MLB Player News

Espinal (hip) was reinstated from the 10-day injured list Friday.

Espinal has been dealing with a strained right hip flexor since the end of August, but he began a rehab assignment at Triple-A Buffalo last weekend. He made four appearances in Buffalo and went 4-for-13 with a home run, a double and two RBI. He's starting at the hot corner and batting eighth in Friday's game against the Twins.

Jones isn't starting Friday's game against the Rangers, Roch Kubatko of MASNSports.com reports.

Jones started at second base in Thursday's win over the Rangers and went 1-for-3 with a pair of strikeouts. Pat Valaika will start at the keystone while Richie Martin starts at shortstop.

Gimenez will sit for Friday's game against the White Sox.

Gimenez sits for the third time in four games. His previous two absences were easily explained, as he sat against a lefty Tuesday before sitting for the nightcap of Tuesday's doubleheader. This time around, however, he'll sit for a normal night game against the right-handed Dylan Cease. Amed Rosario completed COVID-19 protocols after his trip to the bereavement list and will start at shortstop, while Owen Miller starts at second base.

Clement was optioned to Triple-A Columbus on Friday, Zack Meisel of The Athletic reports.

Clement gave Cleveland extra infield depth with Amed Rosario away on bereavement leave, but he's no longer needed now that Rosario has gone through COVID-19 protocols and is back with the team. Clement went 3-for-11 with a homer during his brief time with the team but still owns a .624 OPS through 40 games thus far in his rookie season.

Rosario has been activated from the COVID-19 injured list and is starting Friday's game against the White Sox.

Rosario was in the COVID-19 protocols over the last three days after he returned from attending a personal matter outside the country. He's now able to return to the club and will start at shortstop Friday.

Hernandez is not starting Friday against the Orioles.

Hernandez went 2-for-10 with a double and run scored while starting the last three games. He'll yield third base duties to Charlie Culberson against left-hander Alexander Wells on Friday.

Mayfield went 2-for-4 with two doubles and two RBI in Thursday's win over the Astros.

Mayfield has now hit safely in three games in a row, and this was the first time he recorded two extra-base hits in the same game all year. The shortstop hasn't been much of a threat at the plate of late though, hitting .200 with a .639 OPS across 20 games this month.

Kim went 2-for-4 with a homer and two RBI in Thursday's 7-6 victory over San Francisco.

Kim entered the day mired in a 5-for-38 skid over his last 28 games, but he produced an RBI single in the first inning and added a solo homer in the sixth. It was both Kim's first homer and first multi-hit performance since Aug. 1. He's hitting just .206/.273/.347 with seven home runs and five stolen bases (six attempts) in 277 plate appearances this season.

Albies went 3-for-4 with an RBI double in Thursday's 6-4 loss to the Diamondbacks. He was also caught stealing once.

Albies opened the scoring the third inning when he doubled home Freddie Freeman for his 101st RBI of the season. Albies also picked up a pair of singles and is 8-for-21 during his current five-game hitting streak. He's slashing .259/.313/.492 with 30 home runs and 17 stolen bases (in 21 attempts) over 646 plate appearances this season.

Arraez isn't starting Thursday's game against Toronto.

Arraez started each of the last three games but went just 1-for-12 with two runs, three walks and a strikeout. Josh Donaldson will start at third base while Brent Rooker serves as the designated hitter.