MLB Player News

Mets shortstop Wilmer Flores hit a solo home run in Thursday's loss to the Cubs. 

Flores went deep with a solo shot in the fourth inning, his fifth of the season, driving in his eleventh run.

After a 1-for-4 day, Flores is hitting .238. 

Phillies first baseman Ryan Howard hit his seventh home run of the season during Thursday afternoon's 4-2 win over the Pirates. 

Howard went yard in the fifth inning off of Radhames Liz, hitting a solo shot to right field. Howard finished the game 3 for 4 as he also recorded two singles. He's now hitting .230/.293/.478 this season. 

Howard is now hitting .293 in his last 12 games. 

Cubs manager Joe Maddon swapped first baseman Anthony Rizzo and third baseman Kris Bryant in the batting order for Thursday's contest against the Mets.

Rizzo, who has been in the No. 3 hole 25 times this season, was moved to the second spot in the order. Bryant will bat third for just the second time this season, and the first time since May 6.

Bryant has homered three times in May, and is hitting .297 (11 for 37) with a double, a triple and nine RBI in his last 10 games. Rizzo is also having a strong month, hitting .347 (17 for 49) with four doubles, one triple, five homers and 10 RBI in 13 games this month.

Chicago is favored (-118) at Wrigley Field against the Mets, per VegasInsider.com.

Diamondbacks first baseman Paul Goldschmidt went 3 for 4 at the plate in Arizona's 9-6 loss to the Nationals on Wednesday. 

Goldschmidt grabbed a single in his first at-bat, a double in his second and a triple in his third. However, Goldschmidt was unable to complete the cycle, striking out and drawing a walk in his final two at-bats. If he would have hit a home run in his fourth at-bat, he would have become the 14th player in baseball history to hit for the cycle in order. 

"We were all thinking he was going to get his home run and get the cycle," manager Chip Hale said to MLB.com. "It just didn't work out."

Goldschmidt is hitting .347 with 28 RBI in 121 at-bats this season.

White Sox first baseman Jose Abreu is out of the starting lineup for the first time this season on Wednesday, the team announced. 

Abreu will be replaced by Adam LaRoche at first with Melky Cabrera taking the third slot in the batting order.

"I would prefer to continue to play, stay in the lineup, but Robin made the decision to give me the day off," Abreu said through an interpreter. "I have to be ready just in case the team needs to me for an at-bat or something."

Abreu is hitting .288 with six home runs and 20 RBI in 118 at-bats this season. The White Sox are currently the underdogs (+110) against Milwaukee.

Phillies' Darin Ruf is starting in left field and batting cleanup on Wednesday against the Pirates. Ruf was out of the lineup each of the last two games with a right-hander on the mound. Ruf is batting just .137 against righties this year. 

But with left-hander Francisco Liriano on the bump Wednesday, Ruf will look to break out of a 6-for-30 slump over his last 10 games. 

Ben Revere will slide over and play center field and Ryan Howard moves down to fifth in the batting order on Wednesday. 

Since being recalled from Triple-A, Blue Jays first baseman/outfielder Chris Colabello has provided an offensive lift, hitting in six of his first seven games. 

Colabello has seven hits in his last three games, lifting his average to .538. Colabello hasn't provided much pop, as 11 of his 14 hits have been singles, but has given Toronto a boost in the lower half of the batting order. 

Colabello has played three games in left field and four games in right, and also can play first base. 

Mets shortstop Wilmer Flores went 1 for 3 at the plate in New York's 4-3 win over the Cubs on Monday. Flores did his damage in the sixth inning, crushing a Jon Lester pitch over the left center field wall for a solo home run, his fourth of the season.

Flores is now hitting .242 with 10 RBI in 91 at-bats this season.

Cubs first baseman Anthony Rizzo went 1 for 4 at the plate in Chicago's 4-3 win over the Mets on Monday. Rizzo did his damage in the first inning when he ripped a solo home run over the right field wall off of Jacob deGrom, his seventh of the season.

Rizzo moved his average to .327 with 19 RBI in 113 at-bats this season.

With the White Sox beginning an interleague series Monday in Milwaukee, designated hitter Adam LaRoche is out of the lineup with Jose Abreu returning to first base. 

LaRoche had played first in Saturday's and Sunday's interleague game against the Reds, but Abreu had DH'd in the American League park. 

It has been previously reported that the White Sox have considered moving Abreu to third base for interleague games with no DH, in order to keep both he and LaRoche in the lineup.