MLB Player News

Bell made his second straight start in right field Friday, going 1-for-3 with an RBI groundout.

The Pirates are giving Bell a chance at his regular position with Starling Marte (back) sidelined. He was unable to run down a shallow popup along the right field line, which eventually led to a Cincinnati run. Since Aug. 21, Bell has started 18 of 23 games, compiling a .260/.371/.380 line with one home run and seven RBI.

Votto went 3-for-4 with an RBI single in Friday's 4-3 victory over the Pirates.

The veteran's third-inning single plated pitcher Tim Adleman and opened the scoring on the night, and the overall production extended Votto's torrid hitting stretch. He posted a stellar .394/.471/.636 line in August with a whopping 26 RBI and has gotten September off to a similar start. The 33-year-old is slashing .375/.484/.417 over his first 24 at-bats of the new month.

Joseph is not in the lineup Friday against the Nationals, Mark Zuckerman of MASN Sports reports.

This marks the second day in a row Joseph will cede the start at first base to Ryan Howard. The 25-year-old has been scuffling with the bat lately, so it seems the Phillies are just trying to get Joseph some rest to try to kickstart his production again.

Bour is not in the lineup for Friday's tilt with the Dodgers, Eric Stephen of SB Nation reports.

Bour was just activated off the disabled list Tuesday after spending roughly two months on the shelf with an ankle injury, and with left-hander Clayton Kershaw (back) taking the hill for Los Angeles, Friday posed a good opportunity to get the slugger a day to rest. Chris Johnson will take over for him at first base for the night.

Howard went 1-for-3 with a three-run homer in Thursday's 4-1 win over the Nationals.

Howard's long ball was the exclamation point to a four-run third inning off Washington starter A.J. Cole. The veteran first baseman has been abusing Nationals pitching with homers in each of his last two starts against them. While he still possesses significant power at age 36, Howard's .195 average makes him essentially useless when he doesn't hit one into the seats.

Joseph is not in the starting lineup for Thursday's game against the Nationals, Ryan Lawrence of the Philadelphia Voice reports.

Joseph was expected to get more playing time down the stretch according to manager Pete Mackanin, but he'll head back to the bench for Thursday's series opener despite going 3-8 in the Phillies most recent series against the Marlins. Ryan Howard will fill in for him at first base for the evening.

Bell is starting in right field for Thursday night's tilt with the Cardinals, Rob Biertempfel of the Pittsburgh Tribune reports.

Bell only played four games of right field since transitioning to first base in 2014, but it seems that manager Clint Hurdle wants to keep the switch-hitter's bat in the lineup as much as possible during the Pirates' postseason push. It's unclear if he'll garner more than a couple starts in the outfield prior to the season's conclusion, but if Starling Marte (back) continues to sit out, today's lineup shows that it's not out of the realm of possibility for Bell to slot in somewhere other than first base.

Rizzo went 2-for-4 with his 29th homer Wednesday, accounting for the Cubs' only run in a 2-1 loss to Milwaukee.

The next long ball Rizzo delivers will give him his third consecutive 30-homer season, and he's just three short of racking up 100 RBI for the second straight year as well. Indeed, it's been another fantastic year for the lefty-hitting slugger -- yet he still has only the second-best set of stats on his own team, thanks to the star turn Kris Bryant's taken.

Flores came off the bench to hit a pinch-hit, two-run home run in the eighth inning to help the Mets cap a 6-3 win over the Reds on Wednesday.

Flores has been an everyday starter of late, and was getting a rest day Wednesday before manager Terry Collins decided to use him as a pinch hitter. The home run was Flores' 16th of the year, and brought his batting line up to .270/.323/.473 to go along with his 49 RBI.

Bour is in the lineup for Wednesday's game against the Phillies, Clark Spencer of the Miami Herald reports.

Bour was able to take a pinch-hit at-bat Tuesday night after being activated from the disabled list, but he will be in the lineup Wednesday for the first time since spraining his ankle July 2. Bour will man first base and hit sixth against Phillies starter Jeremy Hellickson.