MLB Player News

One game after seeing an 11-game hitting streak snapped, Altuve started a new one with a 2-for-3 performance in Saturday's 7-6 loss to the White Sox. He had an RBI single, solo homer and sacrifice fly, while also scoring a pair of runs.

Altuve continues his MVP-caliber campaign, posting his third multi-hit outing in the last four games. The 26-year-old is slashing .355/.428/.575, and is now just one homer short of equaling the career-best 15 he hit last season.

Marte is not in the lineup for Saturday's game against the Orioles.

Shawn O'Malley will take over at short and bat ninth against right-hander Tyler Wilson, with Marte sitting following 22 consecutive starts. With a mere two walks since his return from the DL in early June, Marte's walk rate is down to 3.4 percent -- he's not getting on base enough to capitalize on his speed.

Motter was optioned to Triple-A Durham on Friday.

A relative non-prospect when first summoned earlier this year, Motter made good on that lack of upside by slashing .188/.290/.300 in just 93 plate appearances. He'll offer infield depth at the Triple-A level going forward. Steven Souza was activated as a corresponding move.

Semien went 1-for-5 with a solo homer in Thursday's 12-6 loss to the Giants.

The slugging shortstop went deep for the third time in the last five games and drove in his seventh run over that span. Semien has hit safely in seven of his last eight contests and raised his season average 16 points in June.

Chavis, who struck out in 31 percent of his plate appearances in 2015, has dropped that figure to 16 percent in 2016.

Chavis put in a lot of work in the offseason to improve his plate approach, Low-A Greenville manager Darren Fenster told Ryan Hannable of WEEI.com. "He's doing all the things from an offensive perspective approach-wise and discipline-wise, that we really struggled to get through to him for the five months of the season last year," Fenster said. After a scorching April was cut short by a thumb injury, Chavis has cooled off some since his return to action June 7, hitting just .211 in 15 games. Though he's maintained the discipline he showed in April, the challenge now becomes to maintain that discipline as his batting average heads south.

Franklin is out of the lineup for Thursday's contest with Detroit, Roger Mooney of the Tampa Bay Times reports.

He will get a day off in favor Corey Dickerson, who gets the nod in left field. Franklin has collected four hits over 16 at-bats since rejoining the big league club on June 21. With lefty Drew Smyly on the mound for the Tigers on Friday, Franklin could return to the lineup after just one game off.

Andrus is not in the lineup Thursday against the Yankees, Jeff Wilson of the Fort Worth Star-Telegram reports.

Andrus will get a rare day off as the Rangers go with Jurickson Profar at shortstop. Profar will bat seventh in the order against the Yankees' Michael Pineda.

Altuve went 4-for-5 -- one hit shy of a cycle -- with an RBI and four runs Wednesday against the Angels.

Altuve extended his hitting streak to 11 games and his on-base streak to 32 games, collecting four hits and finishing a home run short of the cycle. The second baseman singled in the first inning, tripled in the third and doubled in the fifth. Wednesday marked Altuve's 12th game this season with at least three hits, and it's the second time in a week he finished a hit away from the cycle. He's batting .431 (50-for-116) in the last 29 games.

Merrifield is out of the lineup Wednesday, MLB.com's Jeffrey Flanagan reports.

It appears to be just a standard day off for Merrifield, who hasn't had a day off in quite a while. Christian Colon will get the start at the keystone and hit seventh Wednesday.

Altuve went 2-for-4 with a walk, two runs scored and two stolen bases during Tuesday's 7-1 win over the Angels.

The stolen bases were Altuve's first in three weeks. He's now tied for third in the category behind Jonathan Villar (26 steals) and Rajai Davis (21).