MLB Player News

Ohtani went 2-for-3 with a two-run homer and a pair of walks Sunday against Seattle.

Ohtani crushed a Paul Sewald offering to right-center in the ninth inning for his major-league leading 34th home run of the year, and his ninth in the last 15 games. He's now slashing .277/.363/.688 in 358 plate appearances this season, adding 74 RBI and 12 stolen bases (16 attempts). Ohtani is tentatively slated to make a pair of road starts on mound next week, facing Oakland on Monday and Minnesota on Sunday.

Alvarez batted second in the order and went 0-for-3 in Sunday's 4-0 loss to the White Sox.

Houston manager Dusty Baker shook up the lineup, as his team mustered just one run and four hits over 18 weekend innings. Alvarez is Exhibit 1 for the slumping lineup. He's hitless with 12 strikeouts over the last 21 at-bats.

Torrens went 1-for-3 with his 10th home run of the season and a walk Sunday against the Angels.

Torrens got his fourth straight start as the designated hitter and took Patrick Sandoval deep to center field in the fourth inning, giving the Mariners a 3-0 cushion. The 25-year-old Torrens has carved out consistent playing time in recent weeks and is hitting .277 with three round trippers in 11 games since the start of July.

Blackmon went 2-for-5 with a home run and a stolen base Sunday against the Dodgers.

Blackmon broke a 5-5 tie in the 10th inning when he took Los Angeles reliever Phil Bickford deep to right field. Blackmon also singled and stole his first base of the season earlier in the game. The 35-year-old isn't producing the same power production fantasy managers had become accustomed to in the past -- Sunday's homer was just his fifth of the year -- but his .362 on-base percentage makes him plenty useful in OBP formats, and he's tied for second on the Rockies with 43 RBI.

Turner went 2-for-5 with a home run and a double in Sunday's loss to Colorado.

Turner got the Dodgers on the board in the third inning when he took Colorado starter Jon Gray deep to right for a two-run blast. It was the 16th long ball of the year for Turner, who also doubled. The 36-year-old is enjoying another prolific offensive season, slashing .304/.390/.505 with 54 runs driven in. He's hitting a team-leading .384 over the last 30 days.

Ramirez is out of the lineup for Sunday's game against the Athletics.

After going 2-for-7 while starting the first two games of the second half, Ramirez will cede right-field duties to Daniel Johnson in the series finale. Ramirez still appears fairly secure as Cleveland's top option at the position.

Torrens will serve as the Mariners' designated hitter and will bat fifth Sunday against the Angels.

Torrens has lost work behind the plate of late to rookie Cal Raleigh, but the former still appears to be locked into solid playing time as the Mariners' primary option at DH. He'll pick up a seventh straight start Sunday, with six of those assignments coming as a DH. With a .915 OPS through 10 games in July, Torrens should stick in the lineup until his bat cools down.

Twins manager Rocco Baldelli said Sunday that Buxton has been taking part in lower-body activity and conditioning work, but the outfielder isn't yet performing drills with his fractured left hand, Betsy Helfand of the St. Paul Pioneer Press reports. "The gripping and the starting to do things baseball activity-wise with his hand has not really taken off yet, but we weren't expecting it to," Baldelli said of Buxton. "It's still a little ways away."

Baldelli's comments don't offer much optimism that Buxton will be back before the end of the month, but the 27-year-old at least appears set to avoid surgery on the injured hand. Buxton will likely need to receive the green light from a doctor before he takes part in defensive drills and batting practice.

Miller is out of the lineup for Sunday's game against the Marlins.

Miller looked to be a candidate to pick up regular work at third base after Alec Bohm tested positive for COVID-19 a week ago, but everyday duties at the hot corner have instead fallen to Ronald Torreyes, who will pick up a fifth straight start at the position Sunday. Even though Miller turned heads with a three-homer performance in a spot start July 8, he doesn't look like he'll get much of an opportunity to build on that huge day at the plate. He's picked up just 12 at-bats since that time.

Soler is out of the lineup for Sunday's game against the Orioles, Joel Goldberg of Bally Sports Kansas City reports.

Soler served as Kansas City's designated hitter for the first two games of the series, going 1-for-8 with two runs and a walk. He'll be getting a breather in the series finale, clearing the way for Ryan O'Hearn to receive a turn as the DH.