MLB Player News

Blackmon is out of the lineup for Sunday's game against the Giants.

The Rockies will extend some maintenance to Blackmon for the day game after the night game, affording Yonathan Daza a turn in right field. Blackmon is hitting .200 with two extra-base hits (one home run, one double) through 12 games in August and is on track to finish with his lowest OPS (.740) in any season since 2012, his second year in the big leagues.

Winker exited in the bottom of the third inning of Sunday's game against the Phillies due to an unspecified issue, Bobby Nightengale of The Cincinnati Enquirer reports. He went hitless in two at-bats before departing.

The Reds haven't provided an explanation behind Winker's removal, but his early exit could be related to the lower-back tightness that kept him on the bench for the first two games of the series. Aristides Aquino came on to replace Winker, who should be viewed as day-to-day ahead of Monday's series opener versus the Cubs.

Choi is out of the lineup Sunday against the Twins, Marc Topkin of the Tampa Bay Times reports.

Choi returned to the lineup Saturday after dealing with a sore hamstring, and he'll move back to the bench Sunday with left-hander Charlie Barnes pitching for Minnesota. Jordan Luplow will work at first base in his place for the series finale.

Miller will start at first base and bat sixth Sunday against the Reds.

Starting for the fourth game in a row, Miller looks like he'll at least fill the strong side of a platoon at first base while Rhys Hoskins (groin) is on the injured list. Miller has two- and three-homer games on his resume this season, but his .198 ISO on the campaign is relatively modest in spite of those two big performances.

Winker (lower back) will start in left field and bat second Sunday against the Phillies.

After sitting out the first two games of the weekend with lower-back tightness, Winker looks to be feeling fresh again ahead of the series finale. The Reds will hope that the two days off didn't slow Winker's momentum at the plate; since the All-Star break, the outfielder is slashing an incredible .333/.441/.636 with 20 extra-base hits in 27 games.

Torrens went 2-for-4 with a home run, a double and five RBI in a victory versus Toronto on Saturday.

Torrens drove in over half of Seattle's runs in the contest, with the big blow coming on a seventh-inning three-run homer that gave the Mariners a lead they did not relinquish. His eighth-inning two-run double provided some final insurance for Seattle and helped Torrens establish a single-game career high with five RBI. He has reached base safely in five of his past six games, going 5-for-19 over that stretch.

Ohtani went 2-for-5 with a solo home run and a stolen base Saturday in a loss to the Astros.

The two-way star pushed his league-leading homer total to 39 with a solo shot leading off the Angels' half of the first inning. For good measure, he swiped his 17th bag of the campaign following a third-inning single. Ohtani and Fernando Tatis are the only players in baseball this season with at least 30 homers and 15 stolen bases.

Alvarez went 3-for-5 with two RBI in Saturday's win over the Angels.

Batting out of the cleanup spot as the Astros' designated hitter, Alvarez laced a pair of doubles and a single for his ninth three-hit effort of the season. He drove in a run in each of the third and fifth innings to push his RBI total to a team-high 76 on the season. Alvarez is slashing a solid .286/.353/.527 across 417 plate appearances on the campaign.

Rooker went 2-for-4 with a two-run homer and a double in Saturday's 12-0 victory over the Rays.

Rooker took the first pitch he saw from Louis Head deep into the Minnesota night to cash Max Kepler and extend the Twins' lead to nine in the sixth inning. Although he is batting under the Mendoza Line on the season, Rooker has now strung together six hits and two home runs in the first two games of this series against Tampa Bay.

Martinez went 2-for-5 with a double and a three-run home run in Saturday's 16-2 rout of the Orioles.

He turned around an Adam Plutko pitch in the fifth inning for his 22nd homer of the season, part of a five-homer, 17-hit rampage by the Boston offense in support of Chris Sale during the southpaw's first big-league start in almost exactly two years. Martinez has been feast or famine so far in August -- he has four multi-hit performances in 10 games and also four goose eggs -- but the former has outweighed the latter, leading to a .333 (14-for-42) batting average on the month with 10 RBI.