MLB Player News

Angels left fielder Collin Cowgill was a late scratch from Sunday's lineup. He was replaced by Matt Joyce. 

Cowgill has been bothered by a sore back and was unable to complete pregame batting practice, per MLB.com.

Also, with a lefthander facing the Angels, second baseman Johnny Giavotella is out of the lineup for just the fourth time this season.

"He's been in the air a lot the last part of this little dry spell," manager Mike Scioscia said to the Orange County Register. "His game is really line drives, hard groundballs, working counts. I don't think there's pressing. I haven't seen his demeanor change or his game change. We're looking to get our offense deeper, and he’s an important guy to lengthen our lineup."

He's replaced by Taylor Featherston.

Braves third baseman Alberto Callaspo is out of the starting lineup for Sunday's game after four straight starts at the position. 

He's replaced by Pedro Ciriaco, who starts for the second time this season at the hot corner. 

Mets catcher Kevin Plawecki is not in the starting lineup on Sunday. 

Plawecki sits after four straight starts behind the plate. He's replaced by Anthony Recker, who gets his ninth start of the year. Recker will bat sixth. 

Third baseman Eric Campbell is also out of the lineup, after eight consecutive starts. He's replaced by Ruben Tejada, who will start at third for just the second time this year. He's hitting eighth. 

Mets infielder Ruben Tejada launched his first home run of the season in Saturday's 8-2 loss to the Pirates. The home run was a solo shot in the eighth inning and was his first since the final day of the 2014 season. 

Tejada did not start the game on Saturday, but came in at shortstop as part of a double switch late in the game. 

Diamondbacks shortstop Nick Ahmed was the unlikely hero on Friday night. But unlikely or not, Ahmed's single in the 13th inning gave the Diamondbacks a 5-4 win over the Cubs.

Ahmed, who entered the game batting .194, went 3 for 6 with a home run and two RBI.

''I made some improvements, made some adjustments,'' Ahmed said. ''I'm starting to put the bat on the ball, starting to see it a lot better. The coaches here have been awesome - (hitting coach) Turner Ward and (assistant hitting coach) Mark Grace, and even my teammates here, they just stick with me, stay behind me, keep instilling confidence in me even though I'm struggling. That helped a lot.''

Ahmed is hitting .212/.281/.260 with a home run and eight RBI in 104 at-bats this season.

Hot-and-cold Diamondbacks shortstop Chris Owings was hot early this week. Now he's cold.

Owings has remained inconsistent all season. The latest example was a 12-for-22 outburst followed by his current 2-for-17 slide. It all adds up to a mediocre .252/.273/.367 slash line with just 10 RBI in 139 at-bats.

He is also striking out at a much higher rate in 2015 than he did a year ago. Owings has fanned 35 times.

Red Sox shortstop Xander Bogaerts had the goods and bads in Thursday's loss to the Rangers. Bogaerts reached base safely in all three plate appearances, going 2 for 2 with a walk. He has a hit four straight games and has reached base in eight of his last nine. Since May 10, he has seen his season average rise more than 20 points from .250 to its current .271 clip.

But, Bogaerts did commit his third error of the season, and also ran into some back luck on the basepaths, literally. 

With teammate Daniel Nava at the plate in the bottom of the fifth, Bogaerts was on first base with one out. He took off trying to steal second, but Nava swung and tapped the ball to the right side, which clipped Bogaerts on the foot as he was running. Bogaerts was ruled out, and a strikeout by the next batter ended the rally for Boston.

"Probably the play there when I tried to steal and the ball hit me, that was probably the game-changer," said Bogaerts, per MLB.com. "I never knew, I was never aware the ball touched me until I came back down and I saw the video, it might've just scratched the bottom of my heel or something like that, but I never know it hit me at all."

Diamondbacks infielder Cliff Pennington ended a 0-for-16 slump during Thursday's 7-6 win at Miami. Pennington went 1 for 2 with one RBI, one walk and two runs.

Pennington had an RBI double in the sixth inning, which chased Marlins starting pitcher Mat Latos from the game. It was second RBI of the season.

Giants shortstop Brandon Crawford is being held out of the lineup for Thursday's game against the Dodgers. Crawford has been red-hot at the plate, batting .432 over his last 10 games. But he has just one hit in 18 career at-bats against Dodgers' starter Clayton Kershaw. 

So, after starting each of the last eight games, Crawford will take a seat in favor of Joaquin Arias on Thursday. Crawford should be back in the lineup on Friday. 

Brandon Crawford has become a weapon within the Giants' offense, no matter who the opposing pitchers are.

Crawford, who has historically been better against left-handed pitchers, is hitting .265 against right-handed pitchers. He is still dominating lefties, hitting .414 with 2 home runs and seven RBI in 29 at-bats.

"I'm feeling good against lefties and righties right now," Crawford said. "That, along with being aggressive with pitches I like in the zone, that's been working for me. I feel good, but I'm not really focusing on what I've done the past week or tonight. Tomorrow is a new day."

The shortstop is on a five-game hitting streak, hitting .524/.545/.762 with a home run and nine RBI in 21 at-bats.