MLB Player News

Arraez is battling minor knee soreness but could return to the lineup in the coming days, Do-Hyoung Park of MLB.com reports.

Arraez has been out of the lineup for two consecutive games, and manager Rocco Baldelli revealed prior to Friday's contest that the absence is due to minor knee soreness. However, Baldelli didn't sound too concerned about the issue and said the second baseman could return to the lineup in a day or two.

Barreto, who was expected to be part of a platoon at second base with Tony Kemp prior to the start of the season, has logged just four plate appearances over four appearances to date, none of them starts.

Prior to the Athletics' July 24 season opener, manager Bob Melvin announced Chad Pinder would draw the start against the Angels for that game, but there was no indication at the time Barreto would essentially be frozen out by the utility player for the right-handed side of the platoon at the keystone. However, that's exactly what's come to pass, with Barreto only being used as a pinch hitter, pinch runner or defensive replacement thus far. The 24-year-old did score his second run of the season in Thursday's win over the Rangers when Sean Murphy singled him home, but he's yet to make any other kind of impact in the usual fantasy categories and has struck out twice. There has been no clear indication from manager Bob Melvin as to why Barreto has been relegated to the bench, but Shayna Rubin of The Mercury News speculates that Pinder's quick acclimation to playing second has played a major role, and that Barreto's opportunities may be limited to occasional starts against southpaws at the keystone or as a designated hitter for the time being.

Arraez remains out of the lineup Friday against the Royals.

Arraez was a late scratch Thursday, though manager Rocco Baldelli indicated that he was simply having a pre-planned maintenance day and wasn't injured. In that context, his second straight game out of the lineup is quite unusual, though the fact that he has just one hit in his last six games could have something to do with it. Marwin Gonzalez will get the start at second base.

Merrifield went 2-for-4 with a home run, two RBI, three runs, a walk and a stolen base in Thursday 13-2 rout over the Cubs.

Merrifield batted out of his customary leadoff spot and led a relentless Royals attack in the easy win, belting a two-run homer in the second inning and coming around to score another run after drawing a walk and stealing a bag in the second. The 31-year-old is enjoying another productive campaign at the plate, slashing .298/.344/.561 with four home runs and 11 RBI through 61 plate appearances.

Altuve went 3-for-4 with a solo home run, a double and another run scored during Thursday's loss to the Diamondbacks.

Altuve doubled Houston's lead with a solo homer off Zac Gallen in the sixth inning. He also doubled and scored in the eighth. The long ball was the third of the year for the 30-year-old, who is averaging a mere .192 on the season with seven RBI and 11 runs scored.

Mayfield was optioned to the Astros' alternate training site Thursday, Julia Morales of AT&T SportsNet Southwest reports.

Mayfield entered the starting lineup just once during his time on the major-league roster, but he'll lose his spot in the majors as the active roster goes down to 28 players. The 29-year-old went 1-for-4 with two strikeouts and one run in two appearances with the Astros to begin the season.

Semien, who went 1-for-4 with a run and three strikeouts in a win over the Rangers on Wednesday, is now sporting a 31.5 percent strikeout rate across his first 54 plate appearances.

The leadoff hitter is typically responsible for setting the tone for a team's offense, and as such, it isn't surprising to see the Athletics have often struggled to score runs this season with Semien seeing a significant drop-off at the plate early. The veteran shortstop, who's due to hit the open market this coming offseason, has also seen a drop in walk rate from 11.6 percent to 3.7 percent and sports a pedestrian 25.7 percent hard contact rate after logging a 41.9 percent figure last season. There is no artificially low BABIP (.286) as a culprit either, as Semien is simply either swinging and missing or putting the ball in the air a lot more (51.4 percent flyball rate) than in previous seasons. Semien has hit safely in three of the past four games, but he still sports just a .130 average (3-for-24) in five August contests and hasn't left the yard yet this season after slugging a career-high 33 home runs in 2019.

Kemp is not in Thursday's lineup against the Rangers.

With southpaw Mike Minor on the hill for Texas, Kemp will head to the bench in favor of righty-hitting Chad Pinder. Kemp is 5-for-10 with three runs, two walks, two strikeouts and one steal in five games this month.

Twins manager Rocco Baldelli clarified that Arraez was pulled from Thursday's lineup in what was intended to be a pre-planned maintenance day, Do-Hyoung Park of MLB.com reports.

Though Arraez was listed as the Twins' No. 6 hitter and starting second baseman in the lineup the club initially released, Baldelli said he decided a night earlier that the 23-year-old wouldn't start in the series finale. Ehire Adrianza will instead join the starting nine as a replacement for Arraez, who should re-enter the lineup Friday in Kansas City. Arraez has gone 1-for-19 at the plate over his last six starts.

Espinal was optioned to Toronto's alternate training site Thursday, Hazel Mae of Sportsnet reports.

He will remain on the taxi squad for the final four games of the road trip. Espinal served a role earlier in the season when Bo Bichette was banged up, but he has not played in a game since July 29.