MLB Player News

Indians first baseman Carlos Santana hit a solo home run during Thursday's 7-4 loss to the Royals. 

Santana finished the game 1 for 3 with a strikeout. He also drew a walk. Santana now holds a slash line of .242/.402/.396. The home run was Santana's fourth of the season. 

Mets shortstop Wilmer Flores is off to a rough start offensively and defensively in 2015. However, one rival said the Mets should be patient with the 23-year-old infielder, according to CBSSports.com Baseball Insider Jon Heyman.

"There are plenty of teams that would be happy to have Flores playing shortstop," the rival said.

Tim Beckham will make just his third start in the last eight games, as he will be the starting shortstop on Thursday when the Rays take on the Rangers. Beckham, who is batting seventh for manager Kevin Cash, has just six hits in his last 26 at-bats.

Beckham is starting in place of Asdrubal Cabrera, who has just two hits over his last seven games.

Cubs first baseman Anthony Rizzo is off to a stellar start in May. He has hit safely in each of his six appearances this month and has homered three times in that span.

Rizzo, however, has been on a pretty good run for nearly a month now. He has a .377/.495/.675/1.170 slash line over his last 21 games.

"He's just really good right now," Cubs manager Joe Maddon said of Rizzo, per MLB.com. "I think he's one of the top five best at-bats in all of baseball, if you want to look at it that way. At-bat per at-bat, this guy is engaged in every pitch, every pitch. He doesn't give anything away at any time.

"He's one of the few major league players who has a legitimate two-strike approach. It's something I've preached in the past; it's hard to get guys to do it. He has a legitimate two-strike plan, which is beautiful to watch."

Astros first baseman Chris Carter recorded his fourth home run of the season in Wednesday's 11-3 loss to the Rangers. 

Carter crushed a two-run homer over the right field wall in the bottom of the ninth inning. The home run scored Luis Valbuena. Carter finished the game 1 for 3 and also drew a walk. He's now hitting .152/.257/.293 for the season. 

Cubs first baseman Anthony Rizzo drove in three runs to help lead the Cubs to a 6-5 win over the Cardinals on Wednesday.

Rizzo's big hit came when he connected on a two-run home run off Lance Lynn in the third inning. He finished the game 2 for 4 and is now batting .341 on the season.

Phillies first baseman Ryan Howard went 3 for 4 with a walk and a solo home run in his team's 7-5 loss to the Braves Wednesday.

Howard has struggled at the plate for most of the first month of the season, but he's 6 for 12 with a double, a triple and a home run in his last three games. His sixth-inning home run helped key a three-run frame for the Phillies, but they were unable to get any closer to tying the game. Howard has hit .220/.276/.462 with five home runs and 13 RBI in 91 at-bats.

Diamondbacks first baseman Paul Goldschmidt went 2 for 5 with a home run, two RBI and one stolen base in his team's 5-1 win over the Rockies in Game 2 of Wednesday's doubleheader.

Goldschmidt came up hitless in five at-bats in Game 1 of the twin-bill as the teams combined for 20 runs, but he found his way on the scoreboard to help lead his team to a doubleheader sweep Wednesday. The first baseman has hit .340/.431/.610 with seven home runs, 24 RBI and six stolen bases in 100 at-bats.

Blue Jays left fielder Chris Colabello went 4 for 4 with a double, one RBI, two runs scored and one stolen base in his team's 5-1 win over the Yankees Wednesday.

Colabello had a nice debut Tuesday, going 2 for 4 with a double, one RBI and one run, and he came through in an even bigger way Wednesday. The outfielder/first baseman delivered excellent production before his promotion, hitting .337/.421/.554 with five home runs and 18 RBI in 83 at-bats with Triple-A Buffalo. If this continues, he could force himself into regular playing time in Toronto.

Reds first baseman Joey Votto was ejected from Wednesday's game at Pittsburgh after he bumped an umpire, reports ESPN's Baseball Tonight.

Votto was 0 for 2 with one strikeout in the game before being ejected. It is his fifth career ejection.