MLB Player News

Murphy is out of the lineup for Sunday's game against the Angels.

Murphy will receive some maintenance after he caught each of the last six games. While he remains atop the depth chart in the aftermath of the trade deadline, Murphy could cede more work to newly acquired backup Yan Gomes than Oakland's previous No. 2 option in Aramis Garcia, who has since been optioned to Triple-A Las Vegas.

Hedges is out of the lineup for Sunday's game against the White Sox.

Though he'll be taking a seat in favor of Roberto Perez for the series finale, Hedges appears to have emerged as Cleveland's preferred backstop. After going 2-for-4 with a home run in Saturday's 12-11 win, Hedges is batting .280 since the All-Star break.

Zavala will start at catcher and bat ninth Sunday against Cleveland.

Fresh off Saturday's historic three-homer performance -- which marked the first three long balls of his MLB career -- Zavala will be rewarded with his fourth start in five games. He looks to have moved ahead of Zack Collins on the depth chart at catcher, but both backstops will see their opportunities dwindle whenever Yasmani Grandal (knee) is deemed fit to return from the 10-day injured list.

Kirk is out of the lineup for Sunday's game against the Royals.

Kirk will get a breather after he caught both of the Blue Jays' past two games, during which he went 2-for-5 with a walk and a run. Reese McGuire will be behind the dish in the series finale.

Heim went 2-for-4 with two home runs and four RBI in Saturday's 5-4 extra-inning win over the Mariners.

He got the Rangers on the board with a two-run shot in the fifth inning off Tyler Anderson, then walked it off in the 10th with another two-run blast off Spencer Patton. Heim has gone yard three times in the last two games to boost his homer total on the season to seven, but he's slashing just .189/.211/.459 through 10 games since the All-Star break. Jose Trevino, or eventually Sam Huff, remain threats to his playing time.

Mejia went 2-for-4 with a home run and four RBI in Saturday's 9-5 win over the Red Sox.

His big blow was a two-run shot off Nathan Eovaldi in the fourth inning. Mejia has two of his five homers on the season in his last six starts, a stretch during which he's batting .364 (8-for-22) with two triples, six runs and nine RBI. Mike Zunino has started five games during that time and gone just 3-for-17 (.176) with a solo shot, and the playing time mix could tip further in Mejia's favor over the final two months if the gap between their respective production remains that wide.

Zavala went 4-for-4 with three home runs, six RBI and four runs scored Saturday against Cleveland.

That was some kind of performance for a nine-hole hitter making just his 18th career appearance in the big leagues. Zavala hit solo homers in the third and seventh innings, but the big blast was a grand slam in the fourth off Triston McKenzie that busted the game wide open at 6-2. Zavala also singled, matching the four hits he had produced in his first 33 plate appearances all season prior to Saturday. The 27-year-old Zavala came into the day hitting just .171 this year between the White Sox and Triple-A Charlotte, making his showing Saturday one of the unlikeliest in recent years.

Hedges went 2-for-4 with a home run and two RBI in Saturday's win over the White Sox.

Hedges busted out of a 12-game homerless drought when he took Dallas Keuchel deep for a solo blast in the fifth inning. Hedges also drove in a run with a single in the sixth for his first multi-RBI game of the month. The veteran catcher is slashing just .170/.212/.270 with five homers in 173 plate appearances this season.

Jeffers went 1-for-5 with a three-run home run in Saturday's 8-1 win over the Cardinals.

Jeffers blew Saturday's game wide open early with a three-run homer off St. Louis starter Jake Woodford in the third inning. This is the catcher's second consecutive outstanding performance, as he now has three home runs and nine RBI in his last two games. With Mitch Garver back from the paternity list and a hand injury, however, Jeffers could see his playing time reduced.

Garver isn't in the lineup Saturday against the Cardinals.

Garver returned to action Friday and went 0-for-4 with a strikeout. Ryan Jeffers will start behind the plate and bat seventh.