MLB Player News

Dubon went 2-for-4 with a three-run home run Thursday against the Rockies.

Dubon didn't strike until late in the game, clubbing his home run in the seventh inning to end Kyle Freeland's outing on a sour note. It was his first home run of the campaign. He added a base knock in the final frame to record his third multi-hit effort of the season. Through 30 plate appearances, Dubon has managed a .276/.300/.414 line, though he has struck out nine times and walked only once.

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.

Brewers manager Craig Counsell said Thursday that Urias (COVID-19) is getting close to a return from the injured list, but the infielder is likely about a week away from rejoining the big club, Will Sammon of The Athletic reports.

Counsell noted that position players like Urias require about three weeks of training to get ready for game action, and the 23-year-old has been working out at the team's alternate site in Appleton for about two weeks after he was withheld from all of summer camp following a positive COVID-19 test. Though Urias is healthy again and has nearly completed his hitting progression, he won't necessarily be a lock to join the big club as a utility man once he's deemed ready to go. Milwaukee currently has Brock Holt, Jedd Gyorko, Mark Mathias and Eric Sogard as players on the 28-man roster who are capable of playing all over the infield.

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.

Arroyo was designated for assignment Thursday.

The Indians needed to clear a 40-man roster spot for Delino DeShields, who was activated from the COVID-19 injured list. Arroyo also did not have any minor-league options remaining. He has made just one plate appearance so far this season for the big club and was clearly not in the team's short-term plans. It would not be surprising if a rebuilding club takes a chance on the former top-100 prospect.

Arraez was scratched from the lineup ahead of Thursday's game against the Pirates for unspecified reasons.

The Twins haven't provided an explanation behind Arraez's removal from the starting nine, but Marwin Gonzalez will shift over from third base to cover Arraez's usual post at second base, while Ehire Adrianza gets the nod at the hot corner. Arraez has walked four times while striking out just three times on the season, but a .229 BABIP has saddled him with a .216 average over his 42 plate appearances.

The Yankees optioned Estrada to their alternate training site Thursday.

With all MLB teams having to reduce their active rosters from 30 to 28 men ahead of Thursday's games, Estrada, Miguel Andujar and Nick Nelson were the odd men out for the Yankees. Though he's been with the Yankees since Opening Day, Estrada appeared in just two of the team's 11 games, logging base hits in both of his at-bats.