MLB Player News

Hoskins went 2-for-3 with a three-run homer in Friday's win over the Nationals.

Hoskins singled in his first at-bat before launching a three-run homer off Dan Jennings in the sixth inning to put the Phillies up for good. The long ball was his 10th of the season and second in as many games, raising his OPS to a gaudy 1.046 through 30 games (135 plate appearances).

Votto went 0-for-7 with three strikeouts in Friday's loss to the Giants.

It was Votto's second career 0-for-7 game. He's a notoriously slow starter, but there are reasons to be concerned; most notably, his strikeout rate is up 10 percentage points from a year ago. The 35-year-old has been mostly batting leadoff since mid-April.

Smith was optioned to Triple-A Syracuse on Friday.

Smith picked the wrong time to finally figure things out at the plate. He's hitting .333/.459/.400 but has only started four games due to the emergence of Pete Alonso. Adeiny Hechavarria's contract was selected in a corresponding move after the veteran exercised an opt-out in his contract, forcing the Mets to release him or promote him. The organization elected to keep Hechavarria on the payroll, to Smith's detriment.

Rizzo went 3-for-3 with a home run and two RBI in a 4-0 win over the Cardinals on Friday.

Rizzo's third-inning shot off Jack Flaherty provided all the runs Kyle Hendricks would need, and he contributed two singles and a walk. The 29-year-old first baseman is hitting .252 with eight home runs and 23 RBI and has now homered four times in his last five games.

France went 2-for-4 with a triple, two runs and an RBI to help the Padres to an 11-2 win over the Braves on Thursday.

The 24-year-old chipped in on a huge day for the San Diego offense with a pair of hits and his first career triple, a nice breakout showing after he started his stint at the big-league level 2-for-13. He should continue to see regular work at the hot corner with Fernando Tatis Jr. (hamstring) on the injured list and will look to build on his torrid hitting at Triple-A El Paso, where he was slashing a blistering .423/.500/.885 in 78 at-bats.

Hiura hit his eighth home run of the season in a game with Triple-A San Antonio on Wednesday.

Triple-A pitchers have had little success against Hiura in his first stop at the level, as he owns a robust .312/.350/.688 slash line in an even 100 plate appearances over 26 games. Hiura had some struggles making contact early on, striking out 24 times over San Antonio's first 15 games, but he has shown rapid progress in that area, striking out just eight times over his last 11 contests. There isn't a spot open for Hiura at the MLB level just yet, but his numbers and adjustments indicate he is just about ready to take his cuts against big-league pitchers, and he could force the Brewers' hand a bit at some point soon.

Goldschmidt is out of the lineup for Thursday's game against the Nationals, Derrick Goold of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch reports.

Goldschmidt will be one of four Cardinals regulars resting on getaway day, with Yadier Molina, Paul DeJong and Dexter Fowler (illness) joining him on the bench. Matt Carpenter will move across the diamond to cover first base in place of Goldschmidt, who has produced only one extra-base hit (a double) and one RBI over his last eight starts.

Goldschmidt went 2-for-5 with a run in a win over the Nationals on Wednesday.

Goldschmidt opened the new month on a positive note after going 1-for-14 over his previous three games. The veteran slugger has a solid .264/.350/.512 line through 137 plate appearances, but his 26.3 percent strikeout rate is an aspect of his game with plenty of room for improvement.

Smith will start at first base and hit second Thursday against the Reds.

Smith is making just his fourth start of the season with Pete Alonso getting a rare day off. Though Alonso has slumped over the past week and a half, his struggles would need to become far more pronounced before the Mets seriously entertain regularly benching him in favor of Smith.

Votto is out of the lineup for Thursday's game against the Mets.

This just looks to be routine rest for Votto with the Reds and Mets concluding their series with a day game after a night game. Derek Dietrich will swap in for Votto at first base and bat third.