MLB Player News

Altuve sustained a left forearm contusion after being hit by a pitch in Monday's game against the Rangers, Jake Kaplan of the Houston Chronicle reports.

The Astros can breathe a sigh of relief. Consider Altuve day-to-day, as his action could be limited down the stretch with the Astros having already clinched a playoff spot, but he should be ready to go for the postseason.

Altuve left Monday's game after taking a pitch off the left wrist, Brian McTaggart of MLB.com reports.

The Astros have clinched, so this move may have been precautionary, but all the small bones in the hand and wrist make any hit-by-pitch scary. Consider Altuve day-to-day pending evaluation.

Altuve is not in the lineup for Saturday's game against the Angels.

Manager A.J. Hinch is giving several of his top players the day off Saturday, and Altuve is included in that group. Marwin Gonzalez will man the keystone in Altuve's place.

Merrifield went 3-for-5 with a homer, two steals, two RBI and three runs against the Blue Jays on Wednesday.

Although this long ball ended an 18-game power outage for Merrifield, he stayed productive in that stretch, hitting .314 with six doubles, a triple and four steals, not to mention an 8:8 K:BB. The sophomore second baseman has been quite the coup for his lucky/wise fantasy owners, as his lofty totals of 18 home runs and 32 steals alongside a .290 average were not exactly in the preseason forecast.

Espinosa was outrighted from the Rays' 40-man roster Wednesday, Marc Topkin of the Tampa Bay Times reports.

Espinosa was recently designated for assignment to make room on the 40-man roster for the impending return of Xavier Cedeno (forearm) from the 60-day DL. He appeared in just eight games during his brief time with the Rays, hitting a middling .273/.333/.273 with a poor 46 percent strikeout rate.

Semien went 2-for-5 with a double, a home run and three RBI in Wednesday's win over the Tigers.

The 27-year-old accounted for all of the A's offense in a 3-2 victory. He came into Wednesday's game batting .229/.299/.343 with one home run and 19 strikeouts in 70 September at-bats. Semien suffered a wrist injury early in the year, and that was likely a big factor in his power decline this season.

Andrus went 2-for-4 with an RBI in Tuesday's 3-1 win over the Mariners.

Andrus' second base hit of the evening helped put the game on ice for the Rangers, as it drove home Delino DeShields for an insurance run in the top of the eighth inning. It was Andrus' 86th RBI of the season, one of many categories in which the shortstop has established new career highs.

Altuve went 1-for-4 with a home run and two RBI in Tuesday's 3-1 win over the White Sox.

Altuve is putting the finishing touches on his MVP-caliber season. The home run was his 24th, tying his career-high mark set in 2016. The second baseman leads MLB in batting average (.348) while sitting among the top 10 in OBP (.408), OPS (.967) and stolen bases (31).

Barreto will hit leadoff in Tuesday's game against the Tigers.

Barreto has not started a game since Sept. 9, but he will be in there Tuesday and will occupy the top spot in the batting order with Marcus Semien coming off the bench. While Barreto will hit first Tuesday, he figures be challenged by Tigers starter and lefty Chad Bell, as he is just 1-for-15 with a 2:11 BB:K against southpaws this season.

Semien is not in the lineup for Tuesday's game against the Tigers.

Semien notched two hits and three runs in Monday's game, but he will be held out Tuesday with manager Bob Melvin looking to get fellow shortstop Franklin Barreto a start against a left-handed starter. Tuesday's game will be just the second Semien has not started since Aug. 22, so he figures to return to the lineup Wednesday.