MLB Player News

Massey is absent from the lineup for Wednesday's game versus the White Sox.

The White Sox have a right-hander in Drew Thorpe on the rubber, but the left-handed-hitting Massey will nonetheless begin the contest on the bench. With Massey out of the lineup, Freddy Fermin will serve as the Royals' designated hitter, while Maikel Garcia starts at second base.

Polanco went 2-for-4 with a solo home run, an RBI double and two additional runs scored during Tuesday's 10-6 win over the Red Sox.

Polanco lifted his 10th homer of the season Tuesday, tagging James Paxton for a solo shot in the fourth inning. The second baseman has been hot at the plate, clubbing four homers in his last five games and going a combined 7-for-19 with eight RBI and eight runs scored during that stretch. On the year, Polanco has recorded career worsts in OPS (.649) and strikeout rate (30.5 percent).

Lopez went 2-for-3 with a triple, two runs scored and a walk Tuesday against the Royals.

Lopez led off for the third straight contest and has tallied at least one hit on each occasion while scoring three runs. He has just a .049 ISO across 320 plate appearances for the season, though he has only a 14.7 percent strikeout rate and a 7.7 percent walk rate. If Lopez sticks as the leadoff hitter, he could be a decent source of runs for the final two months of the campaign.

Morel went 1-for-4 with a solo home run and an additional run scored during Tuesday's 9-3 win over the Marlins.

Morel went yard in his second at-bat as a Ray, tagging Edward Cabrera for a solo homer in the fourth inning. Morel drew the start at second base Tuesday, his first time playing the position this season after working as a third baseman and DH for the Cubs. Tuesday's homer was Morel's 19th of the season, and he's slashing .199/.303/.380 with 52 RBI and 45 runs across 426 plate appearances.

The Orioles transferred Mateo (elbow) from the 10-day injured list to the 60-day IL on Tuesday, Rich Dubroff of BaltimoreBaseball.com reports.

Mateo was placed on the 10-day injured list Thursday with a left elbow subluxation and he will now be forced to miss two months of action while recovering. He'll be eligible to return from the IL in late September if he's able to avoid any setbacks. With Mateo unavailable, top prospect Jackson Holliday is set to be called up from Triple-A Norfolk to join the major-league roster in Baltimore on Wednesday ahead of the team's series finale with the Blue Jays. Holliday will likely take over as the Orioles' primary second baseman.

The Royals optioned Loftin to Triple-A Omaha on Tuesday.

The 25-year-old will lose his place on the big-league roster after the Royals acquired Paul DeJong from the White Sox on Tuesday. Loftin has a .199/.294/.248 slash line with one homer in 55 MLB games this season.

The Angels recalled Stefanic from Triple-A Salt Lake on Tuesday.

He's taking the roster spot of the injured Anthony Rendon (back). Stefanic could see some action in the infield, especially if the Angels wind up trading Luis Rengifo.

Polanco (knee) started at second base and went 0-for-2 with an RBI sacrifice fly in a loss to the Red Sox on Monday.

Polanco was replaced defensively by Leo Rivas to start the sixth inning, but the veteran infielder seemed to tolerate his time in the game well after exiting Sunday's win over the White Sox with a knee injury. Polanco did see a four-game hitting streak snapped, but the RBI he mustered on his sac fly was his sixth in the last four contests.

The Red Sox are considering optioning Grissom (hamstring) to Triple-A Worcester following the conclusion of his minor-league rehab assignment, Jen McCaffrey of The Athletic reports.

Grissom has to be reinstated from the 10-day injured list by Aug. 9, but the Red Sox may be inclined to leave him at Worcester at that time rather than clearing a spot for him on the 26-man active roster. The 23-year-old has slashed a woeful .148/.207/.160 in 23 contests with the Red Sox this season and is hitting just .231/.333/.269 so far in seven rehab games with Worcester.

Semien batted third and went 1-for-5 with a run scored in Monday's 6-3 win over the Cardinals.

Texas manager Bruce Bochy tweaked the batting order, having Semien hit third for the first time this season. Josh Smith, who had been batting third, took over as the leadoff hitter. Bochy told Kennedi Landry of MLB.com that the change was part of integrating Josh Jung into the lineup. "We're just tweaking it a little bit here," the manager said. "With Jung coming back, you're gonna see a little different lineup. So we wanted to take a look at it here in this series and maybe farther." It's unclear if the switch was for only right-handers or all pitchers. Jung, who was activated off the 60-day injured list Monday, did not play in that night's game, so more changes could be coming once Jung returns to the field.