MLB Player News

Sale will undergo an MRI on his left shoulder Thursday, Mac Cerullo of the Boston Herald reports.

Sale was previously diagnosed with a stress reaction in his left scapula, and the imaging will help determine the severity of the injury. The left-handed hurler is currently on the 60-day injured list and isn't eligible to return until the early portion of August, but a more concrete timeline should be available after the results of the MRI are made public.

Grove will get the start Wednesday at Colorado, Matthew Moreno of DodgerBlue.com reports.

Grove has been serving as a swingman for Los Angeles this season while struggling to a 7.59 ERA across 32 innings. The 26-year-old right-hander makes for a risky fantasy streaming option in Wednesday night's tilt at Coors Field.

Atlanta optioned Shuster to Triple-A Gwinnett on Wednesday.

Shuster allowed four earned over just 3.2 innings in his last start Saturday versus the Reds and heads back to the farm showing a 5.00 ERA, 1.42 WHIP and 25:22 K:BB across his first 45 major-league innings. It looks like Michael Soroka might be joining Atlanta's rotation Friday against Miami and it also appears that Kolby Allard will get another turn next week following his excellent outing Wednesday afternoon against the Twins.

Brito was optioned to Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre by the Yankees on Tuesday.

Brito was optioned immediately following his loss to the Athletics, and he allowed two runs on four hits over 5.2 innings in that effort against Oakland. Ian Hamilton (groin) was reinstated off the 15-day injured list in the corresponding transaction. It's likely Brito will be back with the Yankees and making starts again before the summer comes to an end.

Rutledge was promoted Wednesday to Triple-A Rochester, Bobby Blanco of MASNSports.com reports.

Rutledge was selected by the Nationals with the 17th overall pick in the 2019 MLB Draft, but his prospect shine had faded over the last few years due to injuries and inconsistency. He has turned it all around this season, delivering a 3.16 ERA with 62 strikeouts in 68.1 innings (12 starts) at Double-A Harrisburg to earn the bump to Triple-A. The 24-year-old right-hander could perhaps get the call to Washington before the end of the 2023 campaign and should be a consideration for the Opening Day rotation in 2024.

Soroka could be called up to start Friday against the Marlins, Mark Bowman of MLB.com reports.

Kolby Allard (oblique) has been activated from the injured list to handle Wednesday's series finale versus the Twins, and Atlanta currently has a "TBA" listed for Friday's series opener versus Miami. Soroka seems poised to occupy that spot on several days of rest after tallying nine strikeouts over seven innings of one-run ball in his most recent turn at Triple-A Gwinnett last Thursday. The 25-year-old has posted an encouraging 1.42 ERA with 18 strikeouts in 19 innings (three starts) since being optioned back to the minors in early June.

Despite his awful line in the box score, the Blue Jays felt that Manoah did what he needed to do on the mound during Tuesday's start in the Florida Complex League, Gregor Chisholm of The Toronto Star reports. "I obviously saw the line score and all that stuff, but I heard that the things we were talking about in terms of strike throwing, delivery, tempo, velo were all positive," manager John Schneider said.

While it's easy to view the outing as akin to a spring training start in which the results are less important than a pitcher getting in his work, it's still hard to ignore that Manoah -- who finished third in AL Cy Young Award voting last season -- was giving up homers to teenage hitters, eventually surrendering 11 runs in only 2.2 innings. The right-hander will need to show a lot more progress before he can advance up the minor-league ladder, and his return to the Blue Jays' rotation still appears to be weeks, if not months, away.

Allard (oblique) was activated from the 60-day injured list in advance of his start Wednesday against the Twins.

It's a pretty solid home matchup for Allard, as the Twins lead the majors in strikeout rate (26.9 percent). Allard, who was originally drafted by Atlanta with the No. 14 overall pick in 2015, will be making his first start for the team since 2018, after spending four years with the Rangers. He had a 2.70 ERA, 1.20 WHIP and 8:2 K:BB in 6.2 innings across two rehab starts.

Montgomery (5-7) picked up the win Tuesday, allowing two runs (one earned) on six hits and a walk over 6.2 innings in a 4-2 victory over the Astros. He struck out six.

The southpaw continues to roll. He delivered his fourth straight quality start with another strong performance, and the chronically unlucky Montgomery has managed to get the win in three of them -- an impressive feat for a pitcher who's never recorded double-digit wins in a season. After posting a 1.71 ERA, 0.95 WHIP and 30:6 K:BB through 31.2 innings in June, he'll take plenty of momentum into his next outing, which is likely to be a weekend matchup in St. Louis against his former club, the Yankees.

Valdez (7-6) took the loss Tuesday as the Astros were downed 4-2 by the Cardinals, giving up four runs on eight hits and three walks over six innings. He struck out six.

While the southpaw was able to limit the damage to some extent, Valdez wasn't at his sharpest, uncorking three wild pitches while tossing 61 of 94 pitches for strikes. He also got taken deep by Paul DeJong in the third inning, the first homer Valdez had served up since May 15. He'll carry a 2.49 ERA, 1.05 WHIP and 110:24 K:BB through 105 innings into his next outing, likely to come this weekend on the road against the Rangers.