MLB Player News

Pirates first baseman Pedro Alvarez homered Wednesday against the Brewers, but he wasn't around for the end of the 2-0 win, as he was lifted for a defensive replacement in the top of the seventh inning.

Alvarez went 1 for 3 before being replaced. He hit his 10th home run of the season, which was a solo shot in the bottom of the second inning.

Blue Jays third baseman Josh Donaldson continued his dominance over Major League pitching in Wednesday's 7-2 victory over the Marlins. Donaldson had two hits Wednesday including his 17th home run of the season. 

Donaldson's solo shot came with two outs in the bottom of the seventh inning to put the Jays up by five. He's now homered in two of his last three games and has hit safely in all but one of his nine games this month. 

After not starting in the last three games because of a sore wrist, Rays third baseman Evan Longoria was back in the lineup for Wednesday's game against the Angles, reports the Tampa Bay Times.

Longoria will bat third and play third base during the contest. He will face Jered Weaver, who he is 5 for 17 against in his career with three doubles. Over his last 11 games, Longoria is hitting .182 with no home runs and two RBI.

The Rays are favored (-115) over the Angels on Wednesday.

Phillies left fielder Cody Asche has not made much of an offensive impact since returning from the minors in late May.

In his last 11 games, Asche is batting .220 (9 for 41) with three doubles, two RBI, three runs, two walks and 10 strikeouts.

Asche has not homered in his last 27 major-league games. He has just three RBI in that span.

Royals third baseman Mike Moustakas continued swinging the bat well in Tuesday's win over the Twins. Moustakas went 1 for 5 with an RBI single. He's now batting .313 (10 for 32), hitting safely in seven of eight games this month. 

The power has been quiet lately, as Moustakas hasn't gone deep since May 27 and he has five on the year. But he's reaching base on a consistent basis for the Royals lately.

Rockies second baseman DJ LeMahieu continued to his offensive surge Tuesday against the Cardinals, totaling three hits for the second straight game and third time in four starts. He went 3 for 4 with one double and one RBI in a 4-3 win.

LeMahieu has hit safely in all but one of nine June games. He also has five multihit games this month. He is batting .410 (16 for 39) with three doubles, four RBI, four walks, nine runs and one stolen base in June.

Since his batting average dropped to .315 on May 17, LeMahieu is batting .393 with a .517 slugging percentage and .954 OPS in his last 22 games. His average is back up to .350.

Rockies third baseman Nolan Arenado hit a game-tying two-run home run in the sixth inning of Tuesday's win over St. Louis.

Arenado went 2 for 4. He homered for the  second straight day and reached 15 home runs and 47 RBI on the year.

Giants third baseman Matt Duffy hit a solo home run in the sixth inning of Tuesday's win over the Mets. 

Duffy went 2 for 3 with a walk. He extended his hitting streak to four straight games, three of them multi-hit games. The home run was his fifth of the year and the second in four games. He drove in his 26th run of the season. 

Indians rookie third baseman Giovanny Urshela is set to make his major league debut Tuesday night against visiting Seattle after his promotion from Triple-A. He is batting eighth.

He will remain the starter at third for the time being, per the Elyria Chronicle-Telegram.

Urshela, who was batting .276 with three home runs and nine RBI in 76 at-bats at Columbus, is replacing disappointing Lonnie Chisenhall, who was sent down. Urshela is also considered a far superior defensive player.

Rays third baseman Evan Longoria is unable to return to the starting lineup on Tuesday against the Angels. Longoria has been bothered by a sore wrist, and did not start either of the last two games, though he was used as a pinch-runner on Sunday.

Longoria took some swings in the cage to test out his wrist on Tuesday, but the team decided to give him one more day to rest. He expects to return on Wednesday and insisted the injury is nothing serious, according to the Tama Bay Times. 

The team has not provided an update on Longoria's status, and it is not known if he will be available off the bench on Tuesday.