MLB Player News

Franklin went 3-for-4 with two RBI in Tuesday's 13-5 loss to the Angels.

The 25-year-old has now hit safely in five of his last seven games with a pair of three-hit efforts over that span. Franklin has provided some badly-needed offense to a Rays lineup that is often starved for scoring, tallying 11 RBI, including five in one game, over just 30 at-bats. Following Tuesday's output, he's now slashing .300/.382/.467 with a pair of doubles and a homer as well.

Altuve was named to his fourth All-Star team on Tuesday.

Altuve was selected to the AL All-Star team as a starter after an MVP-caliber first half, hitting .352/.423/.564 with 24 doubles, two triples, 14 home runs, 49 RBI and 22 stolen bases through 84 games thus far in 2016. He joins Hall of Famer Craig Biggio as the only two players in Astros history to start consecutive All-Star Games.

Forsythe has his average back up over .300 courtesy of a current nine-game hitting streak, freelance Rays writer Roger Mooney reports.

The veteran had seen his average noticeably dip following his June 10 return from a DL stint, with Forsythe bottoming out at a .284 figure following an 0-for-4 performance versus the Orioles on June 25. At the time, that number represented a 31-point drop from the .315 average he'd sported after his first game back from injury. Forsythe's current hitting streak began the next day with a two-hit outing against Baltimore, and he's gone on to tally three additional multi-hit efforts since then. The 29-year-old also has four two-baggers over that span, along with a homer and four RBI. His current .304 average is a robust 46 points over his career .258 figure.

Giavotella is out of the lineup Sunday against the Red Sox.

The day off is certainly warranted for Giavotella, who had started 11 games in a row. He'll give way to Gregorio Petit at second base.

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.