MLB Player News

Buxton (finger) will begin a rehab assignment at Triple-A St. Paul on Friday, Betsy Helfand of the St. Paul Pioneer Press reports.

Buxton took live batting practice Thursday and apparently felt good afterward since he'll now return to game action with the Triple-A club. The 27-year-old will play seven innings in center field during his first rehab game Friday and could be in the mix to rejoin the Twins as early as next week.

Brantley isn't starting Thursday's game against the Royals, Brian McTaggart of MLB.com reports.

Brantley will get a chance to reset after he went 1-for-11 with an RBI, a walk and a strikeout across the last three games. Aledmys Diaz will shift to left field while Jacob Wilson starts at third base.

Torrens isn't starting Thursday's game against the Rangers.

Torrens drew starts in each of the last five games, but he'll get a day off after he went 0-for-3 with a strikeout Wednesday. Mitch Haniger will serve as the designated hitter and bat second.

Ohtani pushed his record to 8-1 after holding the Tigers to one run on six hits and no walks while striking out eight over eight innings Wednesday in the Angels' 3-1 win. He also helped himself at the plate, going 1-for-4 with a solo home run.

Ohtani's eighth-inning blast off Jose Cisnero was his MLB-leading 40th of the season, a feat made all the more remarkable by the fact that he's supplemented his power production with a 2.79 ERA and 1.06 WHIP in 100 innings on the mound. Since he failed to escape the first inning of a June 30 start against the Yankees in which he was charged with seven earned runs, Ohtani has been lights out as a pitcher, going 5-0 with a 1.57 ERA, 0.75 WHIP and 37 strikeouts in six starts.

Reyes went 1-for-5 with a solo home run and a walk in Wednesday's 8-7 extra-innings loss to Minnesota.

Entering Wednesday, Reyes was mired in a 1-for-28 slump in his last eight games. With just one hit Wednesday, he's not out of trouble just yet, but it was his first homer since July 30. The 26-year-old has seen his slash line dip to .250/.316/.528 with 21 homers, 55 RBI, 40 runs scored and three stolen bases through 313 plate appearances overall.

Alvarez (illness) is starting Wednesday's game against the Royals, Brian McTaggart of MLB.com reports.

Alvarez was removed from Monday's game due to an upset stomach, and he was held out of the lineup Tuesday. The 24-year-old has gone 6-for-12 with three doubles and three RBI across his last three appearances.

Ohtani went 1-for-3 with three walks, a run and a stolen base in Tuesday's 8-2 victory over the Tigers.

Batting leadoff for the eighth straight contest, Ohtani reached base four times and helped manufacture a first-inning run by singling, swiping second and coming home on a single. The two-way star has walked 58 times in 118 games this season, exceeding his total across 152 contests during the previous two campaigns combined. He is on pace for a career-best .364 OBP.

Torrens went 2-for-4 with a solo home run in Tuesday's 3-1 win over the Rangers.

Torrens took Brett Martin deep in the ninth inning to increase the Mariners' lead to two runs. It was his second home run in three games, and he's now riding a five-game hitting streak in which he's racked up seven RBI. The catcher is slashing .220/.286/.444 with 14 homers, 32 RBI and 28 runs scored in 255 plate appearances.

Buxton (finger) will take part in live batting practice at the Twins' Triple-A affiliate in St. Paul on Thursday, Do-Hyoung Park of MLB.com reports.

The BP session likely represents a final gauge of how Buxton has fared in his recovery from a fractured left pinkie finger before the Twins send him out on a minor-league rehab assignment. Assuming Buxton feels fine from a conditioning standpoint following a nearly two-month layoff from game action, he may only need a few games in the minors to get his timing back at the plate. While Buxton has been on the shelf, the Twins have been taking a committee approach to center field rather than leaning heavily on one starter, with all of Jake Cave, Max Kepler, Nick Gordon, Rob Refsnyder and Gilberto Celestino picking up reps at the position.

Stanton went 1-for-3 with a solo home run during a 2-0 win over the Red Sox in the second game of Tuesday's doubleheader.

While he didn't start the first game Tuesday, Stanton came through as a pinch hitter with a big RBI single in a 5-3 victory, and then he clobbered a Nathan Eovaldi pitch in the fourth inning of the nightcap to give the Yankees an insurance run. Stanton extended his hitting streak to seven games during the twin bill, although he doesn't have a multi-hit effort in that stretch. On the season he's slashing .263/.361/.458 with 19 homers and 58 RBI through 99 contests.