MLB Player News

Blanco was ejected by third base umpire Laz Diaz during Tuesday’s start against the Athletics, and his glove was confiscated, following a foreign substance check at the outset of the fourth inning. Astros manager Joe Espada told reporters afterwards that Blanco had a mixture of rosin and sweat on his glove hand, which is illegal under league rules. The 30-year-old righty has denied using an illegal substance, but is still facing an automatic 10-game suspension under league rules, which he plans to appeal. There should be a resolution on the matter at some point later this week.

Atlanta needed a fresh arm in the bullpen, so Muñoz gets the call after starting the season with 7 2/3 scoreless innings out of the bullpen at Triple-A.

Dodd was up for one day, threw three shutout innings, and picked up a save. Now he’ll head back to the minors so the Braves can get a fresh arm in their bullpen. We imagine Dodd will get another opportunity soon.

After a rough first start to the season, Tolle has rebounded quickly with impressive Triple-A performances. He threw 63 percent of his pitches for strikes while registering a 25 percent whiff rate and 27 percent CSW. Most of his whiffs still come on his four-seam fastball, but he actually used his cutter more than any other pitch in this one and threw it over one mph harder than he had all season. That’s going to be an important pitch for him against righties, but he still needs to command it better than he has so far this year.

Sale allowed eight hits, but only Rhys Hoskins’ homer in the sixth mattered, and the Braves had a 9-0 lead before that happened. Sale was again right around 96 mph with his fastball tonight. He slipped to 92.5 mph while ill in his second start of the year, but he’s been right near 96 in his other three starts. He’ll likely make his next start in Philadelphia on Saturday.

Dodd, who was called up earlier in the day, was allowed to finish after entering a 9-1 game in the seventh, and the Guardians were kind enough to make things easy on him; he got nine outs on 33 pitches while working on just one day of rest after his last Triple-A outing. His previous 2026 highs for innings were two in spring training and 1 2/3 in the minors.

Bibee, who struck out four and walked one, wasn’t quite crushed in a game in which the Guardians decided to punt defense. (David Fry caught for only the second time this season, and Steven Kwan sat against Chris Sale.) He allowed 11 hits but eight hard-hit balls, only one of which topped 102 mph. It was the bottom half of the Braves order that did most of the damage tonight, as Ozzie Albies, Dominic Smith, Mauricio Dubón and Jorge Mateo combined for seven hits off Bibee, including the lone homer from Smith. Bibee’s ERA stands at 6.38, but his 18/6 K/BB in 18 innings is fine. He still figures to offer some mixed-league value in a nice situation in Cleveland, but his ceiling isn’t what it was. He’ll face the Orioles next.

With his .951 OPS, Mauricio Dubón has been great while filling in for Ha-Seong Kim this season, but Mateo has been even better in his limited chances, going 7-for-15 with a homer and a double. Once Kim and Sean Murphy return, the Braves are actually going to have a quality bench for the first time since their World Series season in 2021.

The Guardians preferred Gabriel Arias to Rocchio at short before he got hurt, and they have a second baseman of the future in Travis Bazzana. It makes one wonder how much longer Rocchio is going to be a part of the team’s plans. He’s out of options now, so they can’t send him down like they did last summer. Despite having struck out just six times, Rocchio is hitting .170/.316/.255 in 58 plate appearances. His defensive numbers have never lived up to his reputation, and he just hasn’t added any power production, even though his exit velocity numbers have improved some since he entered the league. He’s still just 25, but his future doesn’t seem very bright at this point.

This is pretty aggressive. Pham, signed to a minor league deal on Opening Day, didn’t play this spring. His only minor league action consists of him going 2-for-12 in five games in A ball. And he was basically a zero WAR guy the last two years. No word yet on who is going down. Ronny Mauricio would seem to be logical choice, even if it leaves the Mets a little short-handed in the infield.

Murray homered in his first at-bat but was removed for a pinch-hitter before his third, as the White Sox preferred having Andrew Benintendi up against a righty. The 26-year-old is 2-for-14 since being called up a week ago. He’s due to return to the minors when the White Sox get Everson Pereira and Austin Hays back.