MLB Player News

Kirk isn't in the lineup for Saturday's game against the Red Sox.

Kirk has notched at least one base hit in each of his last four games, but the Blue Jays will keep him on the bench to begin Saturday's contest and instead start Brandon Valenzuela at catcher.

Dingler isn't in the lineup for Saturday's game against the Royals, Chris McCosky of The Detroit News reports.

Dingler will step out of the lineup Saturday after going 0-for-3 with three strikeouts and a hit-by-pitch in Friday's contest. Jake Rogers will fill in as the Tigers' catcher and bat ninth.

Hedges went 2-for-3 with a two-run homer, a run scored and a walk during Cleveland's 11-3 loss to Tampa Bay on Friday.

In the ninth inning, Hedges clubbed his fourth homer of the year to chip at the large deficit Cleveland was facing. The catcher recorded his third homer in the month of July and his first since July 4. On the season, the 33-year-old has hit a career-best .289/.351/.430 with four homers and 17 RBI in 155 plate appearances.

Fortes went 4-for-4 with a double, two RBI and a run scored as the Rays beat the Guardians by a final score of 11-3 on Friday.

Fortes recorded his second four-hit game of the season Friday, with the other coming June 10 against Boston. The catcher knocked an RBI single in the fourth to extend Tampa Bay's lead to 5-1 and recorded an RBI double in the seventh to pad the lead even further. Over his last seven games, the 29-year-old has been red hot, slashing .500/.522/.818 with two homers, eight RBI and five runs scored in 22 plate appearances.

O'Hoppe is not in the Angels' starting lineup against the Giants on Friday.

O'Hoppe will be out of the Halos' lineup for a second consecutive game while Tyler Heineman starts behind home plate and bats ninth. O'Hoppe has struggled at the plate as of late, going 4-for-34 (.118) over his last 10 games.

Caratini (knee) will start at first base and bat sixth in Friday's series opener against the Athletics.

After being removed from Wednesday's 10-6 win over the Guardians due to a right knee contusion, Caratini was on the bench for Thursday's series finale. He's moved past the knee issue ahead of Friday's contest and will be making his sixth start in seven games, though Caratini may still be headed for more of a part-time role now that Minnesota has all of its key position players back to full strength.

Wells is out of the lineup for Friday's game against Philadelphia.

Wells will ride the bench for his second consecutive game after sitting out the second game of Wednesday's doubleheader against Pittsburgh. Ali Sanchez will be behind the plate and bat ninth for the Yankees.

Triple-A Norfolk activated Willems (hamstring) from its 7-day injured list Tuesday.

Following a brief rehab assignment with High-A Frederick, Willems is back in Triple-A after missing about three weeks due to a left hamstring injury. The catcher is slashing .259/.358/.431 with 13 home runs, 42 RBI, and 32 runs scored over 103 plate appearances for Norfolk this season.

Irish was placed on the 7-day injured list at High-A Frederick on Friday with a torn left meniscus, Steve Melewski of BaltimoreBaseball.com reports.

Irish suffered the unfortunate injury on a slide into second base earlier this week. It concludes what was a terrific first full pro season for Irish, who slashed .286/.388/.528 with 16 home runs, 20 stolen bases and a 43:75 BB:K over 76 games with Frederick. Irish will likely move up to Double-A to start next season.

Perez went 1-for-4 with a two-run home run in Wednesday's 5-4 win over the Giants.

The future Hall of Famer sparked a five-run rally in the bottom of the seventh inning when he took Landen Roupp deep for his 14th homer of the season. Perez is up to 317 long balls for his career, tying George Brett for the all-time Royals record. Per Anne Rogers of MLB.com, he's the third active player to hold his team's franchise HR record, along with the Angels' Mike Trout and the Padres' Manny Machado. Perez could soon take sole possession of first place in the Kansas City record book -- he's gone yard three times in the last five games, and through 15 contests in July he's produced a .273/.349/.564 slash line with four doubles, four homers, seven runs and 13 RBI.