MLB Player News

Buxton (knee) is not in the lineup for Friday's game against the Rockies.

The 28-year-old will sit for the third consecutive game as he continues to manage soreness in his right knee. According to Aaron Gleeman of The Athletic, manager Rocco Baldelli said Buxton has improved significantly over the past couple days, and there's a decent chance the center fielder is able to return to action Saturday. Gilberto Celestino will receive the start in center field Friday for the Twins.

Ramirez isn't starting Friday against the Pirates, Marc Topkin of the Tampa Bay Times reports.

Ramirez is getting a breather after going 3-for-7 with a solo home run, a double, a walk and a strikeout over the last two games. Randy Arozarena will serve as the designated hitter while Luke Raley starts in left field.

Torrens, who went 1-for-3 in a win over the Athletics on Thursday, is now hitting .294 (5-for-17) over his last five games.

The beginning of that stretch actually dates back to June 12, as Torrens continues to see only intermittent playing time while Cal Raleigh sees his opportunities expand behind the dish. With the news Tom Murphy (shoulder) will miss the rest of the season, however, Torrens should be assured of at least a serviceable amount of playing time for the balance of the campaign.

Turner went 3-for-5 with two doubles and a run in a 10-5 win against the Reds on Thursday.

Los Angeles pummeled Cincinnati pitching for 16 hits in the contest, and Turner was one of four Dodgers to tally three base knocks. Two of his hits went for doubles, giving him four two-baggers over his past five games. Though he's hit only four homers this season, Turner is up to 20 doubles, putting him on pace to easily surpass his single-season career-high mark in the category.

Pederson went 2-for-4 with a solo home run in Thursday's 7-6 loss to Atlanta.

Pederson's ninth-inning blast got the Giants within a run, but they weren't able to tie the game. The outfielder has homered three times in his last seven games, giving him 16 on the year. He hadn't posted a multi-hit effort since June 10, and he now has a .271/.348/.571 slash line with 38 RBI, 31 runs scored and two stolen bases across 200 plate appearances. He rarely plays against southpaws, but the Giants' outfield is not at full health with LaMonte Wade (knee) on a rehab assignment and Luis Gonzalez (back) landing on the injured list Thursday, so Pederson could see a small uptick in playing time in the short term.

Alvarez went 2-for-5 with a three-run home run in Thursday's 7-6 loss to the Yankees.

Alvarez went deep in the third inning to give the Astros a 6-3 lead, though it wasn't quite enough in the end. With four homers in three games since he returned from a minor hand injury, the 24-year-old is pounding the ball once again and showing no signs of slowing down in the middle of the campaign. He's up to 22 long balls, 54 RBI, 46 runs scored, eight doubles and a .317/.406/.665 slash line in 62 contests overall.

Stanton went 1-for-3 with a three-home run, an additional run scored and a walk in Thursday's 7-6 win over the Astros.

Alex Bregman opened the scoring with a three-run homer in the top of the first inning, but Stanton quickly answered it. The blast ended an 0-for-14 skid over Stanton's four previous games. He's had a poor June, going 7-for-52 (.135) this month, though he's salvaged some value with four homers, 10 RBI, 10 runs scored and a pair of doubles. The extended skid has seen the designated hitter's slash line drop to .246/.336/.493 with 15 homers, 45 RBI, 25 runs scored and five doubles in 57 contests overall.

Harper will have his elbow re-evaluated next week, Alex Coffey of The Philadelphia Inquirer reports.

Harper has served as the designated hitter for most of the season and exclusively since April 17. He has missed time periodically, but the issue hasn't stopped him from hitting .326/.392/.618 across 265 plate appearances on the campaign. If the evaluation reveals sufficient healing, Harper could begin a throwing program in the hopes of ultimately returning to right field.

The White Sox transferred Jimenez (hamstring) to the 10-day injured list to the 60-day IL on Thursday.

Thursday marks 60 days since Jimenez was initially placed on the IL on April 23 with a strained right hamstring that required surgery, so the transaction doesn't affect his timeline for returning to the 26-man active roster and merely opens up a spot on the 40-man roster for infielder Lenyn Sosa, whose contract was purchased from Double-A Birmingham. After his minor-league rehab assignment was paused for two weeks, Jimenez returned to action Tuesday for Triple-A Charlotte and has gone 1-for-8 with four strikeouts while playing on back-to-back days. The White Sox may want to give Jimenez some light exposure to the outfield this weekend before potentially reinstating him from the IL next week.

Twins manager Rocco Baldelli said he's hopeful that Buxton (knee) will be ready to rejoin the lineup against the Rockies on Friday or Saturday, Dan Hayes of The Athletic reports.

Buxton is out of the lineup for Thursday's series finale with the Guardians, marking his second absence in a row on account of his sore right knee. Baldelli clarified that Buxton is in a similar spot health-wise as he was a day earlier, with the skipper noting that the star outfielder is not yet able to comfortably swing a bat and run. The Twins believe that Buxton may need only another day or two of rest to move past the knee issue, but the 28-year-old's sketchy track record on the health front means that fantasy managers can't take it as a guarantee he'll be ready to go by the weekend.