Oakland Athletics relief pitcher Domingo Acevedo earned his 18th hold of the season on Sunday in the team's 5-3 win over the Seattle Mariners in the series finale. Acevedo struck out one batter without allowing a hit in his scoreless inning of work. The 28-year-old Dominican right-hander has been strong of late, working four straight scoreless innings. He's allowed just one earned run on four hits while walking none and striking out four in 8 1/3 innings in his eight appearances so far in the month of August. Acevedo is now sporting a 2.93 ERA, 0.90 WHIP, 46 strikeouts and 12 walks in 55 1/3 relief innings for the A's in just his second major league season.

NEW YORK (AP) — The Yankees now have more competition in the job for backup catcher, with Erik Kratz, Josh Thole and Chris Iannetta agreeing to minor league contracts Monday.Austin Romine, Gary Sánchez's backup the last three seasons, became a free agent and agreed to a $4.15 million, one-year contract with Detroit.Kyle Higashioka is the only other catcher on New York's 40-man roster. He hit .214 with three homers and 11 RBIs in 57 plate appearances with the Yankees last year and batted .278 with 20 homers and 56 RBIs at Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre.The 39-year-old Kratz was signed to a minor league deal by the Yankees last June following his release by Tampa Bay and hit .299 with seven homers and 31 RBIs at Scranton. He played for the U.S. team that failed in November to qualify for the Olympics.Thole, 33, hit .243 with three homers and 26 RBIs at Triple-A and Double-A last year. He last appeared in the major leagues with Toronto in 2016.Iannetta, who turns 37 in April, batted .222 with... [More]

NEW YORK (AP) — The Yankees now have more competition in the job for backup catcher, with Erik Kratz, Josh Thole and Chris Iannetta agreeing to minor league contracts Monday.Austin Romine, Gary Sánchez's backup the last three seasons, became a free agent and agreed to a $4.15 million, one-year contract with Detroit.Kyle Higashioka is the only other catcher on New York's 40-man roster. He hit .214 with three homers and 11 RBIs in 57 plate appearances with the Yankees last year and batted .278 with 20 homers and 56 RBIs at Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre.The 39-year-old Kratz was signed to a minor league deal by the Yankees last June following his release by Tampa Bay and hit .299 with seven homers and 31 RBIs at Scranton. He played for the U.S. team that failed in November to qualify for the Olympics.Thole, 33, hit .243 with three homers and 26 RBIs at Triple-A and Double-A last year. He last appeared in the major leagues with Toronto in 2016.Iannetta, who turns 37 in April, batted .222 with... [More]

TAMPA, Fla. (AP) — Aaron Judge got a $62,000 raise from the New York Yankees up to $684,300 in the right fielder's last season before becoming eligible for salary arbitration.Catcher Gary Sanchez was given a $49,400 hike to $669,800 as the team reached agreements with its young players whose salaries are under club control. He also will be eligible for arbitration next winter.Second baseman Gleyber Torres agreed to $605,200, up from last year's $545,000 minimum, and third baseman Miguel Andujar struck a deal for $617,600, an increase from $545,800.Outfielder Clint Frazier, sidelined for most of last season following a concussion, gets $563,300, a slight rise from $559,200. First baseman Luke Voit agreed to $573,200, up from the $546,500 in the majors last year as part of the contract he agreed to with St. Louis, which traded him to New York.All players have split contracts with lower salaries should they be sent to the minor leagues: Judge would get $311,150, Sanchez $310,200, Torres $240,210,... [More]

TAMPA, Fla. (AP) — New York Yankees ace Luis Severino expects to resume a throwing program in two weeks.Severino will miss his scheduled start on opening day on March 28 because of right shoulder inflammation. He was scratched from his first planned start of spring training on Tuesday after feeling discomfort after throwing his first slider in a pregame bullpen session."It's going to be tough for a little bit, but it's better it happened now than into the season or at the end of the season," Severino said Wednesday. "I think it's something that we can treat now and move forward into the season and I'll be able to pitch."Severino underwent an MRI on Tuesday."I wasn't scared because I knew it was nothing bad," Severino said. "Nothing about my shoulder. I think it was something about my muscles."The 25-year-old right-hander will receive a cortisone shot."You get optimistic from the MRI," Yankees general manager Brian Cashman said. "Obviously it's a concerning situation until he's on the mound... [More]

TAMPA, Fla. (AP) — New York Yankees ace Luis Severino expects to resume a throwing program in two weeks.Severino will miss his scheduled opening-day start on March 28 because of right-shoulder inflammation. He was scratched from his first planned spring-training start on Tuesday after feeling discomfort after throwing his first slider in a pregame bullpen session."It's going to be tough for a little bit, but it's better it happened now than into the season or at the end of the season," Severino said Wednesday. "I think it's something that we can treat now and move forward into the season and I'll be able to pitch."Severino underwent an MRI on Tuesday."I wasn't scared because I knew it was nothing bad," Severino said. "Nothing about my shoulder. I think it was something about my muscles."The 25-year-old right-hander will receive a cortisone shot."You get optimistic from the MRI," Yankees general manager Brian Cashman said. "Obviously it's a concerning situation until he's on the mound for... [More]