MLB Player News

Fisher will work as the Blue Jays' opening pitcher for Saturday's game against the Athletics, Keegan Matheson of MLB.com reports.

Fisher will be making his first start at any level since his time with Double-A Tulsa in the Dodgers organization 2023. The 24-year-old righty has been great out of the bullpen since joining the Blue Jays earlier this month, tossing 8.1 shutout innings while striking out 12 batters and walking one. The Blue Jays will likely look to get an inning or two out of Fisher before he turns the came over to the bullpen, with both Eric Lauer and Paxton Schultz representing candidates to cover multiple innings behind Fisher.

Leiter (4-2) picked up the win Friday against the Cardinals after allowing three hits and two walks in 5.2 scoreless innings. He struck out six.

Although he fell one out shy of what would have been his second quality start of the campaign, Leiter still matched a career high in punchouts and submitted his second scoreless outing of the year. The hard-throwing right-hander has issued multiple walks in seven straight appearances and fanned more than five just once during that span, but he's conceded three hits or fewer six times among his nine starts for the season. Leiter holds a steady 3.66 ERA, 1.20 WHIP, 36:23 K:BB and .195 opponent batting average over 46.2 innings, and he's set to take the bump next week against the Rays.

Butler went 2-for-4 with a steal, an RBI double and two runs scored in Friday's 11-7 loss to the Blue Jays.

Butler came home to score in the third and fifth innings before smacking an RBI double in the ninth to bring Denzel Clarke home. Friday marked Butler's 14th multi-hit game of the season, five of which have come over his last nine games. Over that span, he has gone 14-for-37 (.378) with two steals, two home runs and six RBI.

Langeliers went 1-for-3 with a walk and a solo home run in Friday's 11-7 loss to the Blue Jays.

Langeliers cut the Athletics' deficit to three runs in the fourth inning when he took Chris Bassitt deep to left-center field for a 417-foot solo home run. It was Langeliers' 10th home run of the season, which is third most among major-league catchers behind Cal Raleigh (20) and Logan O'Hoppe (14).

Springs (5-4) took the loss against the Blue Jays on Friday, allowing six runs on six hits and six walks while striking out two over two innings.

Springs was able to keep the Blue Jays off the board in the first inning, but he proceeded to yield three runs in both the second and third. He tossed 72 pitches (41 strikes) and could not escape the third inning for the second time this season (12 starts). Springs has a 4.72 ERA and 1.38 WHIP across 61 innings this season. He'll look to get back on track in his next start, tentatively slated for next week at home against Minnesota.

Soriano (4-5) picked up the win Friday after throwing six shutout innings, allowing four hits and four walks. He recorded two strikeouts during the 4-1 victory over the Guardians.

Soriano rebounded nicely from his shortest start in six outings with a shutdown performance against the Guardians. He didn't have his best stuff, tying his season high for walks with four and striking out just two batters, but he was effective nonetheless. That 26-year-old made it six outings in a row allowing three runs or fewer.

Manager Ron Washington said after Friday's game against Cleveland that he expects Stephenson to be fine after Stephenson exited with a biceps injury, Jeff Fletcher of The Orange County Register reports.

Stephenson didn't seem to be too concerned about his injury either, per Fletcher, saying that the issue is in the middle of his biceps rather than near his surgically repaired elbow. He'll attempt to do some throwing Saturday, at which point we may know more about his availability going forward.

Giolito didn't factor into the decision Friday against Atlanta after allowing one run on five hits and two walks in 4.2 innings. He struck out three.

It was a respectable performance from Giolito, who kept the ball in the yard and didn't surrender any extra-base hits. The veteran right-hander has given up six runs on a pair of occasions this season, which has considerably damaged his ratios, and he's reached the fifth inning in just three of his first six appearances while posting quality starts in the other three. Giolito has a 4.78 ERA, 1.44 WHIP and 26:10 K:BB over 32 innings, and he shapes up as a volatile fantasy option versus the Angels in his next scheduled outing.

Ortiz (2-6) was hit with the loss Friday despite allowing just one run on seven hits and two walks while striking out five over six innings in a 4-1 loss against the Angels.

Ortiz probably deserved better after working through six innings and allowing just one run. The Guardians trailed 1-0 when he departed the game, and as a result, he gets tagged with the loss. It continues an unfortunate pattern for the 26-year-old, who has allowed three runs or fewer in four straight starts (2.86 ERA), but is 0-3 over that same timeframe.

Clarke went 2-for-3 with an RBI single and two runs scored during Friday's 11-7 loss to Toronto.

The game was already out of reach for the Athletics heading into the ninth inning, but Clarke gave the A's a bit of a spark with an RBI single before being brought home on a double by Lawrence Butler. It was Clarke's first RBI and multi-hit game of his major-league career. The 25-year-old outfielder has gone 3-for-22 over his first seven games with the Athletics, and he's still adjusting to major-league pitching -- he's struck out 16 times in that span.