slated to start Sunday against the Rockies.

The rotation for a three-game series vs. Colorado will be Cole Hamels on Friday, Aaron Harang on Saturday and Jerome Williams on Sunday. 

Rockies starting pitcher Jordan Lyles, who is dealing with a toe sprain on his left foot, will rejoin the rotation Sunday against the Phillies, according to MLB.com.

He was bumped from his original start Saturday in order for Jorge De La Rosa to rejoin the rotation after he was scratched Tuesday due to a cut on his hand.

"He's had some strange occurances on the mound," Weiss said to the Denver Post. "But his arm has always been healthy, that's the silver lining I guess."

Lyles is 0-4 with a 7.43 ERA in his last five starts.

It has been a frustrating start to the season for Nationals starting pitcher Stephen Strasburg, who is 3-5 with a 6.50 ERA through his first nine starts.

His ERA has not been lower than 4.50 after a start this season, and manager Matt Williams pinpoints the right-hander's issues on not having a good feel for his fastball.

"The issue has been fastball command," Williams told MLB Network Radio on Wednesday. "The command hasn't been there. For all intents and purposes, he's healthy."

Braves starting pitcher Julio Teheran is not happy with how his season has gone through the first two months of the season. Following Tuesday's loss against the Dodgers, the right-hander has a 4.91 ERA and .303 opponents' batting average through 10 starts.

"I've never gone through this kind of thing," Teheran said, per MLB.com. "But I'm just trying to learn from it and trying to do my best to get through it. Hopefully, I can work hard and get back to where I want to be like I did the past two years."

Teheran is having a lot of struggles against left-handed batters. The right-hander has a 5.66 ERA and .371 opponents' batting average vs. lefties.

"It comes down to execution of pitches," Braves manager Fredi Gonzalez said. "Those pitches he's trying to get to come back against left-handers are getting left right over the middle of the plate. He's not missing barrels. We need to work on that."

Padres starter Odrisamer Despaigne had six shutout innings against the Angels on Tuesday, but he left with a no-decision. 

Despaigne struck out five, allowed five hits and didn't walk a batter. He lowered his ERA to 5.23 with the performance.

The next start for Despaigne is Sunday, against Pittsburgh. 

Braves pitcher Julio Teheran was able to get through the first three innings, but the fourth inning was his undoing during Tuesday's 8-0 loss to the Dodgers.

Teheran allowed six hits which led to six runs during the fourth inning. He also surrendered a two-run home run to Adrian Gonzalez in the fifth inning. He was pulled after giving up eight runs on 10 hits over 4 1/3 innings. He struck out one batter and walked three. The one strike out Tuesday was a season low for Teheran. His ERA went from 3.91 to 4.91.

Tuesday's start broke Teheran's two-game streak of allowing one run in each of his last two starts. His next expected start is scheduled for Sunday at San Francisco.

Dodgers pitcher Clayton Kershaw tossed seven scoreless innings Tuesday to earn his third win of the season during an 8-0 win over the Braves.

Kershaw (3-3) struck out 10 batters and walked none. It was his third time reaching double digit strike outs in a game as well not surrendering a walk this season. He has struck out 27 combined batters in his last three starts. His ERA now stands at 3.86.

His next expected start is scheduled for Monday at Colorado.