MLB Player News

Votto went 1-for-3 with a solo home run and a walk in Friday's 4-2 win over St. Louis.

The veteran first baseman took John Lester deep in the fourth inning for his second long ball in as many games and his 30th overall this season. This marks the first time that Votto has swatted 30 homers since the 2017 campaign, when he went deep 36 times in 162 games. He appears to be breaking out of a slump that saw him hit a meager .174 with no homers and only four RBI across 46 at-bats between Aug. 21 and Sept. 7.

Cron went 2-for-5 with a home run, two RBI and two runs scored in Friday's 11-2 win over Philadelphia.

The first baseman hit a solo shot in the seventh inning and sparked a five-run rally in the ninth with an RBI single before he scored on Elias Diaz's grand slam. Cron has taken a step back from his remarkable August, going just 8-for-34 (.235) since the calendar flipped to September. He's at a .274/.373/.539 slash line with 27 long balls, 82 RBI, 60 runs scored and a stolen base through 469 plate appearances overall.

Beaty was recalled from Triple-A Oklahoma City on Friday, Fabian Ardaya of The Athletic reports.

Beaty was sent to the minors in late August, and he hit .357 with three doubles, five runs and four RBI across nine games following his demotion. He'll take on a depth role in the majors after Billy McKinney (hip) was placed on the 10-day injured list Friday.

Ellis was optioned to Triple-A Reno on Thursday.

Ellis has done very little with his 83 major-league plate appearances this season, hitting .130/.277/.203. He'll head to the minors as the Diamondbacks clear a spot for Seth Beer.

Solano (illness) is expected to begin a rehab assignment over the weekend, Alex Pavlovic of NBC Sports Bay Area reports.

Solano has been out since testing positive for COVID-19 in late August. Previous reports indicated he could return to the active roster by the end of the weekend, but it looks as though the Giants would rather see him get into a few minor-league games first. Given that he's only been out for just over two weeks, he shouldn't need a lengthy rehab assignment, meaning he should be back on the active roster sometime early next week.

Cronenworth went 2-for-4 with a walk, a run and an RBI in Wednesday's 8-5 win over the Angels.

Cronenworth churned out his third straight two-hit game to close out the series, raising his season average to .271. He's been one of the few quality performers in the second half for the struggling Padres, who hold a narrow one-game lead over the Reds for the National League's second wild-card spot heading into play Thursday.

Votto went 1-for-4 with a solo home run in Wednesday's loss to the Cubs.

The first baseman took Alec Mills deep in the fourth inning. It was his 29th homer of the year and first since Aug. 20. Since hitting two home runs on Aug. 11, the 37-year-old has batted .207 with four long balls and 14 RBI in 26 games.

Bell went 1-for-4 with a home run and a walk Wednesday against Atlanta.

Bell gave the Nationals a 2-0 cushion when he took Touki Toussaint deep with a solo blast to right-center field in the fourth inning. It was the 25th homer of the year for Bell, the third time he's reached that threshold in his career. He also opened the scoring earlier in the game with an RBI groundout in the first inning that plated leadoff hitter Lane Thomas. The 29-year-old Bell is slashing .252/.324/.480 over 469 plate appearances in his first season with Washington.

Tellez isn't starting Wednesday's game against the Phillies, Adam McCalvy of MLB.com reports.

Tellez recorded hits in each of the last four games and went 4-for-15 with two doubles, two runs and four strikeouts during that time. Daniel Vogelbach will start at first base and bat sixth.

Smith remains out of the lineup for Wednesday's game against the Marlins.

After being activated from the injured list Monday, the lefty-hitting Smith was unsurprisingly on the bench for the Mets' matchup with Nationals lefty Patrick Corbin. Smith has since been held out of the lineup for both of the Mets' first two games in Miami, where the team has opposed back-to-back right-handers (Edward Cabrera and Sandy Alcantara) to begin the series. Jeff McNeil looks set to operate as the Mets' primary left fielder for the time being, leaving no room in the everyday lineup for Smith.