MLB Player News

Montgomery earned the save Wednesday against the White Sox, striking out two in a clean ninth inning.

Montgomery extended his scoreless streak to 18.1 innings by retiring all three batters he faced Wednesday. The left-hander has now converted save opportunities in his last four outings and is without a loss since June 26, and he has a 0.62 ERA, 0.62 WHIP and 15.5 K/9 in 30 games during that span.

Valdez went 1-for-2 with a solo home run in the win Wednesday against the White Sox.

The rookie outfielder got the start in right field but got pulled for pinch runner Billy Cook in the seventh. Valdez kicked off the scoring with a long ball off Davis Martin in the fifth to give the Pirates a 1-0 lead that they never looked back on. The 22-year-old has not hit well in his last 30 games, batting .178 with three homers and 11 RBI and a 40 percent strikeout rate in 101 at-bats, though he still has an .865 OPS for the season thanks to his power binge earlier in the summer.

Griffin went 1-for-4 with two RBI and two stolen bases Wednesday in the 4-2 win over the White Sox.

Griffin singled home what would become the winning runs of the game in the seventh inning to get his first RBI since coming off the injured list with a torn sagittal band on his left ring finger. The rookie batted leadoff for the fourth straight game and proved he was still going to be aggressive on the basepaths with his 21st and 22nd stolen bases of the season. The 20-year-old is slashing .266/.325/.389 with five home runs and 27 RBI in 64 games so far this season.

Smith will start Thursday's game against the Pirates, James Fegan of the Chicago Sun-Times reports.

All 10 of Smith's major-league appearances have come out of the bullpen, during which the 23-year-old lefty has allowed just one earned run in 16 innings while striking out 23 batters. His strong performance will now buy him the chance to make his first career start in the big leagues, though he may not work deep into Thursday's contest after throwing fewer than 40 pitches in each of his last three outings.

Murakami went 1-for-3 with a solo home run in Wednesday's loss to the Pirates.

Murakami homered off of Luke Weaver in the eighth inning to bring him up to 31 long balls, which is tied for fifth in the American League. The Japanese slugger had a rough August during which he hit only .147 with five home runs in 28 contests, but he's already homered twice through eight games in September. On the season, the 26-year-old is slashing .210/.349/.480 with 63 RBI and 74 runs scored, but he also has 169 strikeouts in 482 plate appearances.

Martin (9-7) took the loss Wednesday against the Pirates, allowing one run on four hits and two walks across five innings. He struck out one.

Martin threw only 68 pitches in his second game back from a blister on his right middle finger, which is an interesting workload given his effectiveness and the fact he threw 80 pitches in his first start back from the IL last week. The right-hander still went five innings and has allowed just one earned run over 10.2 innings since returning from the blister. The 29-year-old is scheduled to make his next start in Cleveland next week.

Neto went 2-for-3 with a three-run home run in Wednesday's 6-4 win over Boston.

Fresh off ripping four hits in Tuesday's victory over the Red Sox, Neto struck again at Fenway Park on Wednesday. That makes it back-to-back games with a homer for the slugging shortstop, who already has four multi-hit efforts in eight September games thus far. Through 630 trips to the plate, Neto is slashing .244/.324/.443 with 25 long balls, 72 RBI, 19 stolen bases and 91 runs scored.

Joyce earned the save against Boston on Wednesday, allowing a run on one hit and one walk in the ninth inning. He struck out one.

The hard-throwing right-hander wasn't sharp, tossing only 13 of his 22 pitches for strikes, but he held on for the save Wednesday. With Jordan Romano in Colorado and Kirby Yates in Pittsburgh, Joyce should continue to be viewed as the favorite for saves in the Angels' bullpen from here on out. He has a 3.18 ERA, 0.97 WHIP and 14:6 K:BB with four saves (five chances) over 11.1 innings so far this year.

Mack went 3-for-5 with a home run, three RBI and an additional run scored during the Marlins' 15-14 loss to the Mets on Wednesday.

Mack helped get the Marlins' offense going in the fourth inning with a two-run single before adding a solo homer in the seventh to reduce Miami's deficit to 14-9. That long ball was Mack's first since Aug. 15 and was his 13th of the season, which is sixth most among National League catchers. He has a .701 OPS with 46 RBI and 22 extra-base hits across 297 plate appearances this season.

Caissie went 2-for-5 with a home run, two RBI and an additional run scored during the Marlins' 15-14 loss to the Mets on Wednesday.

Caissie helped the Marlins pull out of an early 8-0 deficit with a solo home run in the sixth inning before tacking on an RBI single in the eighth. It was the 24-year-old outfielder's first home run since Aug. 13 against the Pirates and 14th of the season. Caissie has a .699 OPS with five steals and 57 RBI over 328 plate appearances this year.