MLB Player News

White Sox first baseman Jose Abreu was back in the lineup for Game 1 of Friday's doubleheader against the Royals, reports MLB.com. He will bat second and play first base.

Abreu was held out of Sunday's game because of a hand and foot issue. Abreu is hitting .321 with two home runs and six RBI in his last 13 games.

Braves general manager John Hart said first baseman Freddie Freeman might not be ready to return to action by the first week of July, according to the Atlanta Journal Constitution. 

Freeman has been out on the disabled list with a wrist injury since June 23 (retroactive to June 18). There was hope that he would be able to rejoin the team by the end of July, but now it appears the middle of August is the best-case scenario.

"It’s more serious than we expected. I’m hoping he’ll be back before the first of August but he may not be," Hart said. "He’s working hard to get back but it’s a slow-healing injury and it still gives him pain when he swings.

"He dinged it, played four or five days with it, and we gave him a few days off. We gave him an injection and thought he would be back in two or three days but it was no better. We did further tests and found it was more serious than we thought."

The Braves are 10-13 since Freeman went down, scoring just under three runs-per game in that span.

Cubs first baseman Anthony Rizzo started at designated hitter in Tuesday's All Star Game, the first Cub to do so since Mark Grace in 1993. 

Rizzo went 0 for 2 in the game and is 0 for 3 in his career. Rizzo played in last year's game as well. 

Rizzo has never started a regular season game at DH in his MLB or minor league career. 

Diamondbacks first baseman Paul Goldschmidt went 1 for 3 in his third All Star Game on Tuesday. 

Goldschmidt scored a run in the game, the first Diamondback to score in the game since Luis Gonzalez in 2005. 

Goldschmidt has started the last two All Star Games and is 2 for 8 in his career. 

The National League released its starting lineup for the 2015 All-Star game on Monday.

Pirates center fielder Andrew McCutchen will bat leadoff and play center. He will be followed by Reds 3B Todd Frazier at third, Nationals OF Bryce Harper in right field, Diamondbacks 1B Paul Goldschmidt at first, Giants catcher Buster Posey will be behind the plate, Cubs 1B Anthony Rizzo will DH, Cardinals infielder Jhonny Peralta will play shortstop, Dodgers OF Joc Pederson will be in left with Rockies infielder DJ LeMahieu at second.

Dodgers pitcher Zack Greinke will be the starting pitcher and face Astros pitcher Dallas Keuchel.

Phillies first baseman Ryan Howard was the team's lone bright spot in a 4-2 loss to the Giants on Sunday, driving in both runs. 

Howard tallied RBI singles in the seventh and ninth innings to increase his RBI total to a team-high 45. In his last 10 games, Howard has driven in nine runs. 

Diamondbacks first baseman Paul Goldschmidt added to his MVP-like start to the season by hitting his 21st home run of the season during Sunday's loss to the Mets.

Goldschmidt went 1 for 4 with a solo blast. He now has a season slash line of .340/.455/.610.

Mets starting pitcher Jonathan Niese did what he had to do to pick up a win on Sunday against the Diamondbacks.

Niese wasn't overly impressive, but he did limit Arizona to just three runs over 6 2/3 innings of work. He struck out three batters and allowed three walks in the process of picking up his fifth win of the year. Niese gave up a home run to MPV candidate Paul Goldschmidt in the fourth inning, but that was about as bad as it got for him.

Niese (5-8) has a 3.61 ERA in 104 2/3 innings this season.

Marlins first baseman Justin Bour went 3 for 4 and drove in three runs in Sunday's win over Cincinnati. 

Bour doubled twice, giving him nine on the year and three in the last two games.

Bour is 5 for 9 with five RBI in the last two games before the All Star Break. 

Jose Abreu isn't in the starting lineup for the White Sox for Sunday's game. The interleague game is in a NL park, so there is no DH for Abreu to play, and Adam LaRoche is starting at first base.

Manager Robin Ventura said that Abreu "needs a day," per the Sun Times due to hand and foot issues.