MLB Player News

France went 1-for-3 with a two-run home run in Saturday's 7-1 win over the Pirates.

France took Jared Jones deep in the third inning and snapped a streak of 14 games without a home run. After a hot stretch initially upon joining the Reds, France had hit a skid, slashing .200/.193/.255 with zero homers over his last 14 games. The 30-year-old has five of his 13 homers with Cincinnati to go along with a .746 OPS in 160 at-bats since joining his new team.

Tellez is out of the lineup for Saturday's game against the Reds.

The lefty-hitting Tellez will be on the bench for the fifth time in the last 10 games despite Pittsburgh facing a right-hander in Rhett Lowder. Tellez is 2-for-25 (.080) in his last nine games.

Smith started in right field and went 1-for-5 in Friday's 7-4 win over the Brewers.

Friday's game featured the return of Lourdes Gurriel from the 10-day injured list, which will cost someone at-bats. That someone was Jake McCarthy on Friday while Smith remained in the lineup. Smith, who's been a more productive hitter than McCarthy of late, hit safely for a seventh straight contest and is 10-for-24 with six extra-base hits, five RBI and five runs over that stretch.

Cronenworth went 3-for-3 with a walk in Friday's 3-2 extra-inning win over the White Sox.

Cronenworth entered Friday hitting just .163 (8-for-49) with 11 walks over 15 games in September. He hit eighth Friday, the lowest he's been in the lineup all year, and it appears to have jump-started his bat. The infielder now has a .246/.327/.392 slash line with 16 home runs, 78 RBI, 71 runs scored and five stolen bases over 148 contests. He's seen more time at second base lately with Xander Bogaerts moving over to shortstop in the absence of Ha-Seong Kim (shoulder).

Toglia went 2-for-4 with a solo home run and a double in Friday's 6-4 loss to the Dodgers.

Toglia has gone 12-for-49 (.245) with four homers, six RBI, three doubles and two stolen bases over his last 14 games. The 26-year-old's blast Friday got him to the 25-homer mark in his first full big-league season. He's added a .219/.308/.473 slash line with 52 RBI, 61 runs scored and eight stolen bases over 108 games.

Encarnacion-Strand (wrist) will play in the Arizona Fall League, Gordon Wittenmyer of The Cincinnati Enquirer reports.

Encarnacion-Strand was limited to just 29 games this season due to a wrist injury which eventually required surgery. He will make up for at-bats he lost during the year with some Fall League games and should head into spring training without any restrictions.

Gallo went 1-for-3 with a three-run home run Thursday's loss to the Cubs.

Gallo jumped on a hanging sinker from Drew Smyly in the top of the sixth and launched it into the stands for a three-run shot to give Washington a 6-5 lead. It marked the veteran slugger's third home run this month and the second in his last four games. However, he's still batting a putrid .086 (3-for-35) in September with seven RBI and three runs scored.

Goldschmidt went 2-for-4 with a stolen base and two runs scored in Thursday's 3-2 loss to the Pirates.

Goldschmidt had a pair of singles and was knocked in by Brendan Donovan both times for the Cardinals' lone runs of the game. After going 0-for-9 over four games from Sept. 14-17, Goldschmidt has bounced back a bit. The first baseman is now batting .290 (18-for-62) in September and has a .246/.303/.412 slash line with 21 home runs, 60 RBI, 27 runs scored and 11 steals over 146 contests overall.

Smith went 1-for-4 with a two-run home run in Thursday's 5-1 win against the Brewers.

Smith capped the scoring in the contest with a two-run shot in the eighth inning. The long ball was his first since he went deep three times against the Astros on Sept. 8. He's been hitting well of late, though, compiling a six-game hitting streak during which he's batting .474 (9-for-19) with four doubles, five runs and five RBI. His path to regular at-bats will take a hit when Lourdes Gurriel returns from a calf injury, which could happen this weekend.

Olson went 2-for-4 with a pair of home runs, four total RBI and three total runs scored in Thursday's 15-3 win over Cincinnati.

Olson got the scoring started with a solo shot off Julian Aguiar in the second inning before adding a three-run homer in the fifth, extending Atlanta's lead to 8-1. While it's been a down year overall for Olson, he's been on fire down the stretch, going 15-for-36 (.417) with a pair of home runs and 15 RBI in his last 10 games. The 30-year-old first baseman has boosted his slash line to .243/.326/.459 with 28 homers, 94 RBI and 76 runs scored across 647 plate appearances this season.