MLB Player News

Vierling (shoulder) could be activated from the 10-day injured list as soon as Sunday, Chris McCosky of The Detroit News reports.

It sounds like Monday against the Giants is a likelier return date for Vierling, but he could be brought back a day earlier since the Tigers are slated to face lefty Logan Allen of the Guardians on Sunday. Vierling has been sidelined all season with a right rotator cuff strain but has played 11 rehab games, most recently playing all nine innings at third base Wednesday and another full game between third base and right field Thursday, both with Single-A Lakeland. The 28-year-old will have his rehab assignment shifted back to Triple-A Toledo on Friday.

Pena went 1-for-3 with a triple and two RBI on Thursday against the Mariners.

Pena has gone hitless in five of his last seven games, but he made a contribution Thursday. Despite the slow stretch, the shortstop is still batting .321 across 20 contests in May while delivering 13 RBI and seven runs scored.

Fisher (1-0) picked up the win Thursday, recording the final out in the top of the 11th inning in a 7-6 victory over the Padres.

Brendon Little allowed the phantom runner to score in both the 10th and 11th frames, but Fisher retired Elias Diaz to close out the 11th and then fell into the win column when the Blue Jays scored twice in the bottom of the inning. It was Fisher's first career win in the majors in his fifth appearance, and the 24-year-old righty has been very effective so far in a low-leverage role, posting a 0.00 ERA, 0.56 WHIP and 6:0 K:BB in 5.1 innings.

King allowed two hits across a scoreless seventh inning Thursday against the Mariners.

King split 2024 evenly between Houston and Triple-A Sugar Land, but he broke camp with the big-league club this season and has excelled. He has held opponents scoreless in 21 of his 23 appearances and has also tallied 10 holds, the second-highest mark on the team.

Lukes went 1-for-4 with two walks, a run scored and an RBI in Thursday's extra-innings win over the Padres.

The 30-year-old outfielder walked it off in the bottom of the 11th inning with an RBI single through a drawn-in infield. The Blue Jays have gotten little from Anthony Santander (hip) so far this season, but Lukes has filled in admirably of late, slashing .263/.364/.500 over his last 12 games with three homers, seven RBI, eight runs and a 6:5 BB:K.

The Mariners will recall Castano from Triple-A Tacoma prior to Friday's game in Houston, Francys Romero of BeisbolFR.com reports.

Castano holds a 3.43 ERA and 28:19 K:BB over 44.2 innings and 10 appearances (seven starts) with Tacoma this season. He'll give the Mariners' bullpen some length after the team's relievers covered 4.1 innings in Thursday's loss to the Astros. Castano will be making his major-league debut when he gets into a game.

Rasmussen is having his workload restrictions loosened, Marc Topkin of the Tampa Bay Times reports.

Rasmussen missed 15 months following a hybrid procedure to repair the UCL in his right elbow in May of 2023, which was his third career elbow operation, and the Rays have understandably treated him with kid gloves to begin the season. In his last outing against the Brewers on Sunday however, he completed six innings for the first time since his latest surgery. Rasmussen threw only 81 pitches in that outing, has yet to reach the 90-pitch mark this season and has made a start on four days' rest just once. While it's not clear exactly how much his workload will increase, being allowed to pitch deeper into games will improve his counting stats outlook, as well as his odds of collecting wins and quality starts.

Astros general manager Dana Brown said in a recent interview that he hopes to get Arrighetti (thumb) back "somewhere in the month of July," Chandler Rome of The Athletic reports.

Arrighetti has had the cast on his fractured right thumb removed and has begun strengthening exercises. However, he has not yet started up a throwing program, and once he does he will nearly be building up from scratch after suffering the injury April 7. Arrighetti is currently on the 15-day injured list but is a candidate to be shifted to the 60-day IL if the Astros need to free up a spot on their 40-man roster.

Martinez went 2-for-4 with a home run, three RBI and an additional run scored in Thursday's 7-0 win over Detroit.

The 23-year-old extended Cleveland's lead to 3-0 with a solo homer off Jack Flaherty in the fifth inning, his second long ball of the year, before breaking the game open in the ninth with a two-run double. Martinez has started five straight games, going 5-for-19 (.263) with a .724 OPS in that span. Overall, he's slashing .289/.314/.412 with 15 RBI, 14 runs scored and four stolen bases across 122 plate appearances this year.

Bibee (4-4) earned the win Thursday over the Tigers, allowing three hits and a walk across seven scoreless innings. He struck out eight.

Bibee was stellar as he got through seven innings for the third time this year while setting a season high in strikeouts. The 26-year-old righty lowered his ERA to 3.57 with a 1.21 WHIP and 43:18 K:BB across 10 starts (58 innings). He's currently in line for a tough home matchup with the Dodgers in his next outing.