MLB Player News

Phillies' Darin Ruf is starting in left field and batting cleanup on Wednesday against the Pirates. Ruf was out of the lineup each of the last two games with a right-hander on the mound. Ruf is batting just .137 against righties this year. 

But with left-hander Francisco Liriano on the bump Wednesday, Ruf will look to break out of a 6-for-30 slump over his last 10 games. 

Ben Revere will slide over and play center field and Ryan Howard moves down to fifth in the batting order on Wednesday. 

Giancarlo Stanton murdered a fast ball on Tuesday and sent it out of Dodger Stadium in the Marlins' loss.

Dodgers left fielder Scott Van Slyke didn't even move when the ball shot over his head.

Stanton became the fourth player ever to hit a home run out of Dodger Stadium, joining Willie Stargell (twice), Mike Piazza and Mark McGwire.

The homer was Stanton's eighth of the year and the RBI was his 30th.

Bryce Harper launched another home run Tuesday, connecting for a two-run blast in the Nationals’ loss to the Diamondbacks.

After hitting six homers over a three-game stretch (Thursday-Saturday), Harper did not homer in his last two before Tuesday.

He now has seven homers over his last six games and 12 overall for the season, tops in the National League.

Tigers outfielder J.D. Martinez hit his seventh home run of the season in Tuesday night's 2-1 win over the Twins. 

Martinez hit his homer in the fourth inning off of Kyle Gibson. Martinez went 1 for 4 of the night and struck out once. This is Martinez's third consecutive game with a hit. 

Martinez is now hitting .235/.331/.294 this season. 

Pirates center fielder Andrew McCutchen hit a two-run home run in Tuesday's win over Philadelphia. 

McCutchen went 2 for 4, improving his average to .229. He has three homers and 17 RBI this year. 

Indians center fielder Michael Brantley went 2 for 4 in Tuesday's loss to St. Louis. He doubled, walked once, scored and drove in a run. 

Brantley is now hitting .347, and is carrying an 11-game hit streak. He hit his ninth double and drove in his 17th run. 

Cardinals third baseman Matt Carpenter hit his 15th double of the year in Tuesday's win over Cleveland. 

Carpenter went 2 for 5, raising his average to .336. He scored twice and drove in his 21st run of the season. 

Dodgers manager Don Mattingly admitted Tuesday that the strong play of Alex Guerrero has complicated his plans for third base this season, according to MLB.com. 

Guerrero has split his time this season between third and left field, hitting .326 with six homers and 14 RBI in 46 at-bats. 

Juan Uribe (.261, 1 HR, 6 RBI) and Justin Turner (.309, 5 HR, 13 RBI) have also seen significant time at third for the Dodgers this season.

Mariners shorstop Chris Taylor is back in the starting lineup on Tuesday after missing Monday's game with a finger injury, the team announced.

Taylor will replace Brad Miller, who moves to designated hitter and pushes Rickie Weeks to the bench. Taylor is hitting .167 in 18 at-bats this season.

The Mariners are currently the favorites (-145) against San Diego.

Twins slugger Kennys Vargas is in the starting lineup for Tuesday's game against the Tigers. Vargas was given the day off on Sunday, though he is starting to emerge from his season-long slump at the plate.

Vargas, who will be the designated hitter and bat sixth in the order, owns a batting line of .414/.452/.621 in eight games this month. The hot streak has brought his season batting average to .247, to go along with his three home runs and 10 RBI. 

Torii Hunter, who was the DH on Sunday, is back in right field on Tuesday, while youngster Eddie Rosario gets the day off.