MLB Player News

Despite being hit by a pitch on the head in Friday's game against the Royals, Donaldson will start Saturday's contest, Sportsnet's Barry Davis reports.

Donaldson was fortunate to remain in Friday's game after being struck, and he did not suffer any aftereffects Saturday outside of some swelling on his cheek. He will man the hot corner Friday and again hit third in the Blue Jays' new-look batting order.

Alvarez is not in the lineup for Saturday's game against the White Sox, according to Eduardo Encina of the Baltimore Sun.

Alvarez socked two home runs Friday and has five long balls in three games this month, but he will be held out Saturday with the Orioles loading up on right-handed hitters against lefty Carlos Rodon. Mark Trumbo will serve as the Orioles' designated hitter Saturday.

Ramirez went 3-for-5 with a double and run in Friday's 13-7 loss to the Yankees.

The 23-year-old now has a 10-game hitting streak and has rattled off six multi-hit efforts over that span. Ramirez has seen a 16-point boost to his average during his current stretch, bringing it back to an even .300 on the season.

Moncada left Double-A Portland's game Friday with an ankle injury, the Portland Press Herald reports.

Moncada hurt the ankle while sliding into third base, though it doesn't sound serious. "It's a mild strain," Portland manager Carlos Febles said. "He'll be fine in a couple of days."

Machado went 3-for-5 with two RBI and scored a run in Friday's win over the White Sox.

Machado's two-run double in the third inning was his 32nd two-bagger of the year, which is good for second in the majors only behind David Ortiz's 36 doubles. The third baseman went 20-for-98 (.204) in a dreadful July that dropped his overall average 27 points, from .330 to .303. But he's jumped out on the right foot in August, going 6-for-17 with a pair of doubles through the first four games of the month. In Machado's four-year career, he owns a .296/.333/.454 slash line in August, so it's fair to expect his game will get back on track in the coming weeks.

Alvarez went 2-for-5 with two solo shots in Friday's victory over the White Sox.

Alvarez now has five homers in his last three games. He homered twice against the Rangers on Tuesday and once Thursday, before upping his total to 18 on Friday. The 29-year-old has three multi-homer games this season in his first go-round with Baltimore. Although Alvarez hasn't received as much playing time as he did in Pittsburgh, he's been much more productive in his at-bats. The DH is posting career-high marks in batting average (.259), slugging percentage (.517), OPS (.832) and ISO (.258). Per at-bat, Alvarez is one of the best power hitters in the game.

Duffy (Achilles) played six innings at shortstop for High-A Charlotte in his Rays organizational debut Thursday, going 1-for-3 with a single, Bryan Levine of Suncoast Sports reports.

The newly-acquired infielder rapped a solid single in the second for his one hit and, perhaps more importantly, put in some work at the position he'll be taking over once he makes it to the big league club. Duffy didn't get any chances in the field but was happy to begin the acclimation process to his new organization alongside a couple of familiar faces he's played against at the major league level, Mikie Mahtook and Alex Cobb. "It's nice to have Mikie and Alex here," Duffy said. "I don't know them personally very well, but I'm familiar with them from playing against them. Everybody is new. I'm just trying to remember as many names as possible." Duffy is expected to suit up for the Stone Crabs again Friday and is tentatively expected to join the Rays on a road trip next week.

Alvarez went 3-for-4 with his 16th homer in Thursday's loss to the Rangers.

He and Mark Trumbo went back-to-back in the fifth with the O's trying to claw their way back from a 4-0 deficit, but the comeback attempt fell short. After a slow first two months, Alvarez has been absolutely on fire since the first day of June. Over his last 36 games, Alvarez has gone 40-for-129 (.311) with 13 homers and 25 RBI. Yeah, he's still striking out a lot and not walking much, but he's had great success when making contact; as a result, the two-time 30-homer man is currently sitting on his highest career batting average (.259) and OPS (.832).

Valencia went 2-for-5 with a home run and two runs scored in Thursday's win over the Angels.

Valencia's homer in the fourth inning was the third solo shot against Angels starter Ricky Nolasco. He was in right field again Thursday after sitting Wednesday in favor of Max Muncy. Manager Bob Melvin indicated that Valencia will remain in a part-time role even with the departure of Josh Reddick, as the team looks to get younger players at-bats with an eye toward the future.

Plouffe (ribs) is expected to come off the DL on Monday, Mike Berardino of the St. Paul Pioneer Press reports.

He will DH in Thursday's rehab game with Triple-A Rochester and then get another game at third base and one at first base before heading back to the Twin Cities in advance of next week's series against the Astros that starts Monday. Miguel Sano is a candidate to be optioned to Triple-A as a corresponding move, as the Twins are unhappy with his work ethic with regards to his defense and conditioning. In this scenario, Plouffe would take over as the everyday third baseman. Either way, the veteran should find his way into the lineup more often than not when he is healthy.