MLB Player News

Rays third baseman Evan Longoria followed up Saturday's 4-for-4 day with a 3-for-3 performance on Sunday. Longoria has now hit in five straight games and lifted his average to .306.

Rays third baseman Evan Longoria went 4 for 4 in Saturday's 4-2 win over Toronto. 

Longoria hit his seventh double of the year and drove in his fourth run, while lifting his average to .271. Longoria has hit 8 for 16 in his four-game hitting streak. 

Catcher Kurt Suzuki, DH Kennys Vargas and right fielder Torii Hunter were not included in the Twins' Sunday lineup. 

Suzuki was replaced by Chris Herrmann, who started his fourth game at catcher, batting eighth.

Oswaldo Arcia moved over from left to replace Hunter. Eduardo Escobar picked up his fourth start of the year in left, batting sixth.  

Eduardo Nunez played Dh for the first time this year, batting fifth. 

Braves manager Fredi Gonzalez indicated Sunday that he's returning to his initial plan to use infielder Jace Peterson as his primary second baseman, MLB.com reports.

Peterson has shared time at second base with Alberto Callaspo, who has also made eight starts at third base, and Phil Gosselin, leading to Peterson seeing just 11 of a possible 17 starts at the position. He's seen action all over the starting lineup, batting first or second in four of the team's first five games but spending most of his time batting seventh or eighth as of late.

Peterson has hit just .171/.239/.220 in 41 at-bats. He's starting at second base and batting sixth in Sunday's matchup with the Phillies, in which the Braves are underdogs (+100).

Phillies third basemanb Cody Asche is not in the starting lineup for Sunday's game against the Braves.

Asche has started 13 straight games at the hot corner but will get a break from starting in Sunday's series finale. Cesar Hernandez will make the start at third basem and bat sixth against the Braves.

The Phillies are favorites (-115) at home Sunday.

Indians infielder Mike Aviles is in the starting lineup Sunday, batting second and playing shortstop in his team's matchup with the Tigers.

Aviles is seeing just his second start of the season at shortstop, as most of his work has come in the oufield. He'll take the place of Jose Ramirez, who had started 10 straight games coming into Sunday.

The Indians have also made a change at the top of the lineup, moving second baseman Jason Kipnis to the leadoff spot. Kipnis and Aviles batted 1-2 in the team's last start against a southpaw, and lefty Kyle Lobstein is on the mound of the Tigers Sunday. Center fielder and typical leadoff man Michael Bourn will bat ninth.

The Indians are road favorites (-115) in Detroit Sunday.

Twins shortstop Eduardo Escobar went 1 for 5 at the plate in Minnesota's 8-5 win over the Mariners Saturday.

Escobar did his only damage in the fourth inning when he ripped a 3-2 pitch off James Paxton over the left center field wall for a solo home run, his first of the season. Escobar, who also struck out twice, boosted his average to .171 in 35 at-bats this season.

Athletics manager Bob Melvin likes what he's got in prospect Max Muncy, who played in his first game after being called up Saturday. Melvin expects to primarily use Muncy at third base with his infield battling a multitude of injuries, reports MLB.com.

"He can play a little first, he can play a little third, and with [Eric Sogard] being able to play all the positions, it's probably going to be mostly at third," said Melvin. "He's a grinder. He made an impression right away. You know he can hit, and he's coming in here swinging the bat well. We've always felt he was quite the hitter.

"Moved him over to third to make him a little bit more versatile, especially with [Matt] Olson in the system. We like what we saw this spring."

Muncy went 1 for 4 in the game with a single and a strikeout.

The woeful Brewers lost again Saturday night, but they can take at least a bit of solace that two of their key players had big games.

Both leadoff hitter Jean Segura and veteran third baseman Aramis Ramirez slammed two singles and a double.

The effort of the latter was particularly encouraging. Ramirez has emerged from a four-game hitless streak to hit safely in four of his last five. The multi-hit game was only his second since the opener.

Segura, on the other hand, has been pretty much raking all year. He has been the subject of trade rumors and his hot hitting can only raise his stock.

As cold as Twins third baseman Trevor Plouffe was to start the season, that's how hot he's been since.

Plouffe was batting a mere .133 with one RBI through nine games. He is 10-for-23 in six games since with two doubles, one homer, two RBI and an on-base percentage of .480. How does he explain that? Discipline at the plate.

"I think that's a product of laying off borderline pitches and getting myself into better counts," he told MLB.com. "If the pitcher sees you swinging at those borderline pitches, he's just going to continue to throw those and you're not going to have great at-bats. So if you're able to shrink the zone down, that helps. And when I'm going well, that's what I do."

Plouffe led the Twins with 80 RBI last year.