MLB Player News

Larnach is out of the lineup for Thursday's game against the Royals.

With Thursday's contest being a day game after a night game, manager Rocco Baldelli will give rest to several key regulars. Along with Larnach, Max Kepler, Edouard Julien and Alex Kirilloff will rest as the Twins open up room in the lineup for reserves Christian Vazquez, Manuel Margot, Kyle Farmer and Carlos Santana.

Kepler is out of the lineup for Thursday's game against the Royals.

With Thursday's contest being a day game after a night game, manager Rocco Baldelli will give rest to several key regulars. Along with Kepler, Edouard Julien, Alex Kirilloff and Trevor Larnach will rest as the Twins open up room in the lineup for reserves Manuel Margot, Kyle Farmer, Carlos Santana and Christian Vazquez.

Julien is out of the lineup for Thursday's game against the Royals.

With Thursday's contest being a day game after a night game, manager Rocco Baldelli will give rest to several key regulars. Along with Julien, Alex Kirilloff, Max Kepler and Trevor Larnach will rest as the Twins open up room in the lineup for reserves Kyle Farmer, Carlos Santana, Manuel Margot and Christian Vazquez.

Kirilloff is out of the lineup for Thursday's game against the Royals.

With Thursday's contest being a day game after a night game, manager Rocco Baldelli will give rest to several key regulars. Along with Kirilloff, Edouard Julien, Max Kepler and Trevor Larnach will rest as the Twins open up room in the lineup for reserves Carlos Santana, Kyle Farmer, Manuel Margot and Christian Vazquez.

Kirby did not factor into the decision in a win over the Astros on Wednesday, allowing one run on six hits over six innings while striking out eight.

Kirby retired the first eight batters he faced to open the contest and didn't allow an extra-base hit over his six innings of work. The right-hander induced 15 swings and misses on the night en route to posting his highest strikeout total in his last six starts. He's now gone six or more innings in four consecutive outings, though he's posted quality starts in only two of those appearances. Kirby has also walked only two batters over six starts in May.

Yoshida (thumb) is set to begin swinging a bat in the upcoming days, Julian McWilliams of The Boston Globe reports.

This is the first real sign that Yoshida is working his way back to playing again. He was placed on the injured list May 1 and spent most of the month shut down from baseball activities. When he does begin swinging, Yoshida will wear a hand guard over the injured thumb.

The Red Sox advised Rafaela to hold his hands lower in his stance, Julian McWilliams of The Boston Globe reports. He went 0-for-4 in Wednesday's loss to Baltimore and is batting .206 with a 25.7 strikeout percentage.

The goal of the hands adjustment is to cut down on all the movement needed to catch up to fastballs. "Be on time," Boston manager Alex Cora said. "We've been talking about it, showing him examples. It happens that we're here, too, [in Baltimore] and can use [the Orioles] as an example of how short they are to the ball and how they use their hands." Rafaela's been inconsistent overall but has hit better recently, going 9-for-33 (.273) over the last nine games while batting safely in seven of those contests.

Seager went 1-for-3 with a walk, a home run and two RBI in Wednesday's 6-1 win over the Diamondbacks.

Seager, whom the Diamondbacks chose to issue an intentional walk with runners on in the third inning, didn't get a free pass in the fifth inning and paid for it. He got a hold of a first-pitch cutter and sent it over the fence in right field. It was his eighth home run over the last eight games and extended a hit streak to 12 contests.

Langford started in left field and went 2-for-4 with an RBI and a run scored in Wednesday's 6-1 win over Arizona.

This was Langford's second game back from a stint on the injured list due to a hamstring injury. He played his first game in the field after returning as the DH on Tuesday. With Evan Carter (back) on the injured list, Langford is in line for near-everyday work in left field.

O'Hoppe went 1-for-4 with a solo homer in Wednesday's loss to the Yankees.

O'Hoppe went down on strikes in each of his first two at-bats before launching a solo home run off Luis Gil in the bottom of the seventh to bring the Angels back within one run of New York. It was the young catcher's fourth long ball in May and the third in his last seven games. He's now hit safely in four of his last five contests but is still batting just .247 on the month with 15 RBI and nine runs scored.