MLB Player News

Flores will start at third base and bat cleanup Sunday against the Brewers.

Flores had been on the bench for each of the past four games, but he'll get a look at the hot corner Sunday while Kris Bryant moves to the outfield. Following the recent returns of Brandon Belt and Tommy La Stella from the injured list along with the trade-deadline acquisition of Bryant, Flores' starting opportunities will likely come mostly against left-handed pitching moving forward.

Gittens (ankle) reported to Double-A Somerset on Sunday to begin a rehab assignment.

Gittens has been on the shelf since July 25 with a sprained right ankle, but he'll likely only need a few games in the minors to convince the Yankees he's fully healthy. Even if the Yankees elect to keep Gittens up with the big club once he's reinstated from the 10-day injured list, he'll likely be limited to a depth role at first base behind Luke Voit, who is set to take over as the club's primary first baseman while Anthony Rizzo (illness) is on the COVID-19 IL.

O'Hearn is out of the lineup Sunday at St. Louis, Joel Goldberg of Bally Sports Kansas City reports.

O'Hearn will sit for the second straight contest while the Royals are without the services of a designated hitter in a National League park. Hunter Dozier will start in right field Sunday while Hanser Alberto works at third base.

Mountcastle (concussion) was placed on the 7-day injured list Sunday, Roch Kubatko of MASNSports.com reports.

Mountcastle is feeling better Sunday but continues to exhibit concussion-like symptoms after taking a hard tag to the head Friday, so he'll spend some time on the injured list. He'll be eligible to rejoin the active roster during next weekend's three-game set at Boston.

Diaz is not in the lineup Sunday against the Orioles, Marc Topkin of the Tampa Bay Times reports.

Diaz started the past two games and clubbed his eighth homer of the season Saturday, but he'll take a seat for the series finale in Baltimore. Joey Wendle will start at the hot corner in his place.

Hoskins (groin) is out of the lineup for Sunday's game against the Mets.

Hoskins will sit for the third straight game while he manages a tight left groin. Brad Miller will pick up another start at first base in place of Hoskins, whom the Phillies are labeling as day-to-day.

Voit (knee) was activated from the 10-day injured list Sunday and is starting at first base against the Mariners, Lindsey Adler of The Athletic reports.

The 30-year-old appeared in three rehab games with Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre and will quickly rejoin the big-league club with Anthony Rizzo sidelined after testing positive for COVID-19. Voit has been injured for most of the season and lost out on the everyday role at first base thanks to the acquisitions at the trade deadline, but he'll have the chance to start, at least briefly, with RIzzo out for the immediate future. Voit has a .698 OPS in 29 big-league games this season, while he went 3-for-11 with a home run during the brief rehab stint.

Manager Aaron Boone announced Sunday that Rizzo tested positive for COVID-19 and will be placed on the injured list, Lindsey Adler of The Athletic reports.

Rizzo started all nine games since being acquired from the Cubs ahead of the trade deadline, but he'll now be unavailable for at least 10 days after testing positive for COVID-19. Luke Voit (knee) was activated from the injured list in a corresponding move and should see the bulk of the playing time at first base in the meantime for the Yankees.

Freeman (illness) is out of the lineup for Sunday's game against the Nationals, Mark Bowman of MLB.com reports.

Austin Riley will shift across the diamond and cover first base in place of Freeman, who made an early exit from Saturday's 3-2 win while battling an upper-respiratory infection. According to Bowman, Freeman admitted he felt sick heading into Saturday's game and experienced spells of dizziness before leaving early, so Atlanta is likely erring on the side of caution by holding him out of the series finale. Freeman will effectively get two days off thanks to Atlanta having an open date in the schedule Monday, but the team is hopeful he'll be ready to go for Tuesday's series opener versus Cincinnati.

Walker went 1-for-3 with a two-run home run and a strikeout in a 6-2 loss to San Diego on Saturday.

Walker tagged San Diego starter Yu Darvish for a long home run in the second inning to provide Arizona's only two runs of the game. The long ball was Walker's fifth in 71 games this season and was his first since June 26 as he's slugging a disappointing .355. This comes after he smashed a combined 36 home runs in 199 games over the last two seasons with a .471 slugging.