• Jordan Hicks shaky over 5 1/3 against Yankees
    Jordan Hicks gave up eight hits and five runs — four earned — in 5 1/3 innings while picking up a loss to the Giants on Friday.

    Advice: When Hicks wasn’t pitching to Aaron Judge, things went ok. Unfortunately, he pitched to Aaron Judge a few times, and he gave up two homers to the mountain of a slugger. Hicks did give up eight hits in this contest, so it wasn’t just Aaron Judge, but Aaron Judge did most of the damage. This blurb is just an excuse to talk more about Aaron Judge. Hicks will still take a strong 2.70 ERA into a start against the Diamondbacks. The Diamondbacks don’t have Aaron Judge. Rotoworld Yesterday, 9:57 pm
     
  • Suffers first loss
    Blanco (5-1) took the loss Friday against Minnesota, allowing four runs on three hits and three walks over 4.2 innings. He struck out six.

    Advice: Blanco faced 20 batters, marking a season low, not including his May 14 start against Oakland when he was ejected after three innings for a foreign substance. The Houston right-hander also yielded a season-high four runs, pushing his ERA up to 2.44 overall in 59 innings. Blanco is tentatively scheduled to make his next start against the Cardinals at home next week. Rotowire.com Yesterday, 8:31 pm
     
  • Luis Severino allows five runs, wins
    Luis Severino pitched 5 ⅓ innings on Friday against the Diamondbacks and four earned runs with four strikeouts and one walk in a win.

    Advice: Seeing the win is nice, but Severino wasn’t his best on Friday. His velocity was down a tick across the board as the Diamondbacks made plenty of hard contact. Yet, Severino didn’t allow an extra-base hit until the Eugenio Suárez home run that chased him from the game. Keep an eye on whether or not that velocity levels out in his next start. Rotoworld Yesterday, 7:10 pm
  • Sixto Sánchez lifted with lead in fifth
    Sixto Sánchez yielded two runs in four-plus innings Friday in a no-decision against the Rangers.

    Advice: Sánchez, who went without a strikeout tonight, was pulled with a 4-1 lead after giving up a double and a single to start the fifth. Declan Cronin took over then and did a nice job in allowing only one of the runners to score. Sánchez has completed five innings just once seven starts for the Marlins, and he’s still looking for the first victory of his comeback. His ERA stands at 6.06. Rotoworld Yesterday, 7:02 pm
     
  • José Ureña pulled in third in loss to Marlins
    José Ureña lasted just 2 1/3 innings and gave up four runs — two earned — in Friday’s loss to the Marlins.

    Advice: Ureña’s original organization treated him badly tonight, with Nick Gordon hitting a two-run homer off him. Ureña has been decent in his rotation stint for the Rangers, but it’d certainly be best if the team was able to stick him into a middle-relief role in the not-too-distant future. Rotoworld Yesterday, 7:02 pm
     
  • Kenta Maeda struggles in loss to Red Sox on Friday
    Kenta Maeda struggled in Friday night’s loss to the Red Sox, giving up five runs on eight hits over his 4 2/3 innings.

    Advice: On the plus side, Maeda was able to punch out six batters on the night while allowing just two walks. He was able to keep the Red Sox off the board through the first three innings, but they broke through for four runs in the fourth inning — including a three-run blast off the bat of Ceddanne Rafaela. Maeda got 11 swings and misses on 85 pitches on the evening, registering a CSW of 28 percent. He’ll look to improve upon a troublesome 6.25 ERA, 1.41 WHIP and a 30/12 K/BB ratio (40 1/3 innings) when he toes the slab against the Rangers in Arlington on Wednesday. Rotoworld Yesterday, 6:42 pm
  • Sent back down
    Lynch was optioned to Triple-A Omaha after Thursday's 7-6 loss to the Twins.

    Advice: The southpaw was brought up to the majors as a spot starter for Brady Singer (illness) and yielded two earned runs and a pair of homers across five innings Thursday against the Twins. Lynch has been reliable in his 12 big-league innings this season with just those two earned runs allowed, but he'll likely remain at the Triple-A level while the Royals' rotation is at or near full health. Rotowire.com Yesterday, 11:35 am
  • Makes short rehab start
    Rodriguez (back) struck out one and allowed two hits and two walks over 1.2 scoreless innings in his latest rehab start Sunday with Triple-A Buffalo.

    Advice: Making his second rehab appearance for Buffalo, Rodriguez was lifted after just 16 pitches in what was apparently a pre-planned arrangement, per MLB.com. Rodriguez is scheduled to start again for Buffalo on Friday and is expected to work multiple innings, but he'll still likely require at least one more rehab outing beyond that before the Blue Jays bring him back from the 15-day injured list. Prior to landing on the IL on April 30 with thoracic spine inflammation, Rodriguez had been working as a tandem starter with Bowden Francis (forearm), who is also on the IL but is expected to be activated this weekend. Alek Manoah has since taken over the No. 5 spot in the rotation, but after Manoah exited Wednesday's start with an elbow injury that required an MRI, he could be in danger of landing on the IL him self. If that ends up being the case, the Rodriguez/Francis tandem pairing could soon be called upon again. Rotowire.com Yesterday, 8:17 am
  • Back with team, activation imminent
    Medina (knee) returned to the Athletics following his latest rehab start with Triple-A Las Vegas on Tuesday and could be activated during this weekend's series with Atlanta, MLB.com reports.

    Advice: The right-hander has plunked four batters and pitched to plenty of contact on his rehab assignment, allowing 14 hits over eight innings, but Medina topped out at 100.2 mph and averaged 97 mph with his fastball in his Tuesday start. He then proceeded to throw a bullpen session prior to Thursday's extra-innings loss to the Rays, setting him up for activation at some point this weekend. Whether Medina will immediately slot into an injury-riddled Athletics rotation remains to be seen. Rotowire.com Yesterday, 8:03 am
    Luis MedinaOAK - SP,RP
    1:10 pm @ATL