MLB Player News

Hoskins went 1-for-3 with a home run, an additional run scored and two walks in Tuesday's loss against the Yankees.

Hoskins had gone eight straight games without a home run but snapped that skid here with a solo bomb in the second inning off Domingo German. The slugger now has 21 homers on the season and has a realistic shot at posting the second 30-homer campaign of his big-league career. He's also seeing the ball well, as he's hitting .304 with a 1.170 OPS across 56 plate appearances this month.

Tellez isn't starting Wednesday's game against the Royals.

Even with right-hander Brad Keller starting for the Royals on Wednesday, Tellez will retreat to the bench once again. Jace Peterson will start at first base and bat sixth.

Walker isn't starting Wednesday's game against the Pirates.

Walker had started in each of the five games after the All-Star break, and he went 6-for-19 with three doubles, three runs, an RBI, two walks and six strikeouts. He'll get a breather while Pavin Smith takes over at first base and bats fifth.

Diaz (neck) is out of the lineup for Wednesday's game against the Orioles, Marc Topkin of the Tampa Bay Times reports.

The Rays will keep Diaz on the bench for the second day in a row after he was scratched ahead of Tuesday's 9-3 due to neck spasms. Diaz is considered day-to-day, and the Rays are hopeful that with some extra maintenance, he'll be able to avoid a trip to the injured list. Ji-Man Choi will start at first base Wednesday in Diaz's stead.

Lowe 1-for-3 with a run scored in Tuesday's 4-1 loss to Detroit.

Lowe, who scored the Rangers' first run in 28.1 innings when Andy Ibanez doubled him home in the fifth inning, has just two hits over his last 16 at-bats and hasn't driven in a run over the last 13 games. Lowe's .400 slugging percentage ranks him 19th among first baseman with a minimum number of qualified plate appearances.

Gurriel went 3-for-5 with a run scored in Tuesday's 9-3 win over Cleveland.

All three of Gurriel's hits went for singles, and he ended up scoring early in the fifth as part of a six-run inning for the Astros. The 37-year-old has four multi-hit performances this month, but his pop seems to have vanished -- he hasn't hit a home run since June 11. Age continues to be just a number for Gurriel. He's slashing .316/.380/.472 with 10 homers, 57 RBI, 46 runs scored, a steal and a 37:38 BB:K over 376 plate appearances.

Abreu went 3-for-5 with a double, a triple, a home run, four RBI and two additional runs scored in Tuesday's 9-5 win over the Twins.

Abreu did most of the heavy lifting on offense, which is nothing new for the slugger who continued his torrid month of July. He's slashing .328/.384/.672 with 21 RBI over 16 games this month. The RBI surge gives him 75 for the season, second only to Toronto's Vladimir Guerrero.

Vaughn entered Tuesday's game as a pinch hitter and singled in his lone plate appearance during a 9-5 win over the Twins.

The Twins grabbed the lead in the top half of the eighth inning but it was short-lived, as Vaughn, pinch-hitting for Seby Zavala, plated Adam Engel with the tying run before the White Sox tacked on four more scores in the frame. It was just Vaughn's second hit in 18 at-bats since returning from the All-Star break.

Freeman went 2-for-4 with a solo home run in Tuesday's 2-1 win over the Padres.

With the score tied 1-1 in the sixth inning, Freeman drove a 95 mph Yu Darvish fastball on the outside corner over the fence in left field for the game's deciding run. The first baseman is back in MVP form, going yard five times in his last seven games while compiling a .407/.484/.741 slash line in July. The surge has boosted his OPS on the season to .903 with 22 homers and 55 RBI through 92 contests.

Wade went 1-for-3 with a solo home run Tuesday in a loss to the Dodgers.

Wade hit the longest of the Giants' four homers Tuesday, drilling a 413-foot shot to right field in the third inning. The 27-year-old has nine long balls on the campaign, with five coming over his past 18 games.