MLB Player News

Alonso is batting leadoff Friday against the Rays, Rich Dubroff of BaltimoreBaseball.com reports.

Alonso will be playing in his 1,130th career regular-season game Friday, and it will be the first time he's ever hit leadoff. The star first baseman has been one of the few bright spots for Baltimore this season, slashing .259/.353/.480 with 26 home runs, 77 RBI, 74 runs scored, five stolen bases and a 61:127 BB:K across 524 trips to the plate. Gunnar Henderson has moved down to the fifth spot in the lineup.

Mets interim manager Andy Green said Friday that Vientos (hand) has begun baseball activities, Laura Albanese of Newsday reports.

Vientos is finally ready to ease back into workouts after missing more than a month of action with a fractured right hand. There's no timetable yet for the infielder's return, and he is likely to require a rehab assignment before being reinstated to the active roster.

Bauers went 1-for-4 with a walk, one RBI and one stolen base in Thursday's 5-4 win over the Dodgers.

Bauers delivered an RBI single to give the Brewers the lead in the ninth inning, then stole second in an attempt to help them build on their rally. Bauers had been caught stealing on his previous two attempts, though he has logged three thefts since the All-Star break. On the year, the first baseman is hitting .268 with an .871 OPS, 21 home runs, 68 RBI, 69 runs scored, 17 doubles, two triples and nine steals over 109 contests.

Ortiz went 2-for-4 with a three-run home run and an additional run scored in Thursday's 7-0 win over the Cubs.

Ortiz delivered the biggest blow of Washington's five-run fifth inning, taking Kevin Gausman deep for a three-run homer. The rookie has wasted little time making an impact since his call-up, going deep four times in just 10 games. During that stretch, Ortiz is batting 9-for-28 (.321) with eight RBI, providing an immediate source of power in what was already baseball's top scoring lineup.

Burger is not in the starting lineup Thursday night against the Angels, Shawn McFarland of The Dallas Morning News reports.

Burger will get a night off after he went 1-for-13 with three strikeouts and two RBI over the first three games of the series against Los Angeles. Joc Pederson will slot in at first base and bat leadoff in the series finale.

Stewart went 2-for-3 with a walk, a home run, two RBI and three additional runs scored in Thursday's 9-8 win over the White Sox. He was also hit by a pitch.

Stewart crushed a Davis Martin slider, sending it 419 feet over the fence in left field. It was his 26th home run of the season. In Stewart's next plate appearance in the third, one pitch after Martin threw wild and inside, the right-hander plunked Stewart on the visor of the helmet, which set off a benches-clearing scene and resulted in Martin's ejection. Stewart also had a run-scoring single in the fourth inning and is up to 89 RBI over 120 games.

Freeman is starting at first and batting cleanup Thursday versus Milwaukee after feeling sore following Wednesday's 4-2 win over Kansas City, Kirsten Watson of Spectrum SportsNet LA reports.

Freeman fell into the dugout on the first-base side in an attempt to track a popup in foul territory Wednesday, which resulted in his departure from the game due to soreness in his right hand, knee and shoulder. As Freeman hoped following Wednesday's game, he's in the lineup for the series opener versus the Brewers.

Pasquantino (wrist) went 1-for-5 at the plate Wednesday in his first rehab game with Triple-A Omaha.

After Omaha's game was rained out Tuedsday, Pasquantino began his rehab assignment a day later and played the full game at first base as he works his way back from right wrist soreness. Per MLB.com, the Royals hope to have the 28-year-old play in five games this week, which would put him on track to return from the 10-day injured list as soon as Monday. Pasquantino is slashing .232/.318/.345 with six home runs, four stolen bases, 33 RBI and 34 runs across 336 plate appearances this season.

Murakami is not in the lineup for Thursday's game against the Reds.

The left-handed-hitting slugger will get a day off as the Reds send southpaw Andrew Abbott to the bump. Miguel Vargas will slide over to first base, Colson Montgomery will handle third base, and Luisangel Acuna will enter the lineup at shortstop.

Ortiz went 1-for-2 with a solo home run in Wednesday's loss to the Cubs.

Andres Chaparro got the start at first base against southpaw David Peterson, but Ortiz came off the bench in the sixth inning and took Javier Assad deep. It was Ortiz's third homer in nine games since getting called up after the trade deadline, a stretch in which he's batting .292 (7-for-24) with five RBI while handling the strong side of a platoon at first base.