MLB Player News

Winker went 2-for-3 with a walk, a solo home run and a stolen base in Wednesday's 5-4 loss to the Royals.

With multiple hits in five of his last six games, Winker has raised average nearly 200 points to .333. He's 11-for-his-last-17 and has five extra-base hits in that span, including his first three homers of 2020. It's also worth noting that Winker has started against each of the last three lefties the Reds have faced, so it seems he's finally getting a chance to establish himself as an everyday player.

Buxton went 3-for-5 with two solo home runs in Wednesday's 12-2 blowout win over the Brewers.

Buxton's homered in the fifth and sixth innings, giving him five homers in his last seven games. The outfielder has back-to-back three-hit games as well, raising his batting average from .211 to .298 with the recent surge. Buxton has five homers, 10 RBI, nine runs scored and a stolen base in 15 contests this season.

Brantley is not in Wednesday's lineup against the Giants, Chandler Rome of the Houston Chronicle reports.

Brantley will head to the bench for Wednesday's series finale following a string of six straight starts during which he went 2-for-24 with a pair of doubles. The Astros are going with an outfield consisting of Kyle Tucker, Myles Straw and Josh Reddick (from left to right) in Brantley's absence.

Manager Dusty Baker said Wednesday that Alvarez (undisclosed) is "very close" to rejoining the Astros, Jake Kaplan of The Athletic reports.

Alvarez missed all of summer camp for undisclosed reasons, but he's been training at Houston's alternate training site for more than two weeks. Assuming the 23-year-old checks out OK in the coming days, it sounds like he could be cleared to return as soon as this weekend.

Ford went 2-for-4 with a pair of doubles and three RBI in a win over Atlanta on Tuesday.

Ford doubled home a pair of runs in the fifth inning and drove in another with a two-bagger in the seventh. The 28-year-old figures to see his playing time increase with Giancarlo Stanton on the injured list with a hamstring injury, and Ford has now started consecutive games at DH. On the season, Ford is slashing .227/.280/.455 with a home run and seven RBI.

Solak went 3-for-4 with three RBI in Tuesday's win over Seattle.

Solak is seeing the ball well of late, hitting safely in five of his last seven games while notching four multi-hit appearances during that span. The second baseman is hitting .306 with a .779 OPS and five RBI in 36 at-bats this month.

Buxton went 3-for-4 with a stolen base in Tuesday's 6-4 loss to the Brewers.

The center fielder swiped his first bag of the year in the second inning after beating out an infield single. Buxton has been on a roll at the plate during one of his rare healthy periods, hitting .370 (10-for-27) over the last eight games with three homers, seven RBI, six runs and Tuesday's steal.

Ohtani went 2-for-4 with a walk, a stolen base and a run scored in Tuesday's win over Oakland.

Ohtani has been heating up of late, going 6-for-11 with three walks over his last three games. That stretch has brought his average from .132 to .224 on the campaign. He has also driven in 10 runs and scored eight times.

Ozuna went 2-for-5 with a three-run home run and a double during Tuesday's 9-6 loss to the Yankees.

Ozuna put the Braves on the board with his 436-foot shot to left in the sixth inning, and he also hit a two-bagger earlier in the contest. The 29-year-old has a .273/.372/.530 slash line with four homers, five doubles and 11 RBI through 19 games.

Blackmon went 3-for-4 with an RBI double and two runs scored in Tuesday's 8-7 win over the Diamondbacks.

Blackmon scored on a Nolan Arenado homer in the fourth inning and a Daniel Murphy single in the eighth after previously plating Trevor Story with the aforementioned double. It was the sixth consecutive multi-hit game for Blackmon, who is 17-for-23 with two homers, eight RBI and 10 runs scored in that span. The outfielder has hit safely in 15 straight games and now owns a .500/.527/.721 slash line with three homers, 20 RBI and 18 runs scored in 17 contests.