MLB Player News

Blue Jays outfielder Chris Colabello went 0 for 2 with three walks in his team's 10-6 win over the Angels on Monday.

Colabello has been on a roll since being called up, and he's made 13 straight starts while bouncing between left and right field. Though his OPS fell under 1.000 for the first time this season on Monday, he has still hit .396/.453/.542 with one home run and six RBI in 48 at-bats.

Indians first baseman Carlos Santana has been scratched from the lineup for Monday's game against the White Sox due to back spasms, the Cleveland Plain Dealer reports.

Santana was slated to bat second against White Sox lefty Chris Sale, against whom he's 10 for 27 in his career, but he'll instead take a seat with the back issue. Brandon Moss will get the start at first base in his place.

The Indians are underdogs (+112) in Chicago on Monday, per VegasInsider.com.

After taking Sunday's game off to rest, Phillies second baseman Chase Utley and first baseman Ryan Howard were back in the lineup for Monday's game at Colorado, reports CSNPhilly.com. Utley will bat sixth and play second, while Howard returns to the four spot at first base. 

The Phillies are going against right-handed pitcher Jordan Lyles, who is 2-3 with a 4.30 ERA. Howard is 3 for 8 with one double in career against Lyles, while Utley is 2 for 6 with one double.

Utley is hitting .280 with three doubles and three RBI over his last eight games. Over his last 11 games, Howard is hitting .361 with three home runs and six RBI.

The Phillies are the favorites (-100) at Colorado on Monday. 

White Sox first baseman Jose Abreu is cruising along again this season and has nearly brought his average back up to .300 on the year. After dropping down to .267 early in May, Abreu has slowly worked his way back up to .295 with a .496 slugging percentage and a .368 on-base. 

Abreu has six home runs and 22 RBI in 129 at-bats this season.

Marlins first baseman Justin Bour will bat fourth in the lineup on Monday against the Diamondbacks, the first time he has done so this year, the team announced.

Bour, who will make just his fifth start of the year, will replace Michael Morse at first. Marcell Ozuna, the normal cleanup hitter, will slide down to fifth.

"Putting Justin there, putting him in the four hole," manager Dan Jennings said to Fox Sports Florida. "Trying to create some left, right leverage in the lineup. Let's see what happens. As I told these guys. There are 13 position players that are going to be utilized. We'll get guys days off, we'll use the bench, we'll rest our regulars. We all need to be ready to contribute when the bell rings.

J.T. Realmuto also returns to the lineup on Monday after getting the day off Sunday.

The Marlins are currently the favorites (-122) against Arizona.

Indians first baseman Carlos Santana is 0 for 14 over his last four games.

The first baseman has drawn five walks during that stretch, incluidng four on Wednesday. The team gave him a break on Sunday after he had played every inning of the season at first base up to that point.

Santana has hit .220/.365/.341 with four home runs and 20 RBI in 123 at-bats.

It's no longer an experiment. Kole Calhoun is now the permanent cleanup hitter for the Angels.

That was the pronouncement of Mike Scioscia, per the Orange County Register. Calhoun is back in that spot for the Monday game in Toronto after batting cleanup in five consecutive games in late April and early May.

Calhoun has certainly not hit for the power one might expect from a cleanup hitter. He has just three home runs - none since April 23. But he has been productive. He has 18 RBI in 129 at-bats and a strong slash line of .302/.359/.434.

The Angels have flipped players in two prominent lineup spots for Monday's matchup with the Blue Jays, as shortstop Erick Aybar will lead off while right fielder Kole Calhoun bats cleanup.

Aybar will lead off for the ninth time this season. He's spent most of the year batting fifth or lower, but he was the team's cleanup hitter on Saturday for the first time this season and reprised the role Sunday.

"What Erick doesn't bring in patience, working counts, he brings in just athleticism and still gets on base at a rate which hopefully will set the table for Mike (Trout) and Albert (Pujols) moving forward," manager Mike Scioscia said, per MLB.com. "And also, we have Johnny Giavotella pushed back to ninth, to try to connect him with Mike. Hopefully there will be some table-setting there that's happening, and we'll get to the big guys in our lineup. "

Calhoun has made 28 starts in the leadoff spot, but he did bat cleanup five times in a row starting on April 30, with Aybar serving as the leadoff man in all five games. The team went 1-4 during that stretch, losing four straight games before going back to Calhoun at the leadoff spot.

"As much as we really like Kole in the leadoff spot, and in front of Mike, I think what we're presented with right now just makes the most sense to go with it this way," Scioscia said. "Guys have had a lot of time to get into their game and aren't there yet, so we need to start to take a little pressure off our pitching staff."

The Angels are road favorites (-123) in Toronto on Monday, per VegasInsider.com.

Phillies second baseman Chase Utley and first baseman Ryan Howard are not in the lineup for Sunday's matchup with the Diamondbacks.

Utley is 3 for 6 with a walk, two doubles and two RBI in two games since being moved from third to sixth in the lineup, but he'll get a break Sunday, with Andres Blanco filling in at second base and batting second.

Howard had started seven straight games coming into Sunday's contest, hitting .259/.310/.444 with one home run and three RBI in 27 at-bats during that stretch. Darin Ruf is drawing the start at first base.

The Phillies are home underdogs (+115) against the Diamondbacks Sunday, per VegasInsider.com.

Astros first baseman Chris Carter went 1 for 4 at the plate in Houston's 6-5 win over the Blue Jays on Saturday.

Carter, who also struck out three times, ripped a three-run home run off of Jeff Francis in the sixth inning, his sixth of the season.

"We need (Carter) to be productive," manager A.J. Hinch said to the Houston Chronicle. "Unfortunately in baseball when you look at averages and you look and the season as a whole it might look ugly for him for a while.

"It's taken (Carter) a lot of at-bats to get into this range numbers wise in terms of batting average, on-base percentage, things like that. So if you can really evaluate based on quality plate appearances, you're starting to see two out of four, three out of four. We'd like to get four out of four out of him on a nightly basis rather than look at the whole season, see that his numbers are down and then come to a conclusion that way."

Carter is now hitting .158 with 16 RBI in 119 at-bats this season. He has also struck out 54 times in 35 games this season.